What the heck happened with the bizarre James Harden dunk that somehow didn't count?

We explain it all for you.

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On Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets lost 135-133 to the San Antonio Spurs in double overtime. There’s nothing too out of the ordinary about that … except for the play that happened with 7:50 remaining in the fourth quarter.

James Harden ended up with a steal and nobody with him, so he casually dribbled the length of the court and slammed home the ball.

Except the ball bizarrely appeared to go in and out of hoop and eventually out of bounds. Replays showed it absolutely 100 percent went through, but it got caught up in the netting after, which created an optical illusion in real time.

But it didn’t end up counting. Why? We’ll break it down.

What did the play look like?

Wait, THAT didn’t count?

Nope!

Don’t they have instant replay in the NBA now?

They do.

So didn’t Mike D’Antoni ask for a replay?

He said he did.

And he didn’t get it?

That’s part of a whole other complicated answer. Crew Chief James Capers told a reporter that it’s a reviewable play, but that D’Antoni missed the “window” in which he was allowed to challenge during a timeout.

Is that what D’Antoni said happened?

No. From the Houston Chronicle:

“They said the ball hit James and went back through, so it was goaltending on James,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “So, I said, ‘I challenge that.’ Then, I didn’t get a response. Then, another guy said it wasn’t a goaltending. It went out of bounds on us, so I said, ‘I’ll challenge that.’ I didn’t get an explanation. I got nothing.”

So what are the Rockets going to do now?

The Chronicle reports the Rockets are “weighing protesting” the game.

What might the result be there?

Hard to say! The NBA could rewind the game back to that 7:50 mark and replay the end of the contest from there. The league could overturn the Spurs win, or just say that it was official error, a mistake was made and unfortunately, that’s how it is. But in a tight Western Conference, there’s a scenario in which that might be the one game that perhaps cost the Rockets playoff seeding.