The NBA was a James Harden buzzer-beater away from having some real explaining to do.
When the Warriors and Houston Rockets squared off on Jan. 3, Golden State took a late lead after Kevin Durant saved a loose ball. But, replays revealed that Durant had both feet out-of-bounds prior to Stephen Curry's go-ahead bucket in overtime.
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Durant's dubious save didn't ultimately matter, thanks to Harden's last-second heroics. That didn't stop one enterprising fan from asking the NBA Referees' Twitter account how the officials could make such an obvious call.
That squares with what happened on the play. Durant received the ball from off of the in-bound, and drove to the basket. Harden poked it loose as Durant headed into the lane, then Durant nearly tripped over PJ Tucker along the baseline before keeping the play "alive."
Still, the league was transparent from the beginning about getting the call wrong. The NBA's Last Two Minute Report from the game noted that the officials made the wrong call, and now the officials are providing an explanation as well.
Golden State Warriors
In other words, don't expect someone else to get away with the same play next time.