Denied goal in Premier League reminds Daryl Morey of something

A clear goal in the Premier League wasn’t counted, even though it went over the line. That may sound familiar to the Houston Rockets.

Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey didn’t spell it out, but his Twitter reference during an English soccer game was quite obvious.

In the first match of the Premier League’s return after a three-month hiatus due to COVID-19, Sheffield United was denied a blatant goal. Aston Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland carried Oliver Norwood’s cross beyond his goalline, but referee Michael Oliver did not award the goal.

On top of missing the call on the pitch Wednesday, neither goalline technology nor the video assistant referee (VAR) awarded the goal. The match ended in a 0-0 draw, so it was a costly miscue.

For anyone that’s followed the Rockets in the 2019-20 NBA season, that narrative should sound familiar, as Morey cleverly alluded to. “This goal seemed oddly familiar, but I can’t quite place it,” he wrote.

In a similar gaffe on Dec. 3, NBA officials in San Antonio somehow missed seeing James Harden’s dunk go through the basket. They also wrongfully denied Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni the right to review it.

The league acknowledged the obvious mistakes but denied Houston’s game protest, claiming there was “sufficient time to overcome the error.” The game was tied at the end of regulation, so Harden’s two points on the fourth-quarter dunk — if correctly counted — would have been quite significant. The Rockets went on to lose the game in double overtime.

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In the tightly packed Western Conference standings, that loss could be pivotal. If the NBA playoffs started today, the Rockets (40-24) would be the West’s No. 6 seed. On the other hand, if they had won the game in San Antonio, they would be 41-23 and the No. 4 seed.

One bit of consolation is that due to the NBA’s July restart plan at a neutral “bubble” site in Florida without fans, home-court advantage will no longer be a factor. Thus, even if changing that one result would alter the playoff seedings once the final eight regular-season games are concluded, the consequences aren’t what they usually would be.

As a result, perhaps Morey and the Rockets can take some humor out of the situation — especially upon seeing it happen in another sport.

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