NBA Western Conference
Finals: Golden State vs Oklahoma City
Monday May 16, 2016
NBA TV Postgame Interview with Joe Borgia — NBA SVP Replay and Referee Operations
MATT WINER: Joe, welcome once again.  We’ve got
three plays cued up for you to look at.  First, Andre
Iguodala is fouled on a put-back attempt, but there
were no free throws awarded.  How come?

JOE BORGIA: Yeah, you had a very close play here.
Barnes misses the shot and as Iggy goes up, he is
fouled.  Now the question is, does Iguodala have
control of that ball?  And the official on the court felt he
did not have control.  Like I said, it’s very close, but I
think when he first gets hit he doesn’t have control, and
then after the foul is when he gets it and puts it in.  So
since the foul happened when he didn’t have full
control he was not awarded free throws and there was
no penalty.  So it was a sideout.

MATT WINER: Very tough one especially in real time.
Russell Westbrook in the final 30 seconds of the game.
Dribbles into the front court, looking to call timeout,
appeared to drag his pivot foot but there was no travel
called.  What happened on that play?

JOE BORGIA: Yeah, you know, you have a tough play
here.  You’ve got a pretty quick transition play.  The
officials are thinking possibly that Thompson might
want to take a foul, so they’re focusing a lot on
Thompson.  Then all of a sudden Westbrook just pulls
up.  The officials, no one could get in a good position to
see him drag that pivot foot.  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.

MATT WINER: Westbrook was called for a lane
violation as he attempted to rebound his own miss on a
free throw.  Explain to the folks at home the letter of the
law there.

JOE BORGIA: The free throw shooter is the only one
that has to wait until the ball hits the rim before he can
go for the rebound, and what happens on this play he
shoots, I think he knows he missed it, and he steps
forward over the line before the ball hits the rim, and
that makes that a free throw violation on Westbrook.  A
little time came off the clock, but the referee saw that,
they reset it, and so the violation was correctly called
on that play.

MATT WINER: We’ve seen him rebound his own
misses on free throws before.  He’s such an explosive
athlete, but you’ve got to be careful when you go about
that.  Joe, appreciate it as always.