Interim head coach Tuomas Iasalo of the Memphis Grizzlies questions a call during their game against the Memphis Grizzlies in the second half of the NBA play-in tournament game at Chase Center on April 15, 2025 in San Francisco.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
A pair of former Golden State Warriors players think the Dubs got a pretty fortunate whistle on perhaps the most pivotal play of Golden State’s 121-116 play-in tournament victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Coming out of a timeout with 5.4 seconds left in regulation, the visiting Grizzlies tried to inbound the ball for a shot to tie the game as they were down just three points. Unfortunately for them, they never even got the ball in play as they were called for a five-second violation that turned the ball over to the Warriors, essentially sealing the victory.
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Even though the call went the Warriors way — keep in mind this was after three horrendous calls that went against the Dubs in the fourth quarter — NBC Sports Bay Area’s postgame crew of Hall of Famer Chris Mullin, former big man Festus Ezeli and host Bonta Hill doubted the refs got the deciding call right.
Hill was the first to comment on it. As “Warriors Postgame Live” on NBC Sports Bay Area went through that play in a highlights package, the host said, “If we could run it back, I would love to count — somebody have a stopwatch out there? It was the sketchiest five-second violation, but you know what? The Dubs will take it. We’ll take the days off.”
When Hill asked Mullin his opinion on the call, the former Warriors jokingly deferred to his age to not give a definitive answer.
“I mean, you said it was like 3.5,” Mullen said to Hill. “Look, they change the rules so often in the NBA; maybe they changed it, I don’t know. Every time I say something, I’m outdated. Leave me out of it! I’m a senior citizen. No disrespect to senior citizens, but I may be a little out of whack right now.”
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The “senior citizens” comment got a laugh from the crew to which Ezeli followed up with his perspective.
“I think I counted 3.5 seconds but, listen, we’re going to Houston,” the former Warriors said to another laugh from the group.
For what it’s worth, the referee in the play does move his arm five times, signaling the five seconds that an inbounder has to pass the ball to a teammate on the floor, and clips of the play do show that about five seconds pass from when Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama gets the ball. The concern here is likely twofold: The final second that the official signals with his arm does look a bit rushed, and there are plenty of times officials give inbounders a bit of wiggle room on a five-second violation, so the fact that a referee decided to have a particularly strict whistle at this point of the game is a bit surprising.
The call wasn’t a major concern for Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo, who said after the game, “There are other things that eat you up more.”
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Mullin punctuated the discussion of the violation with “sometimes you gotta do what it takes to get your first play-in victory.”
Sometimes that involves a team’s stars putting on incredible offensive performances that bring a home crowd to its feet. Other times, it involves letting the officials count to five seconds at their own hastened pace.
