Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images
The Bucks had a 99.9 percent chance to win the game in regulation at the 36 second mark and somehow this game still went to overtime.
The 2022-23 NBA season has already been a wild one. Teams that haven’t been to the playoffs since the start of the century are turning into playoff contenders (looking at you, Sacramento). A team with at least three future Hall of Famers, the Lakers, started the season off as one of the worst in the league. The last week has featured a 60-point triple-double with 21 rebounds by Luka Doncic, and a 71-point game by Donovan Mitchell.
Amazingly enough, things got even wilder Wednesday night.
The nationally televised game between the Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks had a weird first quarter. In today’s NBA, if one team only scores 25 points in the first, you would consider that a mildly successful quarter, but what if I told you the two teams combined for 25 points? The Bucks led after one quarter 13-12. I’ve seen junior high games with higher scores.
The next two quarters were more like a typical game. Until the four-minute mark in the fourth, the matchup was nothing to write home about, as the Bucks took a 90-69 lead with 3:50 left after a Brook Lopez dunk. Usually, with a team up 16 points like the Bucks were with 1:14 to go, fans and even some players have already checked out mentally.
Well, that’s where this game turned from mundane to absolutely insane, even as fans started filing out of Scotiabank Arena.
The last 1:14 seconds led to the Raptors’ improbable regulation comeback.
After a Bobby Portis bad pass led to an OG Aununboy dunk, the Bucks’ lead was cut down to 14. Here are the Bucks’ next six offensive possessions.
Giannis two missed free throws
Giannis turnover
Grayson Allen two make free throws
Bucks five-second violation
Bobby Portis steps out of bounds
Giannis misses an alley-oop at the buzzer
After the Portis turnover, Gary Trent came around a screen and nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 97 with 1.1 seconds left. Then Giannis couldn’t put home an alley-oop attempt, and, miraculously, we were heading to overtime.
Even Raptors Head coach Nick Nurse couldn’t believe it.
“I don’t think I’ve seen one that weird,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse post-game. “It’s right up there with the weirdness of the whole game.”
With 36 seconds left in the game, the Bucks had a 99.9 percent chance to win. The Bucks were outscored 18-2 in the last 1:14. You heard that right: in one minute and 14 seconds, the Bucks gave up 18 points.
Look at it this way: The Bucks gave up more points in the last 1:19 seconds than they did in 12 minutes of the first quarter. Somehow in that time frame, they gave up both a four-point play and had a 5-second inbound turnover.
I watched Tracy McGrady 13 points in 33 seconds live, and this was the first thing I thought of watching this game unfold. The difference between the two is McGrady’s heroics led to a Rockets win, and unfortunately for the Raptors, they fell short in overtime 104-101 after a 31-foot shot from Fred VanVleet clanged off the rim.
We have already seen some historic scoring games, Ja Morant staring at the basketball for 20 seconds and wild improbable comebacks and almost comebacks, and we are just in the first week of January. And the way this season has gone, what’s next? Someone scoring 82? Maybe a comeback from down 40 points? All we know for certain is that this could be a crazy several months to end the 2022-23 NBA season.
