North Carolina Tar Heels: Lawson Pulls a Slow One on Denver

The North Carolina Tar Heels have put some creative players in the NBA.

While the North Carolina Tar Heels are about to face the Pitt Panthers in a rematch, their alumni are playing in the NBA. That includes Ty Lawson, who is the backup point guard for the Sacramento Kings. The All-Star break was already a new time for the Kings because they shipped Demarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans. They returned to the court and Lawson decided they needed more time to rest.

The Denver Nuggets were the first opponent of the Kings. Sacramento played quite well, and they had a fourth quarter lead of fifteen points while the Nuggets were doing the whole last second fouling strategy. This led to an inbound pass to Lawson.

Lawson watched the ball roll, almost like a soccer player, and even watched it essentially stop on the court. He kept watching it and time kept rolling of the game clock. The shot clock and the backcourt clock had not triggered since no one had picked up the ball. Twenty seconds came off the clock while the ball sat there before Lawson grabbed it to prevent Jameer Nelson from finally stealing it. Lawson then was fouled three seconds later.

https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/835003374273609729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The play was silly, but it also was a head’s up tactic. Had the clock dipped below two minutes, it would have stopped after every basket. Lawson did this only because the game had about 2:30 to go and the clock was still on its pre-late game rules.

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Lawson has been trying to get back in the swing of things this year after his DUIs derailed his promising start with the Nuggets. His year with the Rockets and Pacers was essentially lost to him. He has played about twenty-five minutes a game and his three point shooting is down significantly from his career average. He also draws the start against the Charlotte Hornets, the next team on the schedule.

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