I don’t understand why coaches refuse to call timeouts in this situation. Basically the coach is saying the team isn’t good enough to inbound the ball. Even if thats the case it makes way more sense to inbound the ball away from the opponents basket.
Inbounding the ball right under the opponents rim is super dangerous. If a steal is made it is almost always an instant score because the defense will have more players on that side of the court. And with less than 7 seconds left its one of the only ways the Spurs could get a quality shot off.
Lets say the worse case scenario happens if you call a timeout and advance the ball. The inbounder has no one open. All he has to do is just lob the ball under the basket. Even if the Spurs steal the ball they won’t really have much time to even get a decent shot off.
KD also has a long history of turnovers in this situation. Why put him in this situation where the refs are less likely to call fouls?
Advance the ball. Its so simple. Time is on your side. Even if the ball gets stolen the Spurs don’t have enough time to cover the entire court and get a good shot. This is the basketball version of playing field position
He got fouled, thought the whistle was coming so relaxed and let go of the ball, yes technically the thing he should have done is not have relaxed up enough for Johnson to take the ball, and he even said that in the post game interview.
However are you really going to blame him for reacting to getting fouled and clawed in the face (so much so that he was bleeding) enough to loosen up the grip on the ball when he and everyone with eyes and a brain can tell that he was supposed to go to the line and shoot a pair, and not have to deal with a missed call.