The Los Angeles Lakers achieved a thrilling overtime win on Saturday night, thanks to late-game heroics from Austin Reaves and a game-winning shot in OT from Luka Doncic. With the Nuggets leading 116-113, Reaves came up big as he received two free throws with under 10 seconds remaining. After making his first free throw, he intentionally missed his second attempt, purposely throwing it to hit off the rim so he could grab his own rebound.
After that move worked, he quickly drove to the side and connected on a game-tying jumpshot, which helped the Lakers reach overtime. The extra session saw Luka hit an epic game-winner over a defender to give his team the 127-125 victory over a tough Nuggets squad.
However, the NBA has since released an update, indicating that the Lakers benefited from an inaccurate call in the fourth quarter.
According to the Last Two Minutes Report for the game, the officials shouldn’t have given Reaves two free throws with 9.2 seconds remaining.
Instead, the NBA shared that the Nuggets’ Spencer Jones had a clean strip on the ball, so there shouldn’t have been a foul. A video of the particular play below reveals what occurred in that moment.
While that doesn’t mean the Lakers wouldn’t have found another way to win the game, it certainly seems to throw water on the entertaining way in which they claimed their victory. Along with Reaves’ late-game heroics and Luka’s game-winning shot, LeBron James also came up big, making a dive and landing on the court to come up with a jump ball.
Los Angeles went on to win the game 127-125 and officially moved to third overall in the Western Conference standings. They’ll visit Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
