A 24-second shot clock violation is usually not the highlight from any NBA game. But hear me out! The OKC/Toronto game last night was pretty bad, and this Thunder violation was incredible. The violation in question came from Ty Jerome, the third-year guard who’s had an up and down season. (He had a great stretch in November!) Last night, he … well, please just watch.
Jerome brings the ball up. He wastes time—this is arguably more of an eight-second shot clock violation than a 24-second one. But then, as he begins the offense, he simply forgets the clock altogether, makes a few moves in the paint, then … passes the ball with about 0.2 seconds left on the shot clock. HONNNNNK! A whole possession without a pass, or a shot, or anything, really.
The joy of basketball is that a weird play like this can be beautiful in its way. The Thunder are not really, as an organization, trying to win games this season. The players are trying, though, and sometimes they try so hard that they just forget there are only so many seconds in which to do a basketball thing.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault blamed himself, postgame. “Part of that is on me … I’m trying to slow play a two-for-one,” he said. “It’s an eight-second possession since we’re initiating so late … That’s on me.” Ah.
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