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The game is tied. James Harden pulls up for a big three. The ball hits off the back of the rim, bounces up in the air, comes down and looks like it's headed for overtime. But old, wily veteran Jermaine O'Neal knows the score. He's tired and doesn't want to play five more minutes. He knows how much more important lottery balls are to the Suns than wins so he knocks the ball off the rim and gets called for basket interference.
Three points count. Rockets win, 101-98. Twitter explodes with glee.
That was fun. Good times.
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Otherwise, the game was notable for the lack of Suns collapsing. They didn't exactly look great but managed to hang with the playoff-bound Rockets on the road thanks to former Rockets, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic. Both guys seemed more than happy to send a message to the Great and Almighty Daryl Morey who picked Jeremy Lin over Dragic and cut Scola like an unwanted wart.
Scola finished with 28 points and eight rebounds. 11 of those points came in the fourth quarter. Fun stuff from the old Argentine.
Dragic throughly out-played Lin, and had his own 15 points, 10 assists, four rebounds, and four steals.
Also of note were Kendall Marshall's 1-5 shooting show (including TWO missed wide open layups) and P.J. Tucker's visually stimulating but completely ineffective defense on James Harden. The bearded Sun Devil paced all players with 33 points. Omar Asik and his horrible hair cut had 22 rebounds.
For more, visit The Dream Shake.
[Note by Seth Pollack, 04/10/13 8:16 AM EDT ]
This is, uh, interesting. O'Neal said he thought the ball was off the rim. Fair enough, although he's likely fibbing. Hunter said he doesn't know the rules which is a great look from your coach on such a common rule.
Phoenix Suns’ goaltending call on final shot gives Houston Rockets win
O’Neal said he thought the ball had come off the rim and he was trying to prevent a Rockets tip-in. Hunter said he will need to re-examine the rule after the explanation he received.