Sometimes the basketball gods really come through for deserving players.
Toronto Raptors rookie Terence Davis found that out firsthand on Monday night in a close game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
After running an out-of-bounds play, Josh Richardson found himself with the ball following a pass from Ben Simmons. Richardson caught the ball and pulled up for a 3-point attempt. As Richardson went up for the shot, the referees ruled he was fouled by Davis.
A replay showed that Richardson may not have been fouled. The camera caught a perfect angle of the shot attempt, which appeared to show no contact made between the two players. Richardson then stepped to the free-throw line and proceeded to miss all three shots.
The full sequence of the play:
Terence Davis called for a phantom foul, Nick Nurse loses his mind. Richardson proceeds to miss all three free throws and then the crowd loses its mind pic.twitter.com/V0or84frsy
— Heart of NBA (@HeartofNBA) November 26, 2019
Raptors fans showered the arena in cheers as Richardson missed all three shots. The moment proved to be the ultimate Ball Don’t Lie moment, which Davis acknowledged after the game:
Terence Davis on his reaction to Josh Richardson missing 3 FTs after he was called for a phantom foul: "I'll just say Ball Don't Lie. That's what I said to the ref. Ball Don't Lie."
He said he loved the crowd reaction to the free throws, felt like they had his back.
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) November 26, 2019
Even better for Davis, the Raptors had the last laugh in the end after pulling out the 101-96 win over Richardson and the Sixers. Davis finished with 11 points off of the bench, including six in the fourth quarter, to continue his strong stretch of recent play.
Somewhere, Rasheed Wallace is smiling for Davis and the Raptors.
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