The NBA admitted Thursday that it made a mistake.
The league issued a statement announcing that a scoring error was made during a Wednesday game between the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers and therefore changed the final score from 139-104 to 140-104.
The issue in question 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.
In reality, it is not unusual for the NBA to admit that it made a mistake: the league publishes Reports for the last 2 minutes after each close match in which he confirms or denies possible errors made by his referee teams, but announcing it through a statement and changing the final score are unusual moves.
In fact, this error could have fallen within the definition of a misapplication of the official rules of the game, rather than an error of judgment on the part of the referees. This would be significant in a different game, since poor rule application is the standard by which protests are decided. If the Warriors lost narrowly, they could have requested the game be partially replayed.
Fortunately, or unfortunately if you like 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 away from a triple-double with 17 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.