Sacramento coach Luke Walton ate dinner as he watched the Rockets’ game against the Spurs the night before his team played in Portland last Tuesday.
When James Harden’s fourth-quarter dunk went through the net then whipped up to the rim, Walton initially thought he had missed.
But after the NBA denied the Rockets' protest of their 135-133 double-overtime loss to San Antonio, the first-year coach sees the situation as part of the league’s growing pains with the coach’s challenge rule which was adopted on a one-year trial basis for this season.
“I thought he missed it at first too but obviously the replay was pretty clear that the ball went through,” Walton said.