The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Denver Nuggets, 108-107, on a game-winning shot from Marc Gasol at the buzzer.
The final 11 seconds of Grizzlies-Nuggets was a lesson in terrible ball security
It was a sloppy finish in Memphis.
But it took a flurry of mistakes in crunch time from both teams to get to that point. Denver and Memphis combined to turn the ball over three times in the final 11 seconds.
The first came when the Grizzlies held a one-point lead. Off an inbound pass, Gary Harris and Emmanuel Mudiay trapped Mike Conley. Harris was able to tip the ball away for a breakaway Mudiay layup to take the lead.
Down by one with seven seconds to go, the GrizzlIes’ Vince Carter struggled to find a teammate to throw the ball in bounds to. He hit James Ennis just before a five-seconds call, and the forward threw the ball right back out of bounds.
With 4.7 seconds to go, all Denver had to do was throw the ball in bounds, wait to be fouled, and finish at the line to go up three points. The Nuggets subbed in Mike Miller, a role player known for his inbounding abilities, for the first time in the game to make sure they didn’t commit another mistake. But his throw went over Danilo Gallinari’s head and into Conley’s hands.
Conley had the ball poked out of bounds on his way to the rim to set up the game-winner for Gasol at the buzzer.
It was a tough break for the Nuggets, as the team dropped its fourth game of the season by one possession.
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