The NBA doubled down Thursday on the controversial ending of Game 5 of Clippers-Thunder, fining coach Doc Rivers $25,000 for blasting the officials afterward.
The fine was announced by NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn and came one day after the league came to defense of the officiating crew, whose replay ruling left most fans baffled by their decision.
With Oklahoma City trailing by two in the waning seconds, Thunder guard Reggie Jackson corraled a loose ball and drove to the basket. (He may have double-dribbled, but that’s another topic for another time.) Clippers forward Matt Barnes swiped at the ball, which sailed out of bounds.
Barnes appeared to commit a foul, which wasn’t called. The ball appeared to go off Jacks0n’s right hand, so clearly that the replay shown on the scoreboard at Chesapeake Energy Arena brought a collective hush from the crowd.
But the referees awarded the ball to the Thunder. Russell Westbrook made three free throws after being fouled by Chris Paul, completing a stunning comeback for a 105-104 victory and a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Rivers raged at the officials after the ruling, repeatedly screaming, “That’s our ball!” Afterward, he hadn’t calmed down much.
“The bottom line is they thought it was a foul and they made up for it,” Rivers said. “Let’s take away the replay. We were robbed. It was our ball, whether it was a foul or not.”
The league took its sweet time coming to the defense of crew chief Tony Brothers, Tom Washington and Bennett Salvatore, waiting until 8:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday to release a statement backing their decision.
“In order to reverse the call made on the court, there has to be ‘clear and conclusive’ evidence,” Thorn said. “Since no replay provided such evidence, the play correctly stood as called with the Thunder retaining possession.”
Here’s the play. Am I seeing things? The ball clearly goes off Jackson’s right hand. 
This is a hard game to officiate, and the call in question – a bang-bang deflection out of bounds – is among the hardest to make correctly with the naked eye. But that’s why replay is in place.
I’m not crazy about the restrictions on replay and what can or cannot be looked at. Jackson may or may not have double-dribbled. Barnes looked like he fouled Jackson. Both of those infractions occurred before the ball going out of bounds and had to be ignored. The current rules say the referees can only look at which player touched the ball last.
And I still don’t understand how someone looks at this play and doesn’t see the ball going off Jackson’s right hand.