James Harden saw in this last action a defensive commitment on which the Clippers must rely. The Sixers make another read of this last Paul George defense on Kelly Oubre Jr, who tried to get to the rim just before the final buzzer. Despite the contact, the Philly player did not get a whistle.
However, after this match won by one point by the Californians, the referees admitted their error: a foul should have been called. “ In real time, the group (of referees) interpreted that the defender had jumped vertically. However, during post-match video review, we observed a slight deviation to his left from the defender “, reports head referee Kevin Scott.
This will probably not alleviate the resentment of the Sixers who saw red at the moment. Kelly Oubre Jr, who pointed fingers and insulted those involved, and his coach Nick Nurse, who had to be restrained by his assistants, both expressed their anger towards the officials at the end of the meeting.
An anger generated by several whistles against them which preceded this last action. A few seconds earlier, Kawhi Leonard had finished at the circle with a foul caused by the same Kelly Oubre Jr. to restore the advantage to his team. And the latter, by entering the following action, had already obtained nothing despite contact from the same Clippers player (“ no illegal contact » for the referees).
Kelly Oubre Jr. asks for forgiveness
After the meeting, the tension has subsided in the locker room. To defend his behavior and his words towards the referees, the Sixers winger speaks of a hot reaction in the heart of a meeting “ intense “. “ We are not perfect, the referees are not perfect. I want to apologize for losing my cool, because this is something I try to work on every day, I try to represent God in the best way possible, and this was not the case. So I ask for forgiveness », Explains the winger.
He adds, without having any illusions about the fine that awaits him: “ But I saw Coach Nurse get upset and if our coach fights for us, then I'm behind him. But in the end, it wasn't cool. I will therefore accept the sanctions that result from this. We have to move forward, but I have to improve in one way. »
For his part, Nick Nurse admitted that the 76ers, who were up to 15 points ahead, had dug their own grave, particularly on this daunting sequence, at 104-101 for Philadelphia in the last minute, where Tyrese Maxey slides on his own and offers a counterattack to Amir Coffey. While the all-terrain pressure of the Clippers then caused Kelly Oubre Jr. to lose the ball after Nicolas Batum's rebound.
Before this last action which remains across the throat of the Sixers.
“ I think that (Oubre) took a real hit. I watched it several times on our computers. There was contact, certainly as much as the last two or three whistles they got on the other side of the pitch. I thought there was enough contact for a whistle.” concludes the coach.
