ESPN’s Skip Bayless blames refs for robbing Spurs of chance to win Game 6
Like the whiny San Antonio Spurs fan that he is, ESPN commentator Skip Bayless blamed the referees for taking away any chance the Spurs had of winning Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. He pointed to two fourth-quarter calls — Kevin Durant taking a charge on Manu Ginobili’s lay-in and Ginobili being called for a blocking foul on Kawhi Leonard’s three-pointer — as costing the Spurs six points.
“These two egregious calls, these unconscionable calls, these asinine calls, cost my Spurs six crucial points,” Bayless said Thursday morning on “First Take,” which is airing on ESPNEWS while ESPN2 airs French Open coverage.
Bayless, an Oklahoma City native, gave only minimal credit to the Thunder. “Congratulations to my hometown team the Oklahoma City Thunder, who for four straight games made every big jump shot they had to make. Congratulations.”
After the blocking call, Bayless said he tweeted and received nine times his normal response in return.
“I tweeted the referees just ensured that the Thunder are going to the NBA Finals. God bless.”
His sidekick, Stephen A. Smith, said he tweeted him back. “Oh stop it. Oh stop your whining.”
“The national nightmare is over,” Bayless said. “NBA fans outside of San Antonio longer have to worry about the boring, old Spurs ruining the NBA finals. I was wrong. But I don’t know anybody who picked the Spurs to get that far in the preseason.”
Fortunately for Thunder fans, Smith was on hand to give credit to the Thunder for rallying from an 18-point deficit.
“They (the Spurs) blinked and it’s gone,” Smith said of their big lead. “The grand order of things you can point to a couple of bad plays, it happens in every game. What I’m pointing to is the big picture and what we saw: It doesn’t matter the San Antonio Spurs did last night. Oklahoma was going to find a way. It appears to be their time.”
Bayless did credit the Thunder for its tenacious defense in the second half.
“All those thoroughbreds do one thing really well, they play good defense. I was surprised when they turned it up in the third quarter, they turned San Antonio hesitant again when they are flinching (with their shots).
“But all of the sins — all the weaknesses get nitpicked again — get washed away by making those jump shots.”
As for the tired refrain that the Thunder is just a jump-shooting team, Smith noted their offensive balance and versatility in picking them to win the NBA championship.
“They are frenetic. They come at you from all different directions. You don’t know where you’re going to get hit from next. It’s almost as if they’re out there playing horse.”
“I tell you right now. Forget the jump shooting, it’s their ability as basketball players. Their intellect. Their defensive tenacity. And their youth — 23, 22 years old. My God, I haven’t seen anything like it. I thought if you don’t have a post position, you’re not quite there. You’re about a year away. They are a year ahead of schedule.”
Expect Bayless to jump on the Thunder bandwagon for the NBA Finals. Some Thunder fans probably would prefer that he stay off.
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Comments
Is he honestly saying two fouls cost the Spurs the game and blowing an 18 point lead didn’t? Of course, even if you give them the 6 points, they still lose by two.
Let be honest here Jackson from the Spurs should have fouled out of game 6 ball game, especially ride his arm on Kevin Durants the whole game plus attitude toward the Thunder bench! Gee I guess the official cant see everything!
Haha. On the call where Ginobli threw the block on Leonard’s 3 pointer, it was BLOCK. In the sense of a fullback. Reminded me of some great fullbacks clearing the way. To be perfectly honest, if somebody can’t see that for the obvious call that it was, he/she has no business commenting on sports. I’m guessing Skip is still steaming about people here loving our Thunder more than him.
ESPN hates on Oklahoma, no matter what sport or team they are talking about. Somehow those 2 calls made the Spurs lose 4 games straight? Whiney pants.
I am from San Antonio and a huge San Antonio SPURS fan. I congratulate the OKC Thunder on a great series…You Came, You Saw, You Conquered. This series came down to one simple thing IMHO (youth). It’s obvious as rain. The SPURS got tired and the Thunder did not, fatigue makes cowards out of all men” and in this case fatigue is the blame for uncanny turnovers which was the achilles heel for the SPURS. When they were fresher teams could not impose their will, how could they, the SPURS were feeling rested. Once the older legs lost some spring it was easy for the much Younger Thunder to impose their ways upon the Spurs (fatigued players)…there is the series. Last nights game was a Spurs desperate attempt to regain their form and at least bring it back to SA for #7. It was one hell of an effort in my opinion and a performance one should be proud of. No one who understands the game of basketball, especially played at this level would have thought that the Spurs were going to hold a 15 point lead against the Thunder. The Thunder kicked the second gear in the 2nd half and the SPURS battled hard to keep the game in reach..that’s where the drama was greatest and made for a great B-Ball atmosphere. Within said drama lies the pink elephant, the officiating. It doesn’t surprise me that Bayless is calling the refs into check..why wouldn’t he..it’s what he and many other people do..fans of all teams do it..it’s part of being a fan. We all want our teams to win, we love the ride and we all bitch, it’s part of being a fan. If anyone doesn’t think Oklahoma fans wouldn’t be griping about the refs if the SPURS somehow got the calls and won..well then I’d say your nuts, you would …lol..it’s part of it. it’s like this folks, referees call a game..they see it in the split second and make the call..are they gonna get it right everytime? NO..Do they blow big calls? Yes all the time…Did they blow calls last night? Hell Yes…but guess what..they blow them for both teams, and by sucking for both it all evens out..that’s the way it is. Congrats Thunder, I’ll be rooting for ya. As for my SPURS….thanks for a great ride…do what you do in the off season and saddle up again..I’ll be watching and coming to the games…..one word of advice SPURS management and Coaching Staff….Speed Kills, get young!
Not having been a serious sports on TV fan I still find it comical how so very many commentators are real gung ho for whichever team is doing best at any given point in every game, until they aren’t. Kinda like the flavor of the moment club. I found it refreshing that, for the most part, the Western Conference guys weren’t as flighty a usual. And you don’t want to go there about any bad officiating as just going back over tapes of games played on Spurs home court will show the nitride in their favor, and they still got beaten. Like some say, too soon or not, it is the Thunders time right now. Real humorous considering folks in their original town and original coach couldn’t say enough bad about them four years ago, not did fans show up there
Bayless is not very good at what he does…never understoody why he draws a paycheck from ESPN. The Thunder could easily have won the series in 4 or 5 games if a few very questionable calls had gone their way in games one and two. The Spurs got all the calls in game 5 and OKC still found a way to win. Anyone who watched that series and thought the Thunder won for any reason other than they were the better team can’t be take seriously.
The problem is that Bayless thrives on the attention, even negative, so he has migrated from semi-serious journalist to carnival midway dunk-tank heckler.
The Spurs are a class organization. It was a great series. Skip Bayless is paid to bloviate. Those are the facts.
Skip Bayless is a joke… besides being a star HS athlete. Oh, wait.. that was a lie. What a joke.