The overtime foul call that decided the game, but nobody talks about the clock

Last Sunday in Denver, the home team was down by 2 with 4 seconds left in OT. The guard drove, got bumped, and the refs called a foul that sent him to the line. He hit both, game over. But everyone argues about whether the contact was real. I watched the replay six times and the bigger issue is the shot clock. It started at 0.8 seconds after the rebound, not the full 14. That forced the quick drive and the contact. So which matters more, the call or the clock mismatch? Has anyone else seen a game where the real clutch move was the official starting the clock wrong?

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mila_sullivan13h ago

Wait, the shot clock started at 0.8 seconds after the rebound? That's not even close to right. I've watched tons of games and I've never seen a clock start that late unless the refs are totally asleep. That completely changes everything about that play. The guard had no time to set up anything, so of course he had to force that drive and of course there's contact. The foul call is easy to argue about, but a broken clock is just a plain fact. If the clock had started right, he could have run a real play and maybe scored without any bump at all. That's the real story here, and it's wild that everyone is stuck on the foul instead.