Chris Paul Was Sent Home for Being Himself

"To call it a "play" is a bit inaccurate, as it wasn't a play he made, strictly speaking. The ball wasn't in his hands, and his team at the time, the Oklahoma City Thunder, didn't even have possession. There were 1.1 seconds left on the clock, and the Minnesota Timberwolves were up two points on the Thunder, with the all-star center Karl-Anthony Towns at the foul line."

"Under almost every non-miraculous circumstance, the game was over. All KAT had to do was make one of his free throws, and the chances of O.K.C. getting the ball down court in time to make a three became nearly impossible. But Towns missed the first free throw. At that moment, Paul knew something that no one else seemed to remember."

"The Timberwolves had, earlier in the game, been assessed a delay-of-game warning, after KAT had failed to fully take off his knee wraps before checking in to the game. What Chris Paul also knew was that a second delay-of-game warning would result in a technical foul, which meant a free throw for the Thunder, potentially cutting the lead to one point and changing the shot his team needed to extend the game from a three-pointer to a two."

"And what Chris Paul noticed was that the reserve big man Jordan Bell had just checked into the game with his jersey untucked. This is a somewhat silly rule, but to enter the game with a jersey untucked means that players must wait for you to properly tuck your jersey in, and that waiting constitutes a delay-of-game violation. Chris Paul, shouting at the ref while pointing frantically at a clueless Bell, got the call."

With 1.1 seconds remaining and the Timberwolves up two, Karl-Anthony Towns missed a first free throw that would have essentially ended the game. The Timberwolves had already received a delay-of-game warning earlier when Towns failed to fully remove his knee wraps before checking in. Chris Paul spotted Jordan Bell entering with his jersey untucked, which triggers a delay-of-game violation, and alerted the officials. The resulting technical free throw for the Thunder narrowed the lead and altered the necessary shot to tie. Minnesota made the second free throw, but the Thunder then completed an immaculate full-court pass and a buzzer-beating layup to force overtime.

Read at The New Yorker