Down 102-100 to the Blazers with 3.5 seconds left in regulation last night, Hornets guard Gary Neal took the inbounds from Lance Stephenson, drove right past Damian Lillard and appeared to knot the game at 102-all to force overtime as the buzzer sounded. It wasn’t quite in time, as replays show.
The Hornets sat at 3-4 before playing in Portland last night, and they could have used a big road win to pull even at .500. Alas, Neal’s last-second attempt to force free basketball came just a little too late.
While the GIF doesn’t show it, this screen capture shows the game clock red while the ball is still in Neal’s hands:
Photographer Bruce Ely has another shot to show he was a hair too late:
Evidence. #blazers win. pic.twitter.com/4LIrRiGjak
— Bruce Ely (@bruceely) November 12, 2014
If Neal had released the ball a tenth of a second earlier, there’s always a chance he misses, so he might have needed that extra time to make sure it went down.
Damian Lillard scored a game-high 29 points, plus seven dimes, in the win for a Blazers that came minus Nicolas Batum, who sat with a right knee contusion. LaMarcus Aldridge added 24 and 14 for RIP City.
The Hornets blew a 23-point second-quarter lead and a double-digit margin to start the fourth. Lance Stephenson had his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds and Al Jefferson poured in a team-high 22 in the loss.
(Video via G4NBAVideos)
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