[Highlight] Devin Booker is called for the charge on Caruso as he makes an “unnatural move into his face”
That’s a no call like 90% of the time.
SGA shoots 2 free throws there.
He did on the next play 🤣
He’s that clutch
You can’t teach tangibles like that
On either side of this play
New meta will be defending face first
First the shoe and now the face. Caruso is determined to find the new defence meta
Reminds me of Wimp Lo from Kung Pao Enter the Fist.
“Aha! Face to elbow style. How’d you like it?”
We purposefully trained him wrong; as a joke.
That’ll end quick if you have to eat a stiff elbow in the face.
if that was SGA he’d be at the line asap
He got 2 fts the next possession down 🤣
As is tradition
Book’s offense fouls tonight are no calls 99.9% of the time. Not to mention the wack tech
And who calls a tech for trying to save the ball from going out of bounds in the heat of the moment….
Anyone have the Cavs game 1 challenge on Mitchell blocking foul (when he got hit in the face)
That one was NOT ruled an offensive foul and is much worse than this
ya but something moved from A to B bro. Tony brothers said so
99.9% only against the Thunder when OKC up by less than 10
unless you’re playing OKC
The WWF lives on in the spirit of the modern NBA. The product is awful.
Understandable to get it wrong live, abhorrent to not overrule it on the challenge.Â
Nah I still hate this. The whole “elbow to the chin” thing being an offensive foul on jumpshots is so stupid. Defender is out of position and gets rewarded. I am still yet to ever see an offensive player intentionally elbow someone while shooting a jumpshot.
Apparently refs wants Booker to be able to shoot a pullup with his elbows straight up lmfao
Right, like Caruso literally sticks his face in Booker’s space..to the point where he literally can’t move without touching his face.
Like I never thought I’d see a player foul with their face, but…
It’s a bold strategy, but it sure was effective here
College basketball has the cylinder rule where offensive players are entitled to the space immediately around them and cannot be called for a flagrant if a defender puts themselves into that space.
Orlando did it 10x in our series last year, and got called for it a few times.
I’ve noticed more dudes trying this on Wemby too. The smaller guys angle themselves to ensure they catch his elbows in their face.
It’s a defensive foul on the other end.
As it should ALWAYS be. Contact on a shot should be a foul.
Factoring out the hypothetical cheating cause I truly doubt the NBA would rig it for OKC, what are they doing differently to get all the subjective calls? Is there something they do that no other team does?
Should be called the caruso rule because he does it on purpose.
I am watching with my dad and I told him they weren’t going to overturn it. Refs not beating the charges.
Ah! But it’s OKC - Booker is lucky it was not upgraded to a flagrant 2! lol
Wait. This wasn’t overturned? Honest question I couldn’t watch the game
Nope we challenged and lost, looked even worse when they showed a different angle too, Book took 100% natural shot and Caruso’s face was in his space and somehow he gets called for the offensive foul. You just know that’s an and 1 too if that SGA doing the exact same thing in the other end
That’s a terrible call
Yeah if you’re playing against the other 29 teams in the league. Against OKC the whistle goes their way 90% of the time
Yeah, they had it both ways. Some teams will just get the foul baiting fouls on offense but OKC gets away that and with no calls when they’re aggressive in defense and some iffy calls like this when they flop.
It really frustrates opponents.
Doesn’t Booker have a right to move his arms within his own space ? What a terrible freakin call.
Only SGA does.
sga with the stiff arm and magikarp impression
Upon review, this comment has been upgraded to a common sense dead ball flagrant two. SGA gets two shots and OKC gets possession. Jump ball after OKC possession between Chet and Brooks.
Literally the next play SGA does a swipe through on a layup and it’s a blocking foul on Phoenix
I’ve given up on NBA Rulings. If there was ever a clear call for a cylinder rule, this was it.
What’s Book suppose to do? Kiss him and ask him nicely to move away from his air space?
Joke of a league in officiating.
Between a whistle like this, the foul seeking and their fans being obnoxious, I don’t even watch OKC games
It’s such a terrible product when they play. Nobody can convince me they actually enjoy watching them
I don’t watch OKC games either, just not worth the aggravation.
Suns challenged it too. Wanna guess who they ruled in favor of?
the next one giving SGA free throws was just as bad
deranged user name lmao
Hate to say it but playing for any Boston sports team makes you racist
unfortunately that means our favorite buffalo is now Derrick White Power
This is ridicilous. What’s the point of having a challenge if the one who decides the challenge is dumb.
The challenge has turned into “let us explain on a stupid technicality how we got it right the first time so we can save face” way too oftenÂ
Refs are constantly looking for the slightest contact to justify upholding their original call.
I’m so sick of the phrase “marginal contact” because it feels so wildly inconsistent and subjective and entirely how refs can use these 50⁄50 calls to control outcomes.
This is %1000 correct. At least in football when they look at VAR, %99 of the time everything is very obvious. If it’s a penalty, it’s a penalty, if it’s offside, it’s offside. But in NBA, I feel like there are mechanisms to protect certain things, and that’s why they end up doing these dumb stuff.
“Foot to knee contact” in the wolves nuggets series was egregious
They’re absolutely clowns. They clearly didn’t call the foul for knee contact in the first place.
“While the defender was out of position and moved their feet into the landing zone of the shooter, the shooter’s jersey was partially untucked which is a technical foul. As such the offensive foul has been overturned into a flagrant foul penalty 5 and Booker has been suspended indefinitely and a warrant for his arrest has been posted”.
“OKC shoots one freethrow and retains possession”
It’s kinda wild that they don’t have an NFL-style system where the choice is made by refs who aren’t calling the game and can see all angles and debate from somewhere other than at the game.
The wild part is they do have a replay center in Secaucus, NJ. It’s just that the on court refs have final decision on the majority of challenges. I think only out of bounds and goaltending calls are decided by the replay center officials. Which makes no sense to me, the unbiased 3rd party with multiple screens accessible to them should always be the ones making the call.
Nhl does it too and it works way better than this systemÂ
In this thread OKC fans acting like this is legit basketball.
“Booker is a foul baiter”
SGA does the same thing immediately after this
“Ethical hoops!”
They so fucking disingenuous. OKC doesn’t even need to do this, they go out of their way to play obnoxious bullshit basketball. Â
And the NBA goes out of its way to reward them for it. Why? Are they really banking on the rest of us hate- watching in perpetuity?
Honestly wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve never understood why the NBA choose to lean into floppers and foul baiting. Its an awful product.Â
“The playoffs are different” yeah for them exclusively lmao
Idk about them that was a soft call. It’s the playoffs cmon
You’re cool tho. I feel like more and more these NBA refs are so egotistical it is impacting how they ref the game. And God forbid you dare to challenge a call. They will find every excuse to uphold their own mistake (e.g. Tony Brothers “foot to knee” a couple nights ago). I would like to see a full sale clean out of the refs. Start fresh next year. I bet it would be a lot better overall.
Having an independent body review challenges should be the #1 focus in the offseason for the league. This shit should not take so long and it should not be possible to still get it wrong after a review.
Yeah kinda crazy that the same guys who make the original call are the ones who review it. NFL does it best with NY handling all challenges
Not serious reffing
All season I heard “but the playoffs are different” it’s the same games and shitty calls just with bigger crowds lol
it kinda seems like that only applies to one team though… all other teams are playing good hard playoff basketball and being reffed that way.
There’s a really poignant reason why even casual fans who only watch the NBA playoffs seem to have this repugnant attitude towards OKC. They get treated differently than every other team.
If they were being reffed fairly, nobody would have a problem. But they’re not, and that’s why people have a problem
Even with him selling it with pretty good acting, it’s still a no for me dawg.
That’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen. Devin Booker did everything possible to avoid Caruso’s head and get the shot up.
And quite possibly the single worst reviewed play of all time. I have seen many, many atrocious calls over my 30 years of NBA fandom/masochism, but James Williams’s explanation of that insanely normal shot attempt was some next next level BS. It is so clear to like anyone watching who has played even a millisecond of hoops in their life that the only thing unnatural here is Caruso sticking his head in the path of Booker’s elbow during his natural shooting motion (and then flopping after).
We had an all timer in the nuggets wolves series with the foot to knee contact explanation. Refs have been on one these playoffs
NBA is never beating the rigged and corrupt allegations and at this point it’s pointing to being true
I mean, wasn’t that confirmed as true when Tim Donahue was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for rigging NBA games?
And David Stern, the commisioner at the time, was the person who sabotaged the FBI from digging any deeper than just Tim. The FBI told Stern they were going to investigate the whole lot and Stern blew it up from happening. Tim Donahue took the fall for them all
This is literally a trademark play of SGA and he gets free throws for it when anyone touches him on a shot.
100% chance that’s an and 1 on the other end of the court with SGA shooting.
They managed to easily one up it with the tech they gave Book too, about the worst tech you’ll ever see.
DOGSHIT call
Nah it was a routine bad missed call.
To not overturn it on replay though was dogshit though. Insane to uphold that call.
That’s absurd. That’s a natural shooting motion
If that’s an unnatural motion by book, how is it not a flagrant 1? lol
This is an extremely cogent point lol
Could not have been more obvious that Caruso was trying for that call, in another angle you could see that he literally leaned in with his face
Look at his foot placement compared to bookers. He’s basically over his front leg.
Wow that’s an awful call
Really don’t understand where the “unnatural” move is? He fakes then goes up. At no point does he look like he manoeuvres his elbow unnaturally to make contact with the face and this kind of contact happens so frequently and is almost always called in favour of the offensive player.
I understand making the mistake live, but to reach that conclusion upon review seems like it goes against the regular ruling of contact like this.
Caruso sold that flop so well lol. If that was SGA, i’m sure they are gonna call foul on his defender lol
The unnatural move was Caruso’s head moving forward into Book’s shooting path and then flying backwards at a little glance of what should’ve been expected contact.
Its a bad call. The refs, I guess, are erring on the side of caution due to it being a hit on the head (well, nose).
Dont search for more logic than that. Its just a bad decision by the crew. Trying to find meaning or a ruling that makes this ruling make sense will drive you insane. Because there isnt such a rule.
This should be incidental contact at best, foul on Caruso at worst (from OKC perspective). Offensive foul is nonsensical.
Lmao okc whistle
Of all the franchises, why favor Oklahoma City?
I don’t understand the NBA and why it spends so much time falling in love with middle markets.
Thats soft af.
I don’t know what a foul is anymore
Anytime you around SGA
Breathing near an OKC player is a foul.
DORRIS BURKE BASED
OKC is playing the brand of bullshit basketball aka bitch-ball that’s by far the most hated and its infuriating the league is leaning into it so hard. It makes no fucking sense. Its an awful product thats barely watchable.Â
Is Silvers strategy literally rage baiting?Â
This is the same league that rigged Wemby to the Spurs and Flagg to the Mavs, and spams gambling ads in your face 24⁄7, Silver is for sure making his rich buddies richer through gambling on okc at the very least
This is 100k likes on twitter if SGA does this
He did the exact play after this (ruled defensive foul)
No he did worse. He did foul baiting . It’s sad to watch.
The words “incidental contact” never even entered the refs brain
League is a fucking joke 🤡🤡🤡🤡
Investigate these refs NOW.
I said it elsewhere, but Book isn’t given the space to come down from his jump shot and he’s the one called for a foul
If I speak I am in big trouble
What makes this worse is the very next possession, SGA did the exact same shit but they called a foul on Phoenix. This is makes it hard to watch
Then sga comes down and does the exact same thing and gets a call. It’s really not fun to watch.
Pathetic call.
this game is unwatchable. almost all the calls benefits OKC. why not just give OKC the championship if every foul calls will be in favor of OKC?
It’s easily a 10 point swing. OKC winning ref ball.
Any referee fans? Enjoying this game
That should be free throws for Shai
Honestly, how does one simply be an OKC fan. They epitomize literally everything I dislike in basketball
Idk how a team is allowed to play so aggressive on defense, while getting away with head-faking and foul-baiting on offense. Thunder basketball is so bad for the NBA.
Same exact play immediately after this on the other side of the court, ruled defensive foul
That’s a no call like Caruso is leaning into booker as he’s shooting that
Man FUCK the Thunder
This has to be the floppiest team I’ve ever seen
Has there ever been a team like this is NBA history? Where literally every player is just constantly flopping? Anyone see the 4th quarter when half the Thunder players started diving to the floor when Booker got the ball?
How tf can anyone enjoy this brand of basketball
thats way less unnatural than most of shai’s moves
OKC is the most unwatchable team in the league.
Flipping like a fish and next play Sga did the same move and got a foul called. Good job refs!
Just once I want to see a game where the calls all go against OKC. Just one.
Did they call a flop on Caruso?
ehhhhh idk jim..
Nba officiating is dogshit
OKC fans root for this btw.
The really infuriating thing is that the whole team does it. IE it’s organizational strategy. They consider this a successful basketball play.
This is why OKC is hated. Not because they are the best but because of bullshit like this they somehow get away with on a regular basis
OKC is just not fun to watch. Caruso Dort and SGA with their disgustingly favorable whistle makes the game feel cheap. I’d rather watch WWE.Â
Im not even a SGA hater but man SGA does this same exact move all the time and gets free throws for it. I don’t understand why the league has taken this weird stance regarding certain players’ whistle.
And then the next play shai gets a call for flailing like a madman
I forgot how much I hate watching okc in the playoffs.
The ref bias is just insane
and then on the next play SGA literally does the same thing and gets free throws
He doesnt hit the defender in the face tho? There’s a clear difference
The calls okc gets are ridiculous man it’s disgusting
Obligatory fuck OKC
Hilarious how SGA was instead awarded FTs for doing the exact same thing the next play lol
FBI needs to investigate OKC having some dirt on Silver
What’s the bet SGA would get an And-1 for this exact same motion?
The league has never been softer. Not even in the the days of Harden.
The audacity of the arena to play the violin. OKC is so insufferable it’s crazy
OKC’s whistle is something else. It might even go into overdrive in the playoffs.
Just hand them the trophy now. Thats the plan ain’t it? What a jokeÂ
This game became unwatchable. I had to turn it off.
Standard okc ref ball. Silver and the refs will ensure they win another championship.
Just LOL at anyone that still thinks it isn’t rigged. Imagine watching this slop
Why is this sport so damn rigged
Unwatchable
Trash AF
Caruso is basically humping his thigh, of course he got hit in the fucking face bro these thunder fans make me sick.
Shit is so fucking bad for the sport
So youre not allowed to shoot a jump shot against OKC now?
This league has complete dogshit reffing, specifically in the playoffs. If you are not favored to win the series, you should expect bad calls/no-calls like this. Not saying the wolves had a chance against OKC last year, but a lot of the foul calls looked like this. Meanwhile, OKC gets away with slapping tf out of their assignments.
Was a make up call for the play before but no way that’s called anywhere else
Ohh this playoffs gonna be looong.
Just like last year, okc is the chosen one. They never foul. They always get fouled
How much more ref help do these guys need ffs
OKC is just so unlikeable man, I cannot remember a dominant team who has been more hated then these guys, and its because of their rage baiting flops. Sure Lebrons Heat was dominant and hated, even the Warriors with KD, but this is next level, cant respect it.
OKC not beating the ref allegation tonightÂ
That looked like the most obvious flop ever even with a shitty angle
Bad call
Terrible call
They’re gonna sweep them or gentleman’s at best. Why are the refs making Donaghey calls to help OKC?
Ofc it’s against the Thunder
Jesus Christ.. what does OKC have on these refs? Why do they have such an advantage to these calls? It’s putting such an unfair disadvantage to the opposing team, and frankly makes people question OKC’s legitimacy to being a champion level team.
Bullcrap, and I don’t even care fo the Suns.
Just cuz he’s Ernie Johnson’s kid, he don’t need this kind of nepotism.
As if the Thunder need help to beat the Suns.Â
His pelvis thrust outward and nearly decapitated Caruso, that’s an obvious offensive foul if ever there was one.
where are shai’s flopping and unnatural motion calls
okc fans conitnue to be insufferable
The whistle okc gets is insane
Guess we should just crown OKC now if this is how it’s gonna be.
To call it an unnatural shooting motion is wrong, because it is a very normal shooting motion. But Booker’s elbow did clip Caruso in the jaw. They later showed a reply angle from the other side and you could see the contact.
THUNDER FLOPPERS
Refs out here rage baiting
bullshit thats what it is.
The ref wasn’t gonna call it til Caruso held his nose and cried to the ref. Clown show
insane sell job from Caruso there lmao
Weakkkkkkkk
Weak ass call
Refs are so shit. Just end the series. Zebras have taking this series less seriously then we are.
SGA at the line for the foul bait on the very next play
WHAT
OKC is Adam Silvers baby and I’m so fcking tired of it. If they make finals again I’m cancelling all my streams!
Wake up babe your weekly reminder that the NBA is unwatchable due to foul baiting and bad reffing
Here come the Thunder fans to tell you you’re A) smoking crack and a B) a bad person for even considering that the league is biased and the Thunder are proactively trying to draw fouls
What are we doing
I’ve barely watched an NBA game this year because of shit like this. The game is genuinely becoming unwatchable. Everything is just flopping for free throws and yeeting 3s now..
Classic OKC game, they are untouchable. SGA would get free throws for this
Shouldn’t that be a T for a flop?
The thunder are everything wrong with the modern NBA. It’s disgusting
Okc biggest fraud team all time
OKC’s game plan seems built around getting opponents’ key players frustrated and out of rhythm through constant foul baiting and physical pressure. Caruso, Jaylin W, and Dort play the role of relentless attack dogs, while SGA sells contact better than almost anyone in the league. Effective? Maybe. Fun to watch? Nah.
I genuinely don’t know why I still watch
looks like caruso got rewarded for biting on the fake