The Boston Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers dueled back and forth in a thrilling matchup on Sunday afternoon, with Portland erasing a a 24-point deficit to tie the game down the stretch.

Unfortunately, the game ended in rather anticlimactic fashion.

Boston led 127-124 after Gordon Hayward sunk a pair of free throws with just three seconds remaining.

Trail Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic took the ensuing inbounds pass and proceeded to throw it right out of bounds, handing the ball back to the Celtics and essentially sealing the win for Boston.

It appeared as if Nurkic believed Blazers guard Damian Lillard was faking like he would come to the ball before breaking towards Boston's basket.

But even if that had been the intent, Nurkic clearly did not see Celtics forward Jayson Tatum reading the pass the whole way.

While it would have taken something fairly miraculous for the Blazers to get a good look, the way in which the play unfolded provided a lackluster ending to an otherwise riveting contest.

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