Doc Rivers, James Harden Discuss Key Fourth-Quarter Foul vs. Raptors

The Philadelphia 76ers were trailing by two points with under ten seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's game against the Toronto Raptors.

After grabbing a rebound off of a missed free throw attempt on the defensive end, the Sixers quickly called a timeout and went to the drawing board.

Two points on the next possession would tie the game and likely send the matchup into overtime. A three-pointer would've put the Raptors away.

Coming out of the timeout, it's clear the Sixers were playing to force the extra period. Considering the 76ers were shooting just 16-percent from three in the fourth quarter, that was probably the right call.

But getting the game-tying bucket wasn't easy. As Sixers guard James Harden drove to the basket and was met with contact as he put up the final shot, whistles were blown. Typically in that situation, Harden might get the foul call he was aiming for, but the referees weren't making a call in his favor.

Harden was slapped with an offensive foul. And after the officiating crew reviewed the play, they deemed Harden's move a flagrant one foul, which he didn't seem to agree with when the game was over.

"They said it was obvious," said Harden. "But you know me, I don't know another way to go up. It is what is."

While in mid-air, Harden's elbow made contact with the defender's face. While the decision to call it a flagrant foul is debatable, Doc Rivers admitted he believed he thought that was the right call after Philadelphia's tough loss.

"I thought it was an offensive foul," admitted Rivers. "They sold out and came to try and get the ball out of his hands, so give them credit. It's a tough one because James has to, you gotta go up with it, so it wouldn't have mattered one way or the other unless they had called a foul."

Questionable final call or not, Harden didn't want to dwell on it too much. Knowing that scoring just 17 points in 37 minutes isn't going to cut it, Harden was more focused on his overall performance rather than his final offensive play.

"For me personally, I gotta play better," Harden explained. "As far as the turnovers, some of them were careless. Just helping rebounding, just small things that I can control, I gotta do a better job with that, and I will going forward."

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.