Otto Porter would’ve loved to finish out the final five-tenths of a second with his Chicago Bulls holding a one-point lead over the Philadelphia 76ers, but he was, in his words, “mid stride.” The Chicago forward was in the process of completing a mandatory drug test after his team beat Philly the first time. Yes, Chicago beat Philly twice on Wednesday night, though only one counted in the standings.
The NBA’s mandatory drug testing caused Otto Porter to miss the last 0.5 seconds of a wild game
Bulls-Sixers was weird for everyone, but WAY weirder for Otto Porter.
If this seems confusing, it’s because it is.
What happened?
Bulls guard Zach LaVine scored the game-winning and-one bucket on a layup, giving his team a 108-107 lead. He missed the free throw, which took more time off the clock, leaving a half of a second to go.
The Sixers called timeout to set-up their own game-winning play, but the ball was tipped out of bounds and time ran out.
Fans started to leave the arena and the players went towards the locker rooms. The game was over, after all. That’s when the league summoned Porter for his pee test.
But was the game actually over?
Turns out, nope. Referees ruled that the clock started too soon, and thus time ran off before any player touched the ball. So, Philly got a do-over, but this time with Porter stuck doing his drug test.
It ended just as disappointingly, with Jimmy Butler bobbling the in-bounds pass and hoisting up a miss.
So yes, the Bulls beat the Sixers twice, but only once with Otto!
“I was in mid-stride, so I couldn’t stop,” Porter explained.
“People were looking for me, but they couldn’t find me, then finally found me. But it was already too late. I grabbed my jersey, was about to run out. But then turned right back around and finished the process.”
This could’ve been a huge issue had the Sixers come out victorious, but luckily, it was all for naught. Though you’d imagine Otto and the Bulls would’ve been pissed off had Philly pulled the game out.
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