The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Golden State Warriors 108-102, winning game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.  The win was controversial due to Russell Westbrook’s travel during the final minute which wasn’t called.  The NBA’s senior vice president of replay and referee operations said a travel violation should’ve indeed been called.

“The officials, no one could get in a good position to see him drag that pivot foot,” NBA senior vice president of replay and referee operations Joe Borgia said in a postgame interview on NBA TV. “It’s an unfortunate miss, but so much going on in the play, the speed of it, and officiating is about getting angles and sometimes you just can’t get them, and they did not get a great angle on that play.”

The play happened directly in front of Warriors coach Steve Kerr who was screaming for a travel call.  When it didn’t happen, he crouched in front of referee Monty McCutchen with an incredulous smirk on his face.

“I thought he walked, but it wasn’t called, so that’s the way it goes,” Kerr said.

Westbrook kept his comments very brief.

“I just play until I hear the whistle,” said Westbrook, who had 27 points, 12 assists, 7 steals and 6 rebounds to lead the Thunder to a comeback from a 13-point halftime deficit.

Sidenote: There’s been some egregious travels that weren’t called over the years.  I guess since it’s the WCF and the Thunder beat the Warriors, it’s being made into a huge deal.

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source: ESPN