Giannis Antetokounmpo arguably possesses the longest reach and stride in the NBA.
Oklahoma City’s Paul George thought the latter should have twice disqualified his game-winning basket on Friday night.
Milwaukee’s young star forward drove baseline in the final seconds, squeezed past Thunder swingman Josh Huestis and dunked over Russell Westbrook with 0.9 seconds remaining to put the Bucks up 97-95. Later on Twitter, George rose a social media eyebrow over two potential non-calls, wondering aloud if Antetokounmpo had stepped out of bounds or traveled en route to the points that proved the difference.
Wow?! No travel OR out of bounds huh? 🤔
— Paul George (@Yg_Trece) December 30, 2017
Westbrook was less direct, telling reporters “it’s over now, so it don’t matter.”
Westbrook on if Giannis was out of bounds: “I couldn’t see that…You’ve seen it. So it’s over now. It don’t matter.” pic.twitter.com/MrbLcBP5bV
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) December 30, 2017
In the pool reporter interview after the game, NBA Crew Chief Derrick Stafford explained why Antetokounmpo’s drive was not reviewable despite the possible non-calls.
“In any reviewable matter, there has to be a whistle called on the floor,” Stafford said. “There was no whistle blown for the play, so we couldn’t review it.”
The following is a transcript of the pool reporter interview following the Bucks/Thunder game with NBA Crew Chief Derrick Stafford by Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman: pic.twitter.com/9mVzRouqz0
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) December 30, 2017
This would be the third high-profile questioning of late-game officiating in the past week. LeBron James complained of two late-game fouls by Kevin Durant that went uncalled in Cleveland’s Christmas day loss to the defending champion Warriors. James Harden was displeased with consecutive offensive fouls that helped Boston cap off a 26-point comeback victory over the Rockets on Thursday.
