DeAndre Jordan on costly basket interference call: 'It was a dumb play'

DeAndre Jordan's premature tip-in Tuesday may have been the costliest and most crucial play of the playoffs thus far, and it may ultimately spell the end of the Los Angeles Clippers' season.

We'll never know if Blake Griffin's floater - which Jordan tapped while it was still rolling around on the cylinder - would have gone in on its own. We'll never know if the San Antonio Spurs - who would have been down a point with 4.3 seconds left - would have found a way to pull out a last-second win anyway. 

We know that Jordan was (correctly) whistled for basket interference, that the Spurs held onto their one-point edge and escaped with a Game 5 victory, and that the Clippers are now headed to San Antonio facing an elimination game on the road. 

After the game, Jordan didn't shy away from taking responsibility. 

"It was a dumb play," he said. "I hit the ball. We did a good job fighting to put us in a situation to go up one. You can't blame anybody on that but me. I tipped the ball."

Clippers coach Doc Rivers, while surely disappointed with the outcome, feels pretty confident the referees got it right. 

"I thought it was the right call," Rivers said. "I couldn't tell, you know, and I couldn't see it.... I hope to God it was the right call."

The Spurs, meanwhile, counted themselves fortunate to have been on the right end of the game-changing call. 

"That was the play of the game," said Manu Ginobili. "That's why I say we got lucky. The ball was going in, and he happened to touch it. That would have put us down one. Instead, it was a completely different ballgame. We got a little lucky on the play."

"It's tough," said Griffin, "but the series isn't over. We can't think like that."