Tuesday night’s game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks was close; despite Dallas jumping to a 25-point advantage in the first half, the Clippers gradually took the lead late in the game. The Clippers could not maintain their advantage, and the comeback attempt was unsuccessful. Despite this, the Clippers team put up a good fight despite playing without Kawhi Leonard once more, and they had an excellent chance to win late.
In the game’s dying seconds, Nicolas Batum went to the free throw line with the Clippers down by three points. Batum was compelled to make the first free shot and purposefully miss the second since there wasn’t enough time to continue the foul game. The Clippers lost the game despite his flawless intentional miss because Robert Covington botched the rebound out of bounds.
While Covington’s handling error has received much attention, Marcus Morris’ lane violation, which the officials should have flagged, would have prevented any put-back attempt. Dallas was fortunate because it didn’t matter, but the league acknowledged in its final assessment that it should have called Morris for a lane violation on that play.
It’s always fascinating to see the Clippers take on the Mavericks; this game was no exception.