The NBA hasn’t replayed part of a game in more than a decade, but the Rockets believe they have a strong case for one after Tuesday’s double-overtime loss in San Antonio, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Houston was denied two important points when a dunk by James Harden was disallowed with 7:50 left in the game. The ball went through the hoop, but got caught in the net and popped out in front of the basket. After some initial confusion, officials ruled it no basket. The dunk would have increased the Rockets’ lead to 15 points.
Team sources told MacMahon after the game they are optimistic the league will review the situation and either award them the victory or demand a replay of the final 7:50 of regulation.
“When the play happened, Harden goes in for a dunk, and then the ball appears to us to pop back through the net,” crew chief James Capers explained to a pool reporter after the game. “When that happens, that is basket interference. To have a successful field goal, it must clear the net. We have since come in here and looked at the play. He dunked it so hard that the net carried it back over the rim a second time, so in fact it did clear the net and should have been a successful field goal.”
“As to could the play have been reviewed, it is a reviewable matter, but you have a window of 30 seconds to challenge the play during that timeout that he had and while they were protesting the call, trying to get clarification of it, that window passed. So therefore, it elapsed, and they were not able to do it.”
“I heard that they said the ball hit James and went back through, so it was a goaltend on James. I challenged that, and I didn’t get a response,” D’Antoni said. “Then another guy said it wasn’t a goaltend; it went out of bounds on us. And I said, ‘Well, I challenge that.’ Can’t do that.”
The Rockets may file a formal protest, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle, but are waiting to see if the league takes action first.
The last time the NBA ordered that part of a game be replayed came in 2008, according to MacMahon. The Hawks defeated the Heat in overtime, but the official scorer mistakenly determined that Miami center Shaquille O’Neal fouled out with 51.9 seconds to go, so that portion of the game was replayed when the teams met again.
Who won the rematch?
Jeez! The Rockets are now the most annoying NBA team. Even beyond the Warriors.
You had a 10+ point lead in the fourth and two overtime’s to win. You didn’t get over it.
All things aside, it’s basically 2020, you can’t miss a call like this. Rockets shouldn’t automatically be awarded the win, but replaying the final 7 min is reasonable.
no it’s not. schedule is already trash
To anyone who actually watched the game it’s completely reasonable. There is still another game in San Antonio where they can replay the rest of the game at the point where he scored. Then they can go on to play the next game afterwards.
There’s no way the league makes them replay. Silver is smart enough to not open that can of worms.
Sour Grapes. The NFL and NBA make terrible calls all the time, yet nothing ever happens. Stop whining about it and play your next game like everyone else.
Terrible calls are one thing, this is just straight up missing a bucket. One look at a monitor and you can see it was in. There is nothing to argue.
Nobody is arguing the refs being blind, but it has become part of the game. A dunk shouldn’t decide a game. You could also argue that Harden going to the line 400 times a game is a LOT of bad calls that alter a game outcome.
Except a dunk can decide a game because the name of the game is scoring more points then the other team. Last I checked a dunk is worth 2 points.
So? It’s over. There are 81 games left. Bad calls all the time.
The Rockets are just appeasing Harden who is now in my doghouse. So there!
Rockets are the most sour grapes team in the leauge. Their GM actually did an analysis on foul calls and thought being 5-8 vs the Warriors in the playoffs was something to celebrate. Desperate organization.
SMH Remember how the Rockets claimed so many missing calls against GSW in the playoffs but when a non-partisan reporter went through it both teams had a lot of missing calls. Rockets failed to point out the missing calls on GSW in their beef. Harden took 24 foul shots so if they reviewed the fouls I can bet you 1/4 of them were not fouls but harden running into a player.
so what happens when a missed charge is called a blocking foul? theyre gonna replay the game for that too?
Exactly.
The league changes the status of flagrant fouls relatively often. The leagues isn’t going to make them replay the game when they decide a player should or should not have been ejected.
This whole issue is dumb.
No shot – made or unmade – is decisive with 7:50 still left to play. Calls are sometimes missed and that is the nature of competitive team games even at the highest level. If this would have been in the final seconds, Houston might have a case. But to argue that this shot -with that much time still on the clock – was a game changer is just silly. Replay the final minutes? Heck no!!
This. Even if the bucket had been rewarded, it’s no guarantee the Rockets win.
The fact is, the Rockets snatched defeat from the jaws of victory behind sloppy defense and Westbrook’s chucking. I like Houston just fine, and I think Morey is a genius, but this replay business is nonsense. Have they no shame?
Karma for all the missed traveling calls.
Take the L and move on. I thought the Rockets would get less petty without Chris Paul. Guess I was wrong.
On a side note, if the game were to be replayed, and the result changes, what of those that had money on the game? Are they allowed to redeem their tickets for the changed result, does the original game stand, is everything a push? Weird gambling phenomenon no doubt.
Hard to believe this story exists. Silver will give it a mercy-killing so that Harden will not have to live with a reputation from a play-over.
Let’s NOT let the baby get his way.
Chris Paul must feel vindicated in getting traded away.
The whole of Houston looks suspect now!
I love all the, “the Rockets just have sour grapes because they lost. Bad calls happen all the time.” When those people know damn well that if this identical situation happened to their team they’d be very upset as well. Yes, the Rockets shouldn’t have let a double digit lead go and lose the game. Also, the refs shouldn’t be let off the hook for arguably the most egregious call this season. Stop shifting the problem with how bad the officials are on the team that is upset about their poor performance/ineptitude.
About 15% of shooting calls are phantom infractions, meanwhile, the refs ignore the mild but relevant shove in the back, and the victim has to decide whether to dive or not. Everyone lives with error and a level of randomness.
The player should consider their presentation aspect or be frustrated… the refs are not gods. I would rather complain anout philosophies that creates multiple errors and unworthy winners, not one mid-game error!
The Rockets actually want a re-do from an oopsie! Their sense of entitlement is out of control. Fine ’em like any other team.
Okay.