During the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's game between the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, James Harden threw down a fastbreak dunk with 7:50 remaining that would have given Houston a 104-89 lead. However, the forceful dunk went through the net at such a speed that it actually came back over the rim and bounced off the iron.
As seen in the footage embedded below, the refs mistakenly ruled that Harden missed the dunk.
The Spurs outscored the Rockets 26-13 following the botched call and ultimately rallied for a 135-133 double overtime victory. According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, the Rockets are optimistic that final score won't stand.
"The Rockets are hopeful the league office will either award the victory to Houston due to the Rockets outscoring the Spurs in regulation or order that the final 7 minutes, 50 seconds be replayed at a later date, sources said."
That said, MacMahon notes that league sources "scoffed" at the idea Houston would be awarded a victory.
Following the game crew chief James Capers explained to reporters that Houston could have challenged the ruling on the floor, but they missed their opportunity while they were protesting the call on the floor and not issuing an official challenge.
"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."
