Not Shooting Uncontested Baskets
Written May 7, 2009 by Ben Burns
It’s a painful thing to watch when your team is up by quite a few points and close to covering. Then a player breaks away and has an easy chance to score a basket or touchdown, but instead elects to run out the clock. If you had the over in Game 1 of the Rockets/Lakers series then you know what I’ talking about. You couldn’t have felt good about your play most of the night, as the Lakers shot just 2-for-18 from behind the arc and looked rusty all night.
However, the game was close enough that the Lakers started fouling down the stretch to extend the game and the Rockets made 11 of 12 free throws in the final two minutes, pushing the game closer to the total. Then with 16 seconds left the score was 100-92 and Sasha Vujacic sped down the court only to brick another three. Aaron Brooks grabbed the board and threw it ahead to one of his teammates who dribbled uncontested towards an easy layup. But, instead of scoring he just spun a loop and dribbled until the clock expired. What a tease, and a brutal way to lose the game if you had the over. While it was probably the smart play and avoided people talking about Houston trying to run up the score, it sure made some totals bettors angry.
It kind of reminds me of a play with Brian Westbrook back in 2007. I had him on my fantasy football team so this bit me big time. The Eagles were up 10-6 with two minutes on the clock when Westbrook broke through the defense with a clear path to the end zone, but he slid at the one-yard line instead of marching in to score. Dallas didn’t have any timeouts, so Philadelphia just sat on the ball to win the game. with Philadelphia getting 10 points and the total at 48.5, Westbrook’s move didn’t matter from a gambling perspective, but he sure cost me a win in my fantasy league.
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