The Portland Trail Blazers certainly looked like a team trying to tank in Tuesday night’s wild and controversial road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Portland was leading 109-108 with 25.2 seconds remaining. Malcolm Brogdon took the inbound pass and dribbled it up the court, taking valuable time off the clock. As he was trapped by OKC defenders, Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups tried to call a timeout.
But an official blew the whistle and called Brogdon for double-dribble, thus resulting in a turnover of possession. Billups went off on the referees for failing to grant a timeout, and he was issued not one, but two technical fouls.
OKC star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made the game-tying free throw as a result of the technical foul, and Jalen Williams scored the go-ahead basket with 2.1 seconds remaining. The Thunder defense then held on for a tight 111-109 victory.
As John Hollinger note above, it’s awfully peculiar for a head coach to get two technical fouls and an ejection with a one-point lead late in the game. As such, some are convinced that Billups and the Trail Blazers were trying to lose on purpose to secure a higher draft slot this year:
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Tuesday night’s loss dropped the Trail Blazers to 12-31 on the year. At this time, the Trail Blazers are projected to have the fifth overall pick at Tankathon.
