NBA: Harden committed offensive foul on game-winner vs. Warriors
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The NBA says James Harden committed an offensive foul on his game-winning jumper to beat the Warriors on Thursday.
The league released its daily L2M report reviewing the calls in the final two minutes of close games and admitted referees missed a push-off call on Harden, who spun off of Andre Iguodala and sank the shot to give the Rockets the win.
Watch the play below.
After nearly blowing a lead they held for almost the entirety of Game 3, the Rockets hung on and survived a strange final 1:25 of play for the 97–96 victory on their home floor.
The sequence began with a floater from Ian Clark, on the floor in lieu of injured Stephen Curry, which gave the Warriors their first lead, 94–93, since they went up 2–0 in the first quarter.
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Two possessions later, Draymond Green committed a loose ball foul on Michael Beasley, who was on the court instead of free-throw challenged Dwight Howard. Beasley sank two clutch free throws to make it 95–94.
Shortly afterward, it was Beasley and Clark in the mix again, the former nearly losing the ball after the latter deflected it out of his hand. Video replay was inconclusive, and the original call—Rockets ball, off of Clark—stood. Houston took a timeout.
And on the next play, Trevor Ariza lobbed in a wayward pass into the hands of a streaking Shaun Livingston, who assisted Ian Clark for an easy layup. 96–95, Warriors.
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With the game on the line, Houston took it upcourt and found James Harden, who hit what would be the game-winner in the lane with 2.7 second to go.
After Draymond Green dropped the ball, literally, it was all over. The Warriors lead the series 2–1. Game 4 is Sunday.
The league also admitted to missing a foul on Green at the end of the game in which he threw Michael Beasley to the ground, attempting to commit a foul that went uncalled. The league said it is “reviewing the contact.”
