This may be the ultimate savvy veteran play, or it was a guy winning by snitching. Either way, it’s very Chris Paul.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were down two with 1.1 seconds left and had just fouled Karl-Anthony Towns, who went to the free throw line with the chance to ice the game. When KAT missed the first free throw, Minnesota coach Ryan Saunders sent Jordan Bell into the game for Jeff Teague — but Bell’s jersey was not tucked in and Chris Paul called it out (you can hear him on the audio) and referee Scott Foster takes notice.
You can hear Chris Paul yell "His jersey untucked, that's a delay of game" just before OKC forced OT (h/t @WorldWideWob) https://t.co/vLVoUccoWL
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) December 7, 2019
Chris Paul knew exactly what he was doing.
Chris Paul discussing the untucked jersey play — pic.twitter.com/Xe5hKzQ5zL
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) December 7, 2019
The untucked jersey led to a delay of game penalty on the Timberwolves and, since Minnesota already had a delay of game warning from earlier, a technical foul and free throw for Oklahoma City. Which they sank, so now it was a one-point game, but the Thunder still had no timeouts. If KAT had missed the second free throw intentionally, the scramble for the rebound would have forced a full-court heave by a Thunder player to win it. Instead, KAT sank the free throw, putting the Timberwolves up by two (still with 1.1 on the clock).
Then this happened.
That pass tho 👀 from Steven. pic.twitter.com/5tXZHqDEvm
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 7, 2019
The game went to overtime, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got hot and scored 11, and the Thunder pulled away for the 139-127 win.
CP3 may have just lost a few votes if he runs for players’ union president again, but he got the win.
