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The Lakers And Grizzlies Played A 49-Minute Game Due To A Clock Reset Error In The Third Quarter

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The Lakers beat the Grizzlies 123-120 on Saturday night in a game that was a tight battle throughout but saw L.A. eke out a win to keep their hopes alive of the 8-seed in the West (and thus two cracks at a Play-In win to make the playoffs).

However, rather than being a 48 minute battle, it was maybe the first NBA game in history to play 49:06 of regulation. That’s because of a clock reset error in the third quarter that put an extra 1:06 on the game clock after a Grizzlies shot clock violation, as the game clock reset from 1:14 to 2:20, with no one in the arena seeming not notice.

Lakers Grizzlies Clock
Bally Sports

Lakers Grizzlies Clock
Bally Sports

I went back and rewatched the end of the third quarter to figure out what happened, and it seems that it was confusion from the clock operator. Memphis had committed a shot clock violation with 2:20 left on the game clock prior to the one they committed with 1:14 to go in the quarter. So, when they reset the clocks, they must’ve either been on autopilot and done the same thing they’d done just over a minute ago or hit a pre-populated reset button that still had 2:20 on the game clock from the previous reset. The result was an extra minute of play, and in that time, the Lakers got a bit of an advantage. In the final 1:06 of the quarter (which shouldn’t have been played), L.A. got two buckets to Memphis’ one, turning a 1-point deficit into a 1-point lead.