An OKC Player Got Away With A Dirty Foul On The Shot That Decided The Thunder-Rockets Game
The Oklahoma City Thunder survived an upset scare to beat the Houston Rockets 105-102 and take a commanding 2-0 series lead, but it wasn't without controversy.
The key play of the game came with a minute left, when Thabo Sefolosha drained a wide-open three pointer to put OKC up 101-97.
But Sefolosha was so wide open because Kendrick Perkins grabbed Rockets defender Chandler Parsons by the arm and wouldn't let him go. It was an egregious foul and a dirty play, but the ref didn't notice it.
Here's the GIF from SB Nation's Mike Prada:
As you can see in the full video, Parsons was trying to rotate over to Sefolosha, but Perkins wouldn't let him:
He was WIDE open. Parsons is flailing down on the right block:
If you're an OKC fan or a particularly generous person, you could argue that it's the ref's responsibility to police the game, and it's not the player's fault for pulling out every trick in the book to win.
But this is pretty bad.
It's a non-basketball play, and it had a big role in deciding the game.