Did Will Hardy call for timeout before the officials awarded it to him? Would Collin Sexton’s shot have gone in if Hardy didn’t call timeout? Would Anthony Davis been able to block Sexton?

These are the lingering questions that can’t be answered after the Utah Jazz lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, 105-104, on Sunday night.

With 8.1 seconds left to play, trailing by just one point, Sexton had the ball in his hands heading down the court.

“We like to let people go in that situation,” Hardy said.

Sexton crossed halfcourt on the right side of the floor then crossed over to the left side. Guarded by Rui Hachimura, he took a hesitation dribble and step backward and that’s when Hardy said he started to signal for timeout. At that point there were 3.6 seconds left on the game clock.

So far, the available clips of the play don’t show Hardy for the entirety of the play. He might have been signaling for a timeout with 3.6 seconds left. His clipboard can be seen in the air, seemingly signaling for timeout with 2.4 seconds left. The officials gave the Jazz 2.1 seconds.

“When Colin did a retreat dribble backwards, started calling time out,” Hardy said. “It’s obviously loud. The hope would have been to have a few more seconds than 2.1 but, yeah, it’s tough in that moment. Yeah, it’s tough.”

The problem is that the officials’ whistles can be heard with just 1.6 seconds left on the clock and at that point Sexton is driving to the hoop. And in the second that followed the sound of the whistle, Sexton scoops a shot up that goes in.

The crowd in the Delta Center erupted before realizing that Sexton’s potentially game-winning shot would not count. The cheers slowly turned to groans.

In the moment, Sexton was pretty upset. He felt like he’d had an advantage and could have won the game. Hardy thought he’d called the timeout with more time and was frustrated about that while also feeling like he’d let down Sexton. Anthony Davis told reporters that he would have blocked the shot. On replay it does look like Davis stops playing when he hears the whistle, allowing for Sexton to get a clean look. But we don’t know what would have happened.

“It’s hard because you don’t know exactly how it would have ended up,” Hardy said. “Had they not blown the whistle and everybody kept playing, maybe Collin would have finished it. I told Bull in the locker room, I robbed him of a moment.”

On the final possession, after the timeout, the Jazz fumbled a bit on the inbound play and weren’t able to get a shot off.

Though frustrated in the moment, Sexton cooled down by the time he was in the locker room, realizing that Hardy was trying to do the right thing at the right time and that the end result could not have been predicted.

28
Comments

Hardy and Sexton have a really good relationship. Sexton is use to Hardy yelling at him throughout games, knowing that the raised voice comes from a place of belief and love. So Sexton was able to show his frustration with Hardy in the heat of the moment and Hardy completely understood.

“It could have ended either way at the end of the day,” Sexton said with a smile on his face. “Coach felt like I was stuck a little bit, and he called it. It’s just one of those, ‘if it goes in good, but if it doesn’t, then oh I should have called the time out.’ So I don’t blame him at all for calling it.”

We won’t know what would have happened had Hardy just let things play out on Sunday. But we know what is going to happen next time Hardy sees Sexton in a similar situation.

“I hope we get another situation like that,” Hardy said smirking. “I’ll just start walking to the bench and sit down when he goes full court.”

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.