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After getting blitzed in the opening quarter by the visiting Sacramento Kings and falling behind by as many as 26 points in the second quarter, it seemed like the Memphis Grizzlies would need a miracle if they were going to remain undefeated at FedEx Forum. They got one. We'll let the great Pete Pranica of FOX Sports South take it away: Wait ... what? After Mike Conley and Zach Randolph cut toward the ball, Marc Gasol set a screen for shooting guard Courtney Lee, who curled around the far side of the paint to the basket ... where he found himself wide open. Triggerman Vince Carter lofted an alley-oop pass toward the basket, which Lee caught in mid-air beneath the goal and scooped up off the backboard, sending it through the net and sending the Grindhouse into pandemonium. A review by the folks at the NBA's new Secaucus, N.J., replay center ensued, but the play was upheld. Good bucket. Grizzlies win, 111-110 . Insanity reigns in Tennessee. Now, if you've got a sneaking suspicion that something about this play seems familiar, you probably watched the 2009 NBA Finals: As a rookie with the Orlando Magic, Lee couldn't finish the lob layup that would've beaten the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Finals, knotted the series at one game apiece and taken away L.A.'s home-court advantage, perhaps changing the complexion of the entire best-of-seven. This time around, though, Lee converted. That won't do much to raise Lee's Q Score in Central Florida, but it sure made a whole bunch of Memphians happy on Thursday night. "Coach [Dave Joerger] drew up a good play in the timeout. I don't want to give it away, because we might use it again," Lee said during a post-game interview. "But we executed [...] I was hoping [the pass] came on the right side [of the backboard] so I could just tap it, but it worked out for us." And if you're wondering how , exactly, it worked out for the Grizz, you're certainly not alone. (And, at the risk of stealing a famously mustachioed gent's bit , you might be a Kings fan.) For one thing, it sure seemed like an awful lot happened in six-tenths of a second: HOW SWAY pic.twitter.com/2kowOy4gyd — Myles Brown (@mdotbrown) November 14, 2014 For another, how could Lee catch the ball and do anything other than redirect it with just 0.3 on the clock? What about the Trent Tucker Rule ? Let's revisit the letter of that particular law, as laid out in the NBA's official rule book: The game clock and shot clock must show :00.3 or more in order for a player to secure possession of the ball on a rebound or throw-in to attempt a field goal. Instant replay shall be utilized if the basket is successful on this type of play and the game clock runs to 0:00 or the shot clock expires on a made basket and the officials are not reasonably certain that the ball was released prior to the expiration of the shot clock. The only type of field goal which may be scored if the game clock and shot clock are at :00.2 or :00.1 is a "tip-in" or "high lob." [...] if the "high lob" attempt is a distance from the basket ring whereby the ball must be controlled in mid-air, either one-handed or two-handed, a minimum of :00.3 is necessary for a field goal to score if successful. OK, so since there were three-tenths on the clock when Carter inbounded, and since the ball left Lee's hand before the end-of-quarter red light came on, and since the replay confirmed that he got the ball off , the bucket counts. But the clock should start when the ball touches Lee's hand, right? It doesn't appear to, which will probably only incense Kings fans further: It's a similar situation with Randolph's rebound of Ben McLemore's second missed free-throw, which allowed Memphis to call the timeout that set up the alley-oop try, according to the rule book: NO LESS THAN :00.3 must expire on the game clock when a player secures possession of an unsuccessful free throw attempt and immediately requests a timeout. If LESS than :00.3 expires in such a circumstance, the time on the game clock shall be reduced by at least :00.3. Therefore, if :00.3 OR LESS remain on the game clock when the above situation exists, and a player requests a timeout upon securing possession of the ball, the period is over. There were 0.6 seconds on the clock when McLemore went to the stripe, so technically speaking, Z-Bo's rebound and timeout could have only taken three-tenths off the clock, leaving three-tenths for Carter's lob and Lee's finish, which — again, technically — only needed three-tenths to complete. Again. Technically.
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