A day after the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled out a 129-121 overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers on the road, the NBA's chief of referees admitted the officials missed a crucial foul at the end of regulation that may have cost the Blazers the game.

With the game tied at 111-111 and seconds left in regulation, OKC’s Paul George drove to the basket and missed a layup, but elbowed Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic in the face in the process, sending the big man to the ground. With Nurkic on the floor, Terrance Ferguson collected the loose ball and made a go-ahead layup for the Thunder.

Inadvertent or not, there’s no denying the contact led to two pivotal points for OKC:

Though the Blazers forced overtime, Nurkic could not play in extra session due to picking up his second technical foul of the game in the final seconds of regulation when he was fouled collecting a rebound, but proceeded to get in George’s face, presumably still irked about the elbow.

Nurkic and George were given double technicals, and Nurkic had to watch overtime from the locker room. Without Nurkic, who finished with 13 points and 17 rebounds, Portland was outscored 16-8 in the extra session.

Monty McCutchen, the vice president of referee development and training, acknowledged on ESPN’s “The Jump” that George’s elbow should have been whistled for a foul.

The blown call played a large role not just in the result of the game, but also in the standings. The two teams entered the night with identical records, fighting for home court advantage in the first round. And though the Thunder wound up sweeping the season series with Friday’s win, this could have been anyone’s game.

Hopefully, if these two teams meet up in a potential playoff series, it won’t be decided by a missed call.

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