Chris Paul has always been known for his high basketball IQ. On Friday night, it was his intimate knowledge of an obscure rule that helped the Thunder to a wild overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With 1.1 seconds left in the clock in regulation, Karl-Anthony Towns was at the line to try and ice the game with the Timberwolves leading 121-119.
He missed the first of two attempts, and Minnesota subbed in Jordan Bell, whose jersey was untucked.
According to ESPN, Paul alerted referee Scott Foster to Bell’s jersey immediately.
“Jersey out! His jersey’s out! That’s a delay of game!” Paul yelled. Foster took notice, and called the Wolves for a delay of game. “Damn right,” Paul said after Foster made the call.
The replay shows the moment where Paul pointed out Bell’s untucked jersey to Foster.
Paul is clearly audible on the broadcast feed.
Not surprisingly, Paul was asked about it after the game.
“That happens more often than not. Sometimes refs be like, ‘whatever’ but that is the rule,” said Paul. “Checking in with your jersey untucked is a delay of game. Call it what you want to.”
Paul said that he was aware that the Timberwolves had already been assessed a delay of game warning earlier in the game.
After Danilo Gallinari and Towns made their respective free-throws, Steven Adams launched a Hail Mary pass downcourt to Dennis Schröder, who hit a layup to beat the buzzer and send the game into overtime.
The Thunder outscored Minnesota 17-5 in OT to walk away with a 139-127 victory.
