The Rockets beat the Warriors in overtime on Thursday thanks to an incredible shot from James Harden, but the thrilling finish to one of the best games of the season shouldn't have come down to that. With 30 seconds left in overtime, Kevin Durant saved a ball from going out of bounds that led to a Stephen Curry basket to give the Warriors the lead. However, in reality, Durant himself was completely out of bounds in doing so.
It's being called one of the worst missed calls in NBA history, and it's not difficult to see why.
ICYMI: The refs missed Kevin Durant stepping out of bounds, which helped give the Warriors a lead with 30 seconds left in OT last night 👀 pic.twitter.com/7Kpu8AjHmV
— ESPN (@espn) January 4, 2019
The flabbergasted "how do you miss that" over and over again says it all.
After the game, the Rockets had some thoughts about the no-call, and they were as friendly as you'd expect.
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) January 4, 2019
So we doin the #BirdBoxChallenge during NBA games now huh 🤔
— Chris Paul (@CP3) January 4, 2019
You can see the utter confusion from the Houston bench.
houston's bench all saw Durant way out of bounds pic.twitter.com/aD9OZXaSCc
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 4, 2019
Even Durant himself couldn't defend where he was.
Kevin Durant knew he was way out of bounds on that late save, wasn’t surprised the call was missed: “The refs were missing a lot tonight.” pic.twitter.com/Ey0uJ7d42O
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 4, 2019
"Uh, yeah," Durant said, per Anthony Slater when he was asked if he knew how far out he was. "I could believe it because the refs were missing a lot," he added. Durant also said that he'd seen the video.
It's a hilariously bad call, and the officiating crew should be thanking their lucky stars that Harden made that shot. It may get lost in the annals of history since it didn't ultimately decide the outcome, but nevertheless it's an inexcusable miss.
