Late in overtime during Thursday night's game between the Rockets and Warriors, Kevin Durant "saved" a ball going out of bounds. Eventually the ball made its way to Stephen Curry, who made a midrange jumper, giving the Warriors a 134-132 lead over the Rockets with just 22.2 seconds remaining in OT.
In other words, it was a crucial point in the game, and a huge bucket scored by Golden State. But the points should not have counted because during Durant's "save" he was clearly out of bounds. He even admitted to it after the game.
MORE: Frustrated Stephen Curry admits Warriors threw game away
lmao Durant clearly out of bounds pic.twitter.com/ogzb1FEnWB
— Ⓜ️arcusD ᴿᴵᴾ ᴹᵃʳᶜᵘˢᴰ² (@_MarcusD3_) January 4, 2019
Here's the exchange Durant had with a reporter during his post game press conference:
Reporter: "Did you know how far out of bounds you were?"
Durant: "Yeah."
Reporter: "Could you believe it didn’t get the whistle?"
Durant: "I could believe it because the refs were missing a lot tonight. And they miss a lot in general, so you can easily fool them."
Many on social media were mocking the call because of how bad it was, and even a few Rockets joined in. Chris Paul, who has been inactive with a hamstring injury, tweeted about the "Bird Box" challenge, and Rockets GM Daryl Morey followed suit with a tweet of an image from the Netflix movie.
So we doin the #BirdBoxChallenge during NBA games now huh 🤔
— Chris Paul (@CP3) January 4, 2019
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) January 4, 2019
For those who haven't seen the five million memes about "Bird Box," it's a movie based on not being able to see.
Now, the NBA takes criticism of its officials very seriously. Even though they were clearly in the wrong here, and deserve to be called out, it's not a good look when players mock officials. Paul George has lost over $100,000 in fines for comments he's made toward refs. So we can likely expect the league to ask for money from Paul and Morey in the near future.
