In basketball, there’s never really one play that absolutely makes or breaks a game — that includes the plays in the waning moments of the game.
Yes, obviously, some plays feel bigger than others. But each moment and action builds and builds until we get to the final result. So it’s hard to say that one play impacts the game more than another.
With that being said, Jaden Ivey’s Chris Webber moment for the Pistons on Wednesday night certainly didn’t help the Pistons against the Bulls.
Detroit had the ball with a chance to pull ahead or tie the Bulls with just under 10 seconds left in the game. Ivey is inbounding the ball for Detroit and the team has no timeouts left. The Pistons have to inbound the ball.
But Ivey doesn’t like what he sees, so he calls a timeout. Normally, that’s the right thing to do. But in this case? It cost his team dearly.
The Pistons didn’t have any timeouts.
The Pistons had a chance to win the game or send it to overtime until Jaden Ivey called a timeout that the team did not have…
An excess timeout results in a technical foul and the Bulls went on to win the game 😬pic.twitter.com/7zIgFIsluT
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 2, 2023
Poor Jaden Ivey. You could tell immediately that he’d recognized his mistake after he made it.
The Bulls shot the technical free throw and got the ball back after this. The Pistons had to foul again. The Bulls made all 3 free throws to push the lead to 117-112.
That’s rough, man. It had to be a tough pill for Ivey to swallow knowing that this play put the game out of reach.
But, again, no one play makes or breaks a game. Dwane Casey said as much after the loss, writes ESPN.
“He panicked, but the game wasn’t won or lost on that one play…It was lost in the first quarter. With the laissez-faire approach we had defensively, they got whatever they wanted. It’s such a mountain to climb when you get behind in this league.”
And he’s right. Detroit gave up 38 points in the first quarter and then got outscored 32-18 in the second quarter. The Pistons played catch-up through the entire game and ti’s hard to come back from that.
Ivey shouldn’t hang his head on this. Though we rarely see this, it’s an honest mistake. And one that I’m almost certain won’t happen to him again.