Rod Thorn, president of basketball operations for the NBA, issued a statement Sunday saying replays showed that Golden State’s Draymond Green did foul the Clippers’ Chris Paul with 18.9 seconds left to play in the Warriors’ 109-105 victory over the Clippers on Saturday in the opener of their Western Conference playoff series at Staples Center.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, it was not called and that part of the play was not reviewable. When officials reviewed the sequence, they were only looking for one thing – who touched the ball last before it went out of bounds? That was Paul, and the ball was awarded to Golden State.

“After reviewing postgame video, we have concluded that the instant replay review of the out-of-bounds call with 18.9 seconds remaining in the game involving the Clippers’ Chris Paul and the Warriors’ Draymond Green was administered correctly by the referees and the correct decision was made in awarding the ball to the Warriors,” Thorn’s statement read. “Under the existing rule, referees may only use instant replay to determine which player caused the ball to go out and a limited set of other reviewable matters (see summary of rule here: http://t.co/IQ2qM6BOjb). Just prior to the ball going out-of-bounds, Paul was fouled by Green and Paul should have been granted two free throws. Contact preceding out-of-bounds calls is not a reviewable matter.”

The Clippers were down 107-105 at the time.