With just under 8 minutes left in regulation, the Houston Rockets held a 13-point lead over the San Antonio Spurs. James Harden stole the ball from DeMarre Carroll and dunked it on the other end, but the refs called it a missed dunk. So instead of being up 15 with under 8 minutes to play, they were “only” up 13 points. There are now reports that the final 7:50 could be REPLAYED, or Houston may even be AWARDED THE WIN. It would be blasphemous to make any changes to the result of this game, and here’s why:
1. When was the last time an NBA game was replayed or the result was changed because of a missed call? Over 10 years ago. (see, https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theringer.com/platform/amp/nba/2018/3/7/17088350/atlanta-hawks-miami-heat-replay-nba-game-march-8-2008 for that). All we see today are the Last Two Minute Reports stating that the call was wrong, and they moved on.
2. “The Rockets would’ve won if the shot counted.” Yeah, maybe. We can’t ASSUME the rest of the game will play out exactly the same after that dunk.
3. The Rockets were still up 13 points anyways. It was still a very winnable game but they couldn’t close it out in the fourth, or either overtime.
Don’t blame a loss on a missed call with 8 minutes left. Maybe blame it on getting outscored 34-18 in the fourth quarter, or your two best players shooting a combined 18/68 from the field, or your entire team shooting a combined 15/51 from three.
(Photo Credit: Complex)
