In the final seconds of the Memphis Grizzlies victory over the Houston Rockets there was a big play made by a big star for one team.
No, it wasn’t James Harden.
Marc Gasol hit the game-winner for the Grizzlies with 0.1 left to defeat the Rockets in Houston.
Before Gasol made a great play to get the win, there was some discrepancy in the lack of a call during the prior Rockets possession.
Rockets guard James Harden had the ball with under 10 seconds left and drove on Mike Conley. As Harden drove in the lane, he encountered some contact from both Conley and Grizzies forward Zach Randolph. Immediately as contact was made made with Harden, the Rockets star threw his hands up to try and sell the foul but he was out of luck. The referees swallowed the whistle and play continued.
Now only a few hours later, thanks to the NBA making their referee notes official to the public, it has been released that in fact there should have been a foul called.
In fact, the official report says
Randolph (MEM) makes contact across Harden’s (HOU) arm/wrist, causing him to lose the ball on the drive to the basket.
Whether the refs should’ve swallowed the whistle or not is up for debate but there is not debating the fact that the NBA has admitted their mistake from the night before.
It might not mean much now, but when the playoff seeding comes and if the Rockets are missing a game in the standings somewhere, you know the fans of the Rockets will be looking at this game as suspect number 1 of games the Rockets should have won.
Irregardless of what happens a day later, James Harden didn’t seem to pleased at the final call right after the game.
