March 24, 2016
The Philadelphia 76ers had their 10th victory of the season — A notable number, because with a win they would pass the the ‘72-73 Sixers and at least clinch not having the worst record in NBA history over an 82-game season — all but completely wrapped up. Then, it was taken away from them in incredible fashion.
With 3.1 seconds left and the Sixers up one point, Robert Covington was fouled and sent to the line for two shots. An 80 percent free-throw shooter, Covington missed the first and made the second. Then, this happened:
That is 30 percent three-point shooter Emmanuel Mudiay doing the honors for Denver. The play is reminiscent of the Nets’ Devin Harris getting stripped by Andre Iguodala and throwing up a halfcourt winner in 2009. Reminiscent, as in both shots were patently absurd and beat the Sixers:
I’m sure there are at least a few luckier buzzer-beaters in NBA history, but they aren’t coming to mind at the moment.
While the Sixers have a right to feel snakebitten, they might have mismanaged the clock in the final seconds. Hear me out: Denver was out of timeouts, meaning they couldn’t advance the ball after a made free throw. Once Covington missed the first shot, he should have tried to intentionally miss the second. A three-pointer beats you either way, but on a miss, the Nuggets have to waste precious time advancing the ball up the court.
Instead, Denver inbounded the ball and advanced the ball close to halfcourt without any time moving. T.J. McConnell played excellent defense, but Mudiay found a way to still get rid of the ball with about one tenth of a second left on the clock.
Still, even after acknowledging the clock management issues, Mudiay's shot is hard to believe, Harry.
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