The NBA is here to show the NFL that it’s not just football that gets to face scrutiny for questionable calls. TNT featured a matchup between the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night that went down to the wire and left Charles Barkley and the Inside the NBA crew almost speechless over a botched call.
At the end of the game, the Rockets led the Grizzlies by a point. After getting a stop in the closing seconds, Jaylen Wells streaked down to the other end of the court for what appeared to be a go-ahead layup. Inexplicably, the referees gave Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins a timeout with his team on a breakaway even though he did not call one.
Jenkins exploded on the sidelines and the entire Grizzlies staff came off the bench. Thankfully for Memphis, Jaren Jackson Jr. was fouled on the ensuing possession and sank two free throws to give the Grizzlies a 120-119 victory.
However, that didn’t stop the criticism after the game when Charles Barkley let loose.
‘Inside the NBA’ shows another replay angle, again showing that Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins was not calling a timeout.
“The ref just blew the call, plain and simple.” – Charles Barkley 🏀🦓🎙️ #NBA https://t.co/JbCPsMKb2I pic.twitter.com/AxzM0Rmezp
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 31, 2025
“I’m glad it didn’t come back to bite the Grizz but the referee made a mistake, plain and simple. He’s not even coming close to calling timeout,” Charles Barkley said.
“Dillon Brooks has got his hands up like, ‘I thought I heard a whistle,’ so it’s a lot going on but the ref just blew the call plain and simple.”
You could understand a referee anticipating a timeout in a situation like that, but to blow a whistle without an actual called timeout is quite the officiating blunder. It likely won’t be remembered for very long since Memphis won the game, but let’s hope that we don’t see a repeat in the Super Bowl to aid all those Kansas City Chiefs conspiracy theorists.
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