It happened with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter with Minnesota holding a 99-83 lead. T-wolves point guard Jordan McLaughlin caught the Thunder offense sleeping as he intercepted a sloppy pass near half-court. Unfortunately, the Thunder cleanup crew off-guard as well, as they came out to sweep the lane under the Thunder basket while the home team was on offense.
The end result was ugly, as McLaughlin should have had a clear path for a layup, but instead was blocked by one of the crew members who had his back to the play and had no idea he was coming. The crew member unintentionally served as an extra Thunder defender on the play, as McLaughlin ran into him and was forced wide of the lane, forcing him to take a hook shot that was blocked by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. T-Wolves guard D'Angelo Russell tried to put in the tap-back but missed, allowing Thunder forward Lindy Waters to grab the rebound and prevent the basket.
As we watch this play out, we wonder how this play was allowed to stand. Shouldn't the officials have blown the whistle and allowed the Timberwolves to make an inbounds pass? If the NBA rules actually allow this, what prevents any team from sending their cleanup crews on the court as extra defenders on every single play? This could lead to mass chaos and potential injuries. Not good. This needs to be fixed.OKC clean-up crew was really on the floor mid-game 😂 pic.twitter.com/rDuMZlrtAC
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 5, 2022
Fortunately, the play had no impact in the end result of the game, as the Timberwolves blew out the Thunder 138-101. Hopefully, the NBA can look into this and add a rule to prevent this from happening again.
[FTW]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
