D'Antoni is 1st to use coach's challenge: 'It's easy to screw up'

Houston Rockets bench boss Mike D'Antoni became the first person to utilize the NBA's newly implemented coach's challenge during Thursday night's preseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Rockets superstar James Harden was whistled for a personal foul - one of four calls that are challengeable during the 2019-20 season - when D'Antoni signaled for a review. After deliberation, the original call was upheld by the officials.

"It's easy to screw up," D'Antoni said postgame, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "It's going to be a little adjusting. It takes a while to get used to. We don't have the regular flow of information that we'll have in a regular game. They'll tell me before that I should go out there and challenge."

"Mike was saying he wanted to be the first one so he beat me to the draw," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "We were going to have a contest. Mike won. I forgot about it, to be honest."

Each team is allowed to use one challenge per game, which asks the officials to determine through video replay whether a personal foul, out-of-bounds violation, goaltending, or basket-interference call was made correctly. The new addition to the NBA rule book, which has been in place in the G League for the past two seasons, will be rolled out on a trial basis this season.