The Rockets beat the Clippers 115-113 on Thursday night. James Harden scored 22 points and tied the game at 110 apiece with 37 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. That's when things fell apart.
Amen Thompson put the Rockets up by tapping the ball in with 17.2 seconds left and drawing a foul. Aaron Holiday then put the Rockets up three again with 8.7 seconds remaining. Nicolas Batum took the ball out of bounds, but no one came to get the ball. Batum ran the baseline but ended up stepping on the line for a violation and dead ball turnover.
Batum steps on the line in the inbounds! Turns the ball over in a crucial possession! pic.twitter.com/ZMGGn9zB3h
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) December 12, 2025
It's not often you see a team so utterly unprepared to enter the ball after a free throw. There wasn't a single player inside the three-point line. James Harden didn't even try to move towards the ball. Instead he was signaling for Kawhi Leonard, who must have been on the other end of the court, to go get it.
And yet it was so perfect for the Clippers’ disastrous season.
They've now lost three in a row. They're now 6-19 this season. This was their third straight loss. They've won just one of their last nine games. After a 3-2 start, they've lost 17 of their last 20 games. They have the third-worst record in the NBA and are tied with the Wizards for the second-most losses in the league.
They are the opposite of the Thunder, the team that coincidentally owns their 2026 draft pick. Sorry if it was over the line to bring that up.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Clippers’ Latest Loss Features Incredibly Rare Rules Violation in Final Seconds.
