SACRAMENTO -- The thrill of victory to the agony of defeat all in the blink of an eye. With no time remaining on the clock, Rudy Gobert tipped in George Hill’s 17-foot fadeaway jumper to give the Utah Jazz a buzzer beating win over the Sacramento Kings Sunday night. And then things got weird.
Official Derrick Collins waived the shot off, calling goaltending on the 7-foot-1 Frenchmen. The Golden 1 Center crowd cheered wildly, but that too was short-lived. After a momentary delay, the NBA’s review center in Secaucus, New Jersey overturned Collins’ call, giving the Jazz a stunning 110-109 overtime victory over the Kings that sent the home team to their fourth straight loss.
“It looked like it was going to hit the rim, that was just from my viewpoint,” Darren Collison said of the final shot attempt. “But I didn’t see the other viewpoints and what the people in new Jersey saw. It was a tough loss.”
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Slow motion review clearly showed that Hill’s shot was short of the rim and faded to the right. When Gobert flicked it towards the basket, there was still a few ticks on the clock and time expired as the ball slid through the rim.
“I was rolling because I thought he was going to pull up into the shot and I didn’t know if I had time to get the rebound or not,” Gobert told reporters following the game. “When I saw the ball off to the side, I just tipped it in.”
If there was any consolation to take from the loss, Sacramento showed that they are still 100 percent engaged, despite a trade that sent All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans two weeks ago.
“It was good,” veteran Arron Afflalo said. “I was extremely proud of my teammates. Everybody was engaged on both ends of the court. We played with the purpose to win tonight.”
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The Kings looked like a well-oiled machine early after three straight days of practice, building a 16-point lead over the Jazz in the second quarter. Dave Joerger turned to his veterans and they responded with a gritty effort for 53 minutes.
“It was a playoff game for us,” Joerger said following the loss. “We played with a playoff intensity.”
The starting backcourt of Collison and Ty Lawson combined to score 37 points and dish out nine assists. Afflalo started at the three and managed to chip in 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Willie Cauley-Stein added 15 points and nine rebounds in 39 minutes of action and starting center Kosta Koufos posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double before fouling out late.
Rookie Buddy Hield tossed in 10 points in 19 minutes of action and Garrett Temple chipped in 11 points, four assists and three steals in his first game back after missing 12 straight with a torn left hamstring.
In the end, the experience of the Jazz won out. Sacramento made crucial mistakes down the stretch of the fourth quarter, including a five-second call coming out of a timeout with 53.8 seconds remaining that proved costly.
The Kings traveled to Denver following the loss where they will face the Nuggets on the second night of a back-to-back. The last time these two teams faced off, Willie Cauley-Stein posted a career-best 29 points and added 10 rebounds as the Kings came away with the win. Sacramento will need another performance like that from their young big if they hope to upset the Nuggets and snap their four-game losing streak.