A ridiculous shot.
The NBA is famous for its buzzer-beaters, players scoring late on in a tense match to secure victory for their team in the dying seconds as the clock runs out. For the most part, attempted buzzer-beaters are missed.
It’s not hard to see why. There are thousands of people watching, the people competing are elite athletes, players are mostly tired and the level of pressure experienced is extremely high. But when they do happen they are beautiful.
On Thursday morning we were treated to one of the greatest buzzer beaters of the last few years, as the New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder battled it out in a battle of the Western Conference’s basement dwellers.
The Thunder, going into the game on a two-game losing streak, thought they had sent it to overtime when talisman Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a three-pointer with just 1.4 seconds on the clock. He could’ve had more, with his teammates calling for a foul, which would’ve resulted in a free throw to win the match outright.
THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE FINISH TO AN NBA GAME YOU WILL EVER SEE pic.twitter.com/eMV102hMqT
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 16, 2021
The officials didn’t give the foul though, and instead the ball was passed to the Pelicans’ point guard Devonte Graham. Running at pace, more than 60 foot from the opponent’s net, he threw the ball.
It had not right to get near the net, never mind go in. But it did, and the look on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s face in the aftermath says it all.
