The NBA admitted Thursday it made a mistake.
The league released a statement announcing a scoring error was made during a game Wednesday between the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers and was therefore changing 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 having missed both free throws when he actually made one of the two.
It’s actually not rare for the NBA to admit it made a mistake — the league releases Last 2 Minute reports after every close game in which it confirms or denies potential mistakes made by its officiating crews — but announcing it via a statement and changing the final score are both uncommon moves.
In fact, this mistake could have fallen under the definition of a misapplication of the official playing rules, rather than a judgment error by officials. That would be significant in a different game, as a misapplication of the rules is the standard by which protests are decided. If the Warriors lost closely, they could have requested the game 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 a rebound shy of a triple-double with 17 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.