‘Error’ led to extra time in Lakers win vs. Grizz

NEW ORLEANS — More than a minute of extra game time was added to the clock in the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 123-120 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, an NBA spokesperson confirmed to ESPN.

“We have confirmed that the game clock was inaccurately set in the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers-Memphis Grizzlies game last night at FedEx Forum,” league spokesperson Tim Frank said in a statement Saturday. “After a shot clock violation, the clock was set at 2:20 when it should have been at 1:14. The error was not noticed in real time by the teams, the referees, the game clock operator or the stats crew. While unfortunate, the effort was not identified in time to resolve the situation in-game.”

The Grizzlies shot two consecutive air balls to end their possession with 1:14 remaining in the third quarter but the shot clock was reset mistakenly after the second attempt.

While Memphis guard Timmy Allen corralled the ball and hoisted up a third shot that also resulted in an air ball, referee Scott Wall whistled the play dead and signaled to the scorer’s table of the shot clock violation, awarding possession to the Lakers on the sideline. Allen’s shot, since it came after the shot clock should have already expired, did not count. When the Lakers inbounded the ball, the shot clock was reset to 24 but the game clock was changed from 1:14 to 2:20.

In the 1:06 of extra time, the Lakers and Grizzlies were tied 2-2, with Anthony Davis making a jump shot for L.A. and Jordan Goodwin making a jump shot for Memphis. The Lakers held on to beat the undermanned Grizzlies by three, with LeBron James scoring six straight points in the final minute to give L.A. a five-point cushion with 5.2 seconds remaining after they had trailed by one.

Memphis came into the night with 13 players on the injured list and relied on two-way players and 10-day contracts to fill out the active roster. While the extra minute of game time didn’t have any noticeable effect on the competition, it did add to the playing time total for L.A.’s two stars in James (41 minutes) and Davis (43 minutes).

“Everyone knows what time it is,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said when asked about the heavy minutes. “It’s that time of the year, man. Whatever we need and however long we need to push guys, it’s just got to happen. And they all understand that.”

The 39-year-old James shrugged off any concern about the workload affecting him for L.A.’s regular-season finale against the New Orleans Pelicans.

“I’ll be ready for Sunday,” James said.

The NBA also released its Last Two Minute Report for the Lakers-Grizzlies game on Saturday. There were three incorrect calls identified and they all worked in the Lakers’ favor.

With 1:42 remaining and the Lakers up 117-116, the league said that James should have been called for a traveling violation for switching his pivot foot after picking up his dribble in the center of the court above the 3-point line. That possession ended with a missed jump shot from Davis with 1:33 left.

With 47.7 seconds left and the Lakers down 118-117, the NBA deemed that James switched his pivot foot again after faking a pass to Rui Hachimura before driving to the hoop for a go-ahead score with 44.3 seconds left. And with 12.2 seconds remaining, the league’s report found that Hachimura should have been called for a shooting foul on the Grizzlies’ GG Jackson for initiating contact with his leg when Jackson was attempting a shot near the basket.

The report said that the technical foul that Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins was assessed for arguing the non-call on Jackson with 5.2 seconds left after calling timeout was correct because of “unsportsmanlike” behavior.