Carmelo Anthony Justifies Controversial Call at End of Rockets-Nuggets Game

Did he see the same game?

Dec 11, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; Former professional basketball player Carmelo Anthony looks on prior to the game between the Saint Joseph's Hawks and the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

On Monday, the Houston Rockets took the court for their 23rd contest of the season. The Rockets squared off against the Denver Nuggets, in a game that had countless swings. 

Back and forth would be an understatement. 

The Rockets struggled to close quarters, giving the Nuggets momentum at seemingly the start of every quarter. 

The Rockets shot lights out from deep, hitting 48 percent of their triples, but the Nuggets seemingly had a counter all night, as they made 44.1 percent of their threes.

Houston also continued their trend of turning the ball over, giving it back to the Nuggets 16 times, whereas the Nuggets only had 10 turnovers. The game had the feel of a postseason game.

In December. 

Late in the game, we saw a bit of a one-on-one contest between Alperen Sengun and Nikola Jokic, as the two traded buckets in the waning moments of the game. Sengun had 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in total.

Jokic had 39 points, 15 rebounds and 10 rebounds.

Again, the two largely canceled each other out.

Kevin Durant had 25 points, seven assists and five rebounds. But his defensive brilliance stood out the most, as he had five blocked shots.

However, the story of the game and main takeaway was the officiating.

Granted, the Nuggets and Rockets had a good balance of free throws, as Denver had 33 foul shots compared to Houston's 26 foul shots. But the timing of the fouls was the issue.

Particularly at the end of regulation, as the officiating crew seemingly called a phantom foul against Amen Thompson when he was guarding Tim Hardaway Jr.

Fans were upset with the call, as the contact was minimal, at best. The camera angle largely determined your view of whether it was actually a foul.

Hardaway fell to the ground, which likely sold the call but the contact was clearly incidental.

After the game, former Rockets wing and Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony justified the call.

"He clipped him. He clipped him. When you go back and look at the monitor, they will say that you tripped him."

Anthony was joined by Derek Fisher on Peacock's coverage, who also shared his thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah, but that's every game. In particular, a hard fought game like this one. If the Rockets had won, the Nuggets would be feeling like they didn't get the calls. That's just how it works, in particular in hard-fought games.

Hate to see the game end that way but it's a foul."

The two teams will square off again on Saturday, which will be the Rockets' first night of a back-to-back sequence.