Unless you happen to be a Sacramento Kings or Cleveland Cavaliers fan — apologies, if so — you likely weren’t paying much mind to their game last night. The Cavs are 12th in the Eastern Conference, the Kings are 11th in the Western. Whatever.
However the game did end with this entertaining sequence, in which Harrison Barnes runs a nice little out route and De’Aaron Fox hits him in stride (the lefty throw!), allowing Barnes to turn and hit the game-winning 3-pointer.
It’s sort of hard to tell if this play is the product of great execution by one team or lousy execution by the other. Such is often the case when watching middling basketball. But it feels like no team should get a look this good with 1.6 seconds left on the clock.
Nevertheless, it’s fun.
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1376150837400068098?s=19
Barnes is a 37 percent 3-point shooter, and he’s 6-foot-8, so he had to be considered an option in this scenario. Yet Cleveland opted to have Colin Sexton stand near mid-court, looking at the passer. He glances back to try to figure out what’s happening behind him but by then he’s already cooked. There’s no time to recover and get to Barnes.
The way he raises his hands in disbelief seconds after the shot falls tells me something didn’t go the way it should have there.
Also, is anybody else still not able to feel the emotion of a moment like this without fans in the stands? The above tweet calls this moment “WILD” but … it all feels pretty subdued, in reality. The Kings go nuts and that’s about it. Surreal.
Fox finished with 36 points (he’s averaging 37 over his last four games) and that pass was his sixth assist.
"I did play quarterback growing up…just in case y'all were wondering" 😂
🎥 Swipa breaks down the game-winning play pic.twitter.com/srVfItzIkY
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 28, 2021
Fine, I’ll say it: De’Aaron Fox would look good in a Kyle Shanahan offense.
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