Thankfully, the Celtics didn't fall victim to one of the worst blown calls in @NBA history


The score was 77-77, with six-and-a-half minutes to go in the ballgame.  With four seconds remaining on the shot clock Marcus Smart lost the ball, recovered, then was forced to heave a long three to beat the buzzer.  Here's what happened:



The red light goes on long after the ball leaves Smart's hands, around the same time that it hits the backboard and rim.  But for some inexplicable reason, a whistle blew.  My first though was, "Oh that stinks, inadvertent whistle, I guess we lose the basket and it's going to be a jump ball."

And then we entered The Twilight Zone.

If you turn the volume way up on the Vine you can start to hear Mike Gorman say "No no no no..."  In fact, he said the word "no" 16 times in succession.  Seriously, 16 times.  The three referees (Courtney Kirkland, Bill Spooner and Derek Richardson) got together, didn't watch a replay, then somehow came to the conclusion that it was Memphis' ball.

The official call was a 24-second violation.  But in order for that to be the case, we're talking some real JFK "magic bullet" type of sh-- stuff.  As in, the ball bounced off the backboard, didn't hit the rim, then decided on it's own to take a 90-degree turn in mid-air.  The fact that none of them saw that is absolutely mind-boggling.

I was livid about this impossibly-bad call right up until Mike Conley's final three-pointer missed wide-right.  If the Celtics lost this game I was contemplating driving down to Secaucus, New Jersey and banging down the doors of the NBA offices.

P.S.  Yes, I put the "@" symbol in the title on purpose to make sure the league knows every time somebody tweets out this post.



Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan