Chris Paul pulled off a savvy move that helped his Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
The Thunder were down 121-119 with just over a second left in the game. Karl-Anthony Towns was at the free throw line and had missed his first free-throw attempt. Jordan Bell then entered the game for Shabazz Napier, but Paul noticed Bell’s jersey was untucked. CP3 yelled that out, and referee Scott Foster decided to call a delay of game on Minnesota.
The delay of game gave the Thunder a technical free throw, which Danilo Gallinari made to make the score 121-120. Towns tried to miss the second free throw to force Oklahoma City to have a long shot if any on the rebound, but he made it instead.
Steven Adams then threw a long pass to Dennis Schroder, who made a tough shot to tie the game as time expired.
The Thunder ended up winning 139-127 in overtime.
Credit to Chris Paul for his veteran smarts on that move, and to his teammates for the incredible last-second play. And what a blown game for Minnesota. CP3 is like a basketball Bill Belichick; the guy knows all the rules and tricks to gain an edge.
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