It is a well-established NBA rule that at least 0.3 seconds need to be on the clock for a player to get a shot off before the buzzer.
So when the Indiana Pacers got set to inbound with 0.1 seconds left in the first half of their NBA playoff game against the Miami Heat on Tuesday night, they appeared to be, for lack of a better word, screwed.
Enter Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
After taking the ball from the referee on the baseline, George immediately tossed a perfect lob to Stephenson, who somehow managed to beat the clock with a lightning-fast tip-in.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OG9ixC45PI&w=640&h=360]
As ESPN announcer Mike Breen notes, that was literally the only way the Pacers could have scored in that situation, and Stephenson managed to pull it off to cut their halftime deficit to 41-37.
Time would run out on Indiana in the fourth quarter, though, as LeBron James and the Heat went on a 12-2 run late in the game to seal the win and even the Eastern Conference Finals at 1-1.
Check out a GIF of Stephenson’s timely tip-in below.
GIF via Twitter/@_MarcusD_
