The NBA admitted it made a mistake Thursday.
The league released a statement announcing that a scoring error was made during a game Wednesday between the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers and therefore changed the final score from 139-104 to 140-104.
The issue at hand was a free throw in the third quarter. Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton was recorded as missing both free throws when he actually made one of the two.
It’s actually not uncommon for the NBA to admit it made a mistake – the league releases Latest 2 Minute reports after every close game in which it confirms or denies possible mistakes made by its officiating crews — but announcing it with a statement and changing the final score are both rare moves.
In fact, this error could be categorized under the definition of a misapplication of the official game rules, rather than an error of judgment by officials. That would be significant in a different game, because misapplication of the rules is the standard by which protests are decided. If the Warriors had narrowly lost, they could have asked for the game to be partially replayed.
Fortunately, or unfortunately if you enjoy drama, the Warriors won and they won big. Buddy Hield led Golden State in scoring with 22 points off the bench, while Stephen Curry was one rebound shy of a triple-double with 17 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.