A league-high 43 times this season, Oklahoma City Thunder wing Lu Dort has drawn an offensive foul. Trailing by three points late in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons, it looked like the second-year player had done it again.
To the naked eye, it appeared Dort got to the spot Detroit Pistons wing Josh Jackson was headed to and absorbed the contact as Jackson lowered his shoulder and drove. The referees thought so, initially ruling it a charge.
Upon review, though, it was flipped to a defensive foul. Jackson made a pair of free throws, and instead of the Thunder getting the ball back with a one-possession game and the momentum of a charge, they were down five.
“(The referee) said my left foot was up. My left foot was not set, so that’s why it was a blocking foul,” Dort said.
That wasn’t the reason they lost, but it stymied the comeback attempt against a shorthanded Pistons team.
Oklahoma City lost its ninth game in a row, this time by a score of 110-104.
Here are five takeaways from the winnable game that ended in defeat:
