Trae Young wasn’t the only one surprised by the technical foul called on Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole in Tuesday night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The bizarre call occurred in the fourth quarter when Poole attempted to steal the ball away from Thunder forward Jaylin Williams and was whistled for a personal foul. As Poole bounced the basketball back to the referee, Josh Tiven, the referee called a technical foul to the surprise of everyone in attendance.
This was Poole’s 12th technical foul of the season, the sixth-most in the NBA and second-most on the Warriors behind Draymond Green. NBA players and coaches are suspended without pay for one game once they receive their 16th technical foul on the season, so Poole still has three techs to spare in the Warriors’ final 16 games.
The technical foul likely didn’t cost the Warriors the game, as they were still down five points when it was called and ended up losing by nine. But the call certainly didn’t help, as the Thunder found the basket on the ensuing possession and outscored the Warriors 28-22 the rest of the way.
It remains to be seen if the NBA will look into the technical foul, but it is a reminder that referees have the power to make calls that can completely change the outcome of a game. It will be interesting to see if the league takes any action against the referee for the technical foul, or if it is simply an oversight that will be forgotten by the end of the season.
