The Utah Jazz weren’t robbed of a win on Thursday in a 111-110 loss to the Miami Heat, but they have a valid complaint about the officiating at the end of the game. For a moment, it looked as if Rudy Gobert had won the game with a putback off Gordon Hayward’s missed jumper, but the shot was ruled to have come after the buzzer.
Jazz have a game-winning layup called off after a clock mishap costs them 1 second
The Jazz started that possession with 3.9 seconds left on the clock, but there’s a valid argument that it should have been 5.2 seconds. The Heat attempted to ice the game on a possession before that started with 29.2 left on the clock, and the clock ran all the way out.
To me, it looked as though Joe Ingles picked the ball up slightly after the shot clock expired — which should have meant a shot clock violation, Jazz ball, and 5.2 seconds on the clock. Others saw it that way, too.
Here’s what Crew Chief Ed Malloy said about the play after the game.
It’s correct that there should have been more time. At the same time, though, you can’t say the Jazz would have won with that extra time for a number of reasons:
- The time changes everything. Even though it’s a difference of just 1.3 seconds, the Jazz may have run a different play with the extra time. If so, none of the results are the same.
- Even if they run the same play, Hayward might hold onto the ball longer. You’re taught even in high school that you can take one dribble for every second on the clock before you have to shoot. It’s a rough measure, but it’s relatively effective at establishing an internal timer to help make sure you release a shot in time when there are just a few seconds on the clock. Hayward’s shot is heavily contested, so maybe he uses that extra second to try to find an easier look — voiding any chance Gobert gets a putback in this scenario, too.
- And if the Heat know there are 5.2 seconds instead of 3.9, there’s a chance they box out better or get back to disrupt Gobert’s easy putback instead of letting him hoist it up uncontested after the buzzer.
- And yes, it’s possible the events play out exactly as they did, and Gobert’s putback counts. But it’s not guaranteed.
Utah surely would have preferred the extra 1.3 seconds — especially given the results. But ultimately, they had a shot from their best player (offensively, at least) to win, and it missed.
It’s the second late-game clock mismanagement in the past couple of weeks. It happened in a Raptors-Kings game last time.
