Thunder Somehow Beats the Clippers We have our first playoff referee controversy. There were a couple blips here and there, but nothing compared to what we saw last night between Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. Clippers blew seven point lead with 49 seconds left which included a no-call on Matt Barnes, the officials keeping the ball with Oklahoma City even though it was clearly the Clippers ball and the phantom bail out call on Chris Paul with Russell Westbrook's three-point attempt. This sequence is probably the only thing in life that still gives Jim Burr a hard-on. It was terribly bad, but Los Angeles has no one to blame but themselves. Oklahoma City went on a 17-4 run to end the game including Kevin Durant coming up with Chris Paul adding another lowlight to his playoff career.
There have been times in his career where Durant has come up short in the fourth quarter. He disappears, defers to Westbrook or all of the above yet Durant hit the two biggest shots in the game even though Westbrook nailed down the final three free throws to win the game. To that point, Durant had a horrible game. He would have probably received a ton of criticism for how bad he played in Game 5 with the whole Mr. Unreliable bullshit resurfacing as Durant went 6/22. But he hit a huge three to pull the Thunder within four points then recovered a loose ball with a hard take to the lane following it. It shouldn't be forgotten that Westbrook played an awesome game with 38 points on 11/23 shooting with six rebounds and five assists. He has thrown out some great gems in this playoffs.
CP3 hates the whole narrative about him failing in the playoffs, but games like these ones will not help his case. Paul struggled down the stretch with a couple missed shots, two turnovers and a big foul. Complain about the refs all you want, but Paul tightened up late in the game leading Los Angeles losing to this game. Paul has won Los Angeles games therefore he needs some criticism when he cost the Clippers the game as well. It will be interesting to see how he responds in Game 6. That's a huge game for Paul. If he goes off for 25 plus and leads them to a Game 6 win, I don't think anyone should be continuing the playoff narrative.
Wall and Gortat Keep Wiz Alive
With how bad the Los Angeles-Oklahoma City finished, everyone sort of forgot how Indiana got blown out at home in a close out Game 5. That's horrible. Indiana continues to be the most confusing team in all of basketball. Maybe the most confusing team in the last decade. Just when you think everything is all good, they get boat raced at home by 23 with meager efforts from Paul George and Roy Hibbert. Marcin Gortat and John Wall dominated the game with a a great inside/out game. Gortat had 31 points and 16 points scoring 13 of 15 shots, but Wall is probably the biggest story. He had 27 points which is in far contrast to Wall's first four games where he is averaging 11.5 points and 3.5 turnovers. Wall sliced and diced the Pacers which is huge because people would have came down hard on Wall if he didn't have this one.
Charlie.
