Did Jazz clock operators cost them win against Kings?
The Utah Jazz had a real “sometimes it be ya own people” moment Tuesday.
Utah lost a heartbreaker at home to the Sacramento Kings after a De’Aaron Fox layup with 0.4 seconds left broke a 115-115 tie. With the Jazz having no timeouts, Jazz forward Jarred Vanderbilt heaved the ball the length of the floor and found Lauri Markkanen, who turned and sank what appeared to be a game-winning three. Regrettably though, Markkanen’s miracle shot came about a tenth of a second too late and was waved off after review, giving the Kings the 117-115 victory.
THIS SEQUENCE AT THE END OF JAZZ/KINGS REGULATION 🤯🤯🤯
Fox puts the Kings on top with 0.4 left… Markkanen hits a wild shot that's waived off upon review.
Kings hold on in a THRILLER. pic.twitter.com/FnSZtEqxVW
— NBA (@NBA) January 4, 2023
Law Murray of The Athletic pointed out something interesting about the final sequence. He noted that the Fox layup appeared to have gone through the net with roughly 0.6 seconds remaining. However, the clock operators at Vivint Arena allowed two more tenths of a second to elapse before stopping the timer. That seemingly trivial sliver of time ended up being monumental as Markkanen lost out on his game-winner by only one tenth of a second or so from the looks of it.
So much for home court advantage. Jazz lost .2 seconds on the clock as Fox's layup went through the hoop. Think Jazz could have used that time?
It be your own people … pic.twitter.com/9g4EuXMC7z
— Law Murray 🥳 (@LawMurrayTheNU) January 4, 2023
Of course, you can’t really pin all the blame on the clock operators, who are human and had to work with a tricky shot by Fox that rattled around the rim before finally going in. The Jazz also put themselves in that position to begin with by giving up the decisive layup to the Kings guard.
But nevertheless, this is already the second time this week that there has been a controversial last-second finish in Utah.
