Programming note: Warriors-Pelicans Game 4 coverage starts Saturday at 4 p.m. with Warriors Pregame Live on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, and streaming live right here.
Stephen Curry's three-pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining in regulation tied Game 3 up at 108-108.
Tyreke Evans missed a running trey at the buzzer and the game went into overtime.
The Warriors ended up winning 123-119, but Hall of Famer Rick Barry thinks Golden State shouldn't have needed the extra five minutes to take a 3-0 series lead.
"That game should have never gone to overtime. The official swallowed his whistle. Curry got crushed on that amazing three he made from the corner," Barry told KNBR 680-AM on Friday morning. "Two guys just knocked him down on the ground. It was no doubt that there was a foul on that play, and they didn't have the guts enough to call the foul."
Barry, of course, is assuming that Curry would have gone to the charity stripe and completed the four-point play (Curry led the NBA with a 91.4 percent mark during the regular season).
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If he had, the Pelicans would have gone the length of the floor to try and win it because they had no timeouts remaining.
Replays show Curry get off the floor and vent frustration to the official that no foul was called. While this was happening, Tyreke Evans was sprinting down the court with the ball and got a good look from the top of the key that hit off the back iron.
Curry had to get himself off the ground because Anthony Davis clearly charged into him in his attempt to block the shot.
After the game, the Warriors' superstar rewatched the shot, "Probably like eight or 10 (times), mostly just to see the impact once I landed because that was pretty crazy," Curry told reporters on Friday. "... That's why I quit football back when I was nine...
"As soon as I released, I braced for impact."
Impact there certainly was, yet Curry didn't get the call.
The day after the Warriors beat the Pelicans in Game 1, Curry did a little public campaigning for himself in the hopes of getting to the free throw line more often.
"I've got a couple scabs," he said. "I've got a lot of real estate left for the rest of the series, so hopefully I'll get some calls."
Perhaps the referees weren't listening, but the NBA did admit on Friday afternoon that Davis should have been called for a foul on Curry's game-tying three.
