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Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS — More than a minute of overtime was added to the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' 123-120 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, an NBA spokesperson confirmed to ESPN.
“We are aware that the game clock was set incorrectly during the third quarter of last night's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum,” league spokesman Tim Frank said in a statement Saturday. I have confirmed it.” “After the shot clock violation, the clock was set to 2:20 when it should have been 1:14. Teams, referees, game clock operators, and statisticians were not aware of this error in real time. Unfortunately, , that effort was not identified in time to resolve the situation in-game.”
The Grizzlies ended the possession with two consecutive air balls with 1:14 left in the third quarter, but the shot clock was incorrectly reset after the second attempt.
Memphis guard Timmy Allen corralled the ball and fired a third shot, which also went for air, but referee Scott Wall blew the play-dead whistle and wrote a shot-clock violation on the scorer's table. He gave the signal and gave possession to the Lakers on the sideline. Allen's shot did not count because it came after the shot clock should have already expired. When the Lakers inbounded the ball, the shot clock was reset to 24, but the game clock was changed from 1:14 to 2:20.
1:06 into overtime, the Lakers and Grizzlies were tied 2-2, with Anthony Davis making a jump shot for Los Angeles and Jordan Goodwin making a jump shot for Memphis. The Lakers persevered and defeated the lowly Grizzlies by three points, with LeBron James scoring six straight points in the final seconds, going from one point behind to a five point lead over Los Angeles with 5.2 seconds left.
Memphis entered the night with 13 players on injured reserve and relied on two-way players on 10-day contracts to fill out the active roster. The extra minute of game time had no noticeable impact on the competition, but it did increase the total playing time of LA's two stars, James (41 minutes) and Davis (43 minutes).
“We all know what time it is,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said when asked about heavy game time. “It's that time of year again. Whatever we need, however long we need to push the players, it has to happen. And they all understand that.”
James, 39, dismissed concerns that his workload would affect him heading into L.A.'s final regular-season game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
“I'm ready for Sunday,” James said.
The NBA also released a report on the last two minutes of Saturday's game between the Lakers and Grizzlies. Three erroneous calls were confirmed, all of which went in favor of the Lakers.
With 1:42 left and the Lakers leading 117-116, the league should charge James with a traveling violation for switching his foot after picking up a dribble above the 3-point line in the middle of the court. announced that it was. That possession ended with Davis missing a jump shot with 1:33 left.
With 47.7 seconds left and the Lakers trailing 118-117, the NBA pivoted again after James faked a pass to Rui Hachimura, then drove to the hoop for the go-ahead score with 44.3 seconds left. It was deemed that And with 12.2 seconds left, the league report said Hachimura should have been called for a shooting foul because Grizzlies' GG Jackson began making contact with his leg while attempting to take a shot near the basket. He expressed his judgment.
The report said Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins was entitled to a technical foul for claiming a non-call on Jackson with 5.2 seconds left after a timeout call for “unsportsmanlike” conduct.
