The Jazz outlasted the Thunder on Friday night in a thrilling Game 6 victory and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals. But that series-deciding win didn't come without its fair share of controversy.
With Oklahoma City down by three points and less than 30 seconds left in regulation, Paul George found a bit of separation between himself and Rudy Gobert. Considering the shot-blocking prowess of the Jazz center, George wisely got Gobert to leave his feet with a pump fake and appeared to draw contact on his 3-point attempt.
The whistle never came, though. The Jazz snagged the rebound, ran off some clock and ultimately celebrated in front of their home crowd.
This is just brutal pic.twitter.com/dzfHvnDB8D
— Born Salty (@cjzero) April 28, 2018
After the game, Thunder coach Billy Donovan said Gobert "clearly banged into [George]" on the play. While there are no guarantees a foul would have led to a Thunder win, putting George on the line would have likely extended the game considering he has shot 84.4 percent on free throws for his career.
Billy Donovan on no-call on Paul George: "[Gobert] clearly ran forward. He clearly banged into him... I don't want to say it ended our season... but I would have liked Paul George at the FT line... Most people probably looking at it would say that should have been a foul." pic.twitter.com/31EFtw75xo
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 28, 2018
So, why wasn't Gobert hit with a personal foul? Here's the explanation from referee Ron Garretson.
The following pool reporter transcript was released by the NBA: pic.twitter.com/Upl5Vh7hI3
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) April 28, 2018
"Rudy Gobert jumped to the right of Paul George," Garretson said. "Our determination was Rudy would not have made contact with Paul had he not jumped sideways into Gobert's legal space. We determined this to be a non-call."
Thunder fans will surely be waiting on the NBA's Last Two Minute Report after the dramatic ending of Game 6.