It’s not often a team is tasked with taking the ball out from under their own basket with only 3.7 seconds in regulation, down by three. Usually they’d advance the ball. Also, this gives the winning team time to foul and avoid a game-tying 3-pointer. Except, Patrick Beverley failed to foul Ty Lawson in time as he sprinted across half-court and found Arron Afflalo for the game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer last night in Denver.
Here’s the sprint by Lawson before the most important of his game-high 16 assists last night with the flip to Afflalo who drilled it in James Harden‘s eye:
While Harden couldn’t contest the shot too hard — for fear of a four-point play, and the ensuing top headline for every basketball blog in the world today — he and Dwight Howard could only prepare for five more minutes in the Mile High air of Denver.
But Harden was ready to work, scoring eight of his 41 points in the extra session on a pair of buckets and two trips to the charity stripe, where he was 18-for-21 overall on the game. The Beard also dished for his team-high tenth assist in the extra session, and the Rockets escaped with a 115-111 victory.
Dwight Howard, who is still touch-and-go with a sprained knee, surprised some by suiting up and putting in 24 points while grabbing 16 rebounds on the night.
From where they were with 3.7 seconds left in the game, the Nuggets should have never forced an extra session. But once free basketball became a reality, it stung even more to still lose.
What do you think?
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