The Charlotte Hornets are awfully shorthanded right now, as the team is without LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, and a handful of other players due to injuries and the league’s health and safety protocols. Despite this, Charlotte defended its home court on Friday night against the Sacramento Kings, 124-123, although it took quite the journey to get there.
The Hornets had the ball with the shot clock turned off and the game tied at 123. Thanks to a layup by Cody Martin and a foul, it appeared he was going to go to the charity stripe to ice it with 5.5 seconds left, but a review indicated that Martin’s foot hit the ground before he shot the layup. Because the foul happened before that, he went to the free throw line for a pair of shots and hit one.
Martin looked like he was going to be the scapegoat moments later, when he appeared to lose track of whether the Hornets had a foul to give and fouled De’Aaron Fox. He managed to get bailed out four times, though: Fox, who is shooting a career-high 74.1 percent on free throws this season, went 0-for-2, and in the ensuing scrum, the Kings missed both of their tip-in attempts to steal a win.