With the Houston Rockets up 13 points in Tuesday’s fourth quarter at San Antonio, James Harden picked off a pass at midcourt and had an uncontested breakaway dunk.
He made it. Or so nearly everyone thought.
Unfortunately for the Rockets, after going through the rim and all of the net, the ball bounced off Harden’s body and went back up through the rim — nearly going in a second time — before rolling off the rim and being secured by San Antonio.
Somehow, none of the three on-court officials ruled it a made basket, and the call was not within the league’s permitted replay review system for head coach Mike D’Antoni to challenge.
The call ended up being quite impactful, since the Spurs rallied to ultimately tie the game and sent it to overtime. Harden had 39 points in regulation, which expanded his NBA-leading scoring average, but he clearly should have had 41.
The sequence could certainly be cited in the future as an example of why to expand the scope of the league’s replay system.
