The NBA officially announced that the and-1 bucket that Steph Curry scored to seal Game 5 for the Golden State Warriors should not have happened in the first place.
In the final 30 seconds of Game 5 of the Warriors’ first-round series against the Sacramento Kings, Curry was trying to kill some clock with his team up 119-114. After turning the corner near the top of the key, the 35-year-old seemingly picked up his dribble, drove toward the paint and then began his dribble again. He then drew a foul on a made basket for a potential 3-point play at the free-throw line.
To the stunned fans in Sacramento, it seemed like the Dubs star had once again put away a playoff game in crunch time. However, the league said in its Last Two Minute Report that officials should have intervened and called a double-dribble on Curry before the shot attempt.
Really only three people in the clip seem to notice the double-dribble in the moment. The first is Kings center Domantas Sabonis, who complained right when Curry bobbled the ball and then turned to officials after the foul on Harrison Barnes — who himself made a small gesture of complaint midplay — was called. The third was a bald Kings fan in the bottom left of the NBC Warriors clip, who does the double-dribble motion from the stands.
In its report, the NBA said Curry “brings his hand underneath the ball and pins it to his body before he resumes his dribble thereafter.”
The missed call obviously wouldn’t have automatically swung the game in the Kings’ favor, as they still would have been down 5 points with about 25 seconds left. But they would have at least had possession. Instead, Curry sank the free throw to put his team up 8 with 22 seconds to play.
For what it’s worth, officials also announced they missed a call on a Kings player. Barnes should have been called for a three-second defensive violation when the Warriors had possession with 1:12 remaining in the game, the league said. The former Warrior drew a charge against Kevon Looney a second later.
