April 13th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Should the San Antonio Spurs win the division title, they can thank in part Michael Finley and the officials. To recap a bit, Finley, despite an apparent shot-clock violation, made a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left in their game against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday; the controversial trey allowed San Antonio to escape from Arco Arena with a 95-92 win over Sacramento.
Interestingly enough, with the Spurs’ Tim Duncan not playing to rest his knees, the Kings led for most of the contest, but San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Roger Mason both scored to tie the game in the final minutes; then came the shot – a shot that will no doubt become big conversation at watercoolers nationwide.
After the “made” 3-pointer, referee Dan Crawford explained to Sacramento coach Kenny Natt that shot clock violations are not reviewable. Even San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said that the shot shouldn’t have counted; expect the NBA to review this and bring down a decision relatively soon. The loss was Sacramento’s 8th straight and their 15th in 17 games.
San Antonio’s high scorer was Parker with 25 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals while Mason added 22 (including five 3-pointers) with 5 rebounds, an assist and a steal; Kurt Thomas, despite scoring only 9 points, grabbed 13 boards and blocked 3 shots.
Sacramento was led by Spencer Hawes with a career-high 24 points, 8 rebounds, an assist and 3 blocks while Jason Thompson, despite scoring only 8 points, grabbed 11 rebounds in a losing effort. San Antonio (52-28) plays again on Monday when they make the short bus trip west on I-80 to Oakland to take on the Golden State Warriors while Sacramento (16-64) flies to Denver to face the Nuggets – also on Monday night.
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