Not shown in this video: Serge Ibaka committing an away-from-the-play foul on an inbound with seventeen seconds left and the Raptors only up by one. Terry Rozier splashed the free throw and the Hornets kept possession, basically guaranteeing that the game would at least go to overtime if not end in a Hornets victory.
Ibaka’s ill-timed grabbing of a handful of Miles Bridges’ jersey didn’t cost the Raptors the win in the end, but it sure could have. Ibaka tried to atone by contributing six points in overtime, including a pair of cold-as-balls free throws with five seconds left, but the fact that they were in overtime at all could not be ignored. No amount of overtime heroics could negate what Ibaka had done at the end of regulation.
And it’s not like you can just “accidentally” grab somebody’s jersey. If you’re closing your fingers into a gripping position, you’re either trying to grab the player or you’re trying to grab the jersey. Ibaka thought he could get away with it, maybe he’s gotten away with it in the past, but the refs made the right call and now I’ve spent three paragraphs ragging on him about it because I don’t have anything else to say about Serge Ibaka.
There. I admitted it. Happy now?