The final moments of the matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets may have had a quicker mood drop and upliftment than any other NBA game. With the Cavaliers down 2 points with 2.8 seconds left, it seemed that the franchise would record their 7 loss of the season. Just then, Tari Eason fouled Darius Garland on a 3-point attempt. The same was upgraded to a flagrant foul, giving Garland 3 free throws and allowing him a chance to secure the win for his team. However, Garland missed back-to-back shots, and handing the Rockets the win. While some Cavaliers fans may be cursing the player’s name under their breath, others publicly rejoice the Rockets’ win.

Controversial ‘Undisputed’ host Skip Bayless took to X to highlight his reaction on the recent game. Possibly addressing his 3.2 million followers and anyone else who came across his tweet, he wrote “If you’re watching Cavs at Houston, that was NOT A FLAGRANT ON EASON. BALL DONT LIE. GARLAND MISSED FIRST 2 FTS. ROCKETS SURVIVE. JUSTICE. LOVE WATCHING ROCKETS BATTLE ON BOTH ENDS.” Spotrac reporter Keith Smith, fortunately, did not put out an all-caps response that felt as if he was shouting at his readers. He live-tweeted the game, and certainly called out Tari Eason for his ‘terrible play’. Upon Garland missing his free throws, however, Smith celebrated. He took to X and wrote “Hell of a win for the Rockets. It was a journey to get there, but that’s a great win.”

There was no denying that this was an unusual action by Darius Garland. After all, throughout 42 games this season, the player has held a free throw percentage of 87.3%! He did not miss even a single free throw in 5 of the matchups this month, and came almost close to a perfect record with his 8-9 free throws against the Toronto Raptors. Unfortunately, against the Houston Rockets, Garland only made 3-8 free throws, meaning a success rate of 37.5%.

Losing one matchup isn’t too big of an issue for the Cleveland Cavaliers. After all, even after the Rockets game, they are tied with Oklahoma City Thunder for holding the best win record this season. However, despite the outcome, Rockets fans were still not happy at the foul call. As a result, it didn’t take long for their reactions to dominate social media.

“Boneheaded foul”: NBA Community takes a shot at Tari Eason for almost blowing the Rockets Win

One social media user wrote “Boneheaded foul by Tari Eason until Darius Garland stepped up to the charity stripe and said hold my beer.” The comment was accompanied by a laughing emoji.

Tari Eason may have made things bad with his block attempt that caused a foul. However, he looked to make things right later. Eason was seen shouting something to Garland when he was shooting the free throws. When asked about it during the post-game Q&A session, the Rockets power forward revealed “Sh*t after he missed the first one I said you going to miss the second one too.” And so he did.

Jarrett Allen became an unnecessary victim after one social media user wrote “Tari Eason saw what Jarrett Allen did and went “you thought that was a dumb foul with the game on the line? Watch this!””

This may have referenced what transpired earlier in the Rockets-Cavaliers matchup. With Donovan Mitchell missing a shot at less than 10 seconds remaining, Alperen Sengun grabbed the rebound. However, he was fouled by Jarrett Allen. Sengun then went on to put the free throws that gave the lead boost to his team. Sengun’s efforts, and Allen’s mistake, could have gone to waste if Garland had made the free throws.

One individual went on to write “Tari eason insane foul, what are ya doing” after the incident.

Despite the lapse, Tari Eason nevertheless had a good game. He scored 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists in 20 minutes. On the shooting front, he made 4-10 (40%) field goals, 3-5 (60%) three-pointers, and 1-1 (100%) free throws. By the time the game ended, Eason had an efficiency rating of +19. This was his highest since the +33 he secured against the Portland Trail Blazers in November 2024. While his foul could have almost cost the Rockets their game, they may not have reached that point if it wasn’t for Eason.

In spite of that, the criticism against Tari Eason continued. One social media user wrote “Tari Eason did one of the dumbest plays ever”, and “4 seconds left, and committed a flagrant foul on Garland”. When a team is leading by 2 points and a rival player attempts a 3-pointer, one can go careless in his block attempt. Therefore, Eason can be forgiven for making a quick decision in the heat of the moment. However, the ‘heat-of-the-moment’ excuse may not work for one user. After all, they wrote “tari eason committing a flagrant 3-shot foul up 2 with 3 seconds left is a CHOICE”.

Overall, the majority of reactions took a negative stance on Tari Eason, while some also criticized Darius Garland. The foul attempt may be something that people may forget easily. For now, however, Tari Eason better not check his name on X.