Grizzlies announcer Eric Hasseltine goes wild calling strange play

The Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets played an entertaining game Thursday night, which included one bizarre play in the closing seconds.

Yet the best part of that play didn’t happen on the court. The best part was the incredibly animated reaction from Memphis Grizzlies Radio Network announcer Eric Hasseltine.

Houston led by one point with 16 seconds remaining. Rockets guard Fred VanVleet missed a 3-point attempt, and Grizzlies forward Jaylen Wells grabbed the rebound and took it full court for a dunk.

“Shot clock turned off,” Hasseltine called. “Wells … has a breakaway! Goes to the rim!”

And then Hasseltine realized an official had whistled the play dead.

“NOOOOOOOOO!” Hasseltine yelled. “NOOOOOOOOO!”

That is about as over-the-top, emotional a “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” as you’ll ever hear on a sports broadcast.

Hasseltine had a right to be animated and incredulous. Officials stopped the play because they thought Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins had called a timeout. Replays didn’t show him signaling for one.

Here’s what the play looked — and sounded — like with the call from TNT’s Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller.

Crew chief Ben Taylor told The Commercial Appeal’s Damichael Cole in the media pool report that officials quickly realized Jenkins had not called timeout.

“The official thought he heard coach [Jenkins] yell timeout from behind him and so he awarded the timeout. But after realizing that Coach Jenkins didn’t (call timeout) it becomes an inadvertent whistle and we put the ball on the side out in that scenario,” Taylor said.

Bottom line: A bad call by the officials led to a great call from Hasseltine. Many fans checked in on social media to applaud his effort. So did Grizzlies TV analyst Brevin Knight.