Shots in the NBA that don’t count aren’t exactly regular fodder for die-hard fans of the sport. What Marco Belinelli did on Thursday, though, was spectacular even in defeat.
The Charlotte Hornets swingman took the ball out of bounds with just 0.5 seconds remaining against the Detroit Pistons, with his team trailing by the narrowest of margins at 115-114. Belinelli then attempted the impossible, throwing the ball off the back of Detroit’s Marcus Morris while trying to gather the ball and get a shot off before the clock expired.
Predictably, the timing did not cooperate with Belinelli, as his shot was clearly let go after the final buzzer sounded, partly because the clock started once he threw the ball off of Morris’ back and not when it got back into his hands. For good measure, the veteran gunner somehow got the shot to fall (with some help from the backboard) and it undoubtedly provided a good scare for both the Pistons and their fans.
In the recent past, Marco Belinelli’s greatest claim to fame in the greater basketball world was inexplicably commanding a first-round pick in trade prior to the 2016 NBA Draft. Now, he can add this fine idea to his resume, even if the execution was lacking by just a few tenths of a second. We should all dream big in the same fashion.
