With the score tied at 115 in overtime, the Houston Rockets faced the herculean task of forcing a miss from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the dying seconds of the game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, after all, was still on the court and was coming off an incredible fourth quarter in which he made the game-tying basket to send the game to an extra five minutes. The Rockets then rose to the occasion, with Tari Eason swallowing up Gilgeous-Alexander's attempt from midrange to preserve the deadlock.

The ball then fell to Kevin Durant's hands with two seconds remaining. The 37-year-old veteran, however, was not aware that the Rockets no longer had any timeouts and tried to gesture for one — prompting Alperen Sengun to wrestle the ball from him immediately as the time expired. The officials seemed to miss Durant's call for a timeout and didn't reward the Rockets with one — which would have been disastrous for Houston.

After the buzzer had sounded, the entire Thunder bench was protesting to the officials, signaling to the referees that Durant had clearly motioned for a timeout, which should have been given. Had Durant been penalized for this, the Rockets would have been called for a technical foul and the ball would have been awarded back to the Thunder — a turn of events that would have put the game clearly in OKC's favor.

But Durant dodged a bullet, and he has to thank his lucky stars that he called a timeout in live action, which made it more difficult for officials to recognize. However, he nearly had his Chris Webber moment, and this might be the biggest sign that the Rockets star is aging.

Fans explode with reactions to Kevin Durant's blunder in Rockets debut

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Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) passes around Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) during the first half at Paycom Center.
Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Durant calling timeout to cost the Rockets against the Thunder in his debut for his new team would have been a cataclysmic way to end what has been such a slugfest on opening night. And fans aren't just about to let Durant live down that blunder.

“Kevin Durant pulled a Chris Webber lol. Sounds about right,” X user @juniorgarza86 wrote.

“Kevin Durant called a timeout the Rockets didn't have. Refs saved him from becoming Chris Webber 2.0. We have Double OT,” @CaitlinForThree added.

“Refs in @okcthunder game need to be suspended already for this garbage. @NBA do better. Do we have refs betting on games again? Clearly Durant called timeout in front of baseline ref,” @TheShadyFive80 furthered.