May

23

L JThe end of playoff games were like the market end. Down 10 points in last minutes in stock on Friday. The Cavs beat Orlando by one with a last second three-point shot by Lebron. It was one of the historic moments. "A second is a long time for me. For others, it's very short." said Lebron. The last second of the day, very long for those on wrong side. Last second of last day of 2008. Very long. "I was punch drunk. I was stuck," said teammate Williams who passed him the ball. How many times do we look at screen at end of day with disbelief. That price has to change. It didn't happen. It wasn't fair." That walk. The refs made a great call," said Lebron about a call against him with a minute left that would have iced the game. My goodness. Uncle Howie. Loved to argue with the refs before the game. "You miserable so and so. If you give me one more bad call during the game, because you're a jealous non-entity, I'll give you the beating of your life under the boardwalk after the game. " But Artie would say, "Now, Sam, I'm afraid your judicious decisions under pressure are often not as applauded as they should be. Might we take you out for some Moo Goo Gai Pan after the game?" Who's going to get the better calls? Lebron or Howie?

George Parkanyi adds:

This happened to me last year as well — or was it the year before? I never watch basketball and I happened to change channels and caught the end of a Cavaliers-Pistons (I think it was) game which went into double overtime and was won by the Cavaliers. It was fantastic action which even I as a non-basketball fan found spell-binding, and the announcers were excitedly going on how this would go down in history as one of the great classics.

Last night the Blackhawks-Detroit hockey game went into overtime but I had to pick up my son Tom at the end of his high-school dance. When I got home, the game was over, so I switched over the sports channel to check the highlights for who won. Guess what, it was the Cavaliers-Orlando game, and I got to see live two of the most amazing shots in basketball — the one by the Orlando guy who ran the clock down to one second and then made a beautiful two-point jump shot to ostensibly seal the game, and then the amazing three-point buzzer-beater by Lebron James. The clock was at .2 seconds when he left the floor to make his shot. (Although I can't figure out how one second was enough time for a pass from the sideline, the catch, and then the jump. When do they start the clock?)

Funny though, for some reason I don't seem to magically step into oil-goes-from-$50-to-$150 trades… this one doesn't seem to translate to the markets.

Corban Bates replies:

In basketball, the clock starts when a player in-bounds touches the ball. Therefore, the clock didn't start last night until Lebron touched it. One second on the clock is plenty of time to get a good shot off. In fact, the rules state that there must only be 0.3 on the clock to catch and shoot the ball (anything less than .3 is physically impossible and must only be tipped in). This came into play last year when my team, West Point, beat rival VMI at VMI. We were up one with 0.2 left and they had the ball out of bounds under their basketball. All five of us were guarding the paint knowing they could only, by rule, tip the ball in. Apparently they were not aware of the rule as one of their players called for the ball at the three-point line, caught it, and fired up a three. It went in, the crowd went wild, and they all ran around the court celebrating their victory. The looks on their faces when it was announced that we won were priceless…


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