The Thunder and Nuggets played an extremely close game Sunday night to cap a highly entertaining opening weekend of the NBA playoffs. Much like the other three games on Sunday, the finish between the two came down to the final 30 seconds. Oklahoma City was up by a point with 30 seconds left when Russell Westbrook missed a leaner and Kendrick Perkins tipped it in. I immediately thought Perkins goaltended on the play by touching the ball when it was still in contact with the rim, but now I’m not so sure. Check the video and let me know what you think:
After watching the replay, it appears as if Ibaka never touched the rim and that the ball was on its way out when he did touch it. I think most of the confusion arose because his hand went through the net on the way to putting the ball back in. Matt Moore at CBS Sports has more on the specific NBA rules regarding goaltending, but your head may start hurting if you try to dig deeper and figure things out. That put-back gave the Thunder a 104-101 lead and after a missed Ty Lawson three-pointer, the Thunder made it a two-possession game and hung on. That play was a major deciding factor in the final minute and it helped give Oklahoma City the win. The question is do you think it should have counted. I think it should have. What about you?
