Perhaps he was on to something.
After Zach LaVine capped a 39-point night with a go-ahead and-one layup with 1.6 seconds left, the 76ers called timeout with 0.5 seconds left after corralling LaVine’s missed free throw. On the ensuing inbound pass, LaVine batted away a lob pass at the rim, and the postgame celebration commenced.
Fans streamed for the exits. Robin Lopez conducted his postgame on-court interview. Players from each team returned to their locker rooms.
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The trouble was the clock had started early. Officials conferred with the league office and called the teams back out onto the floor to replay the final 0.5 seconds about six minutes after the final horn had sounded.
A fair deal of confusion reigned, none more so than from Bulls forward Otto Porter Jr., who had already entered the drug testing protocol. His task was to produce a urine sample.
When Porter heard the players were needed back on the floor, he was past the point of no return.
“I was already in mid-stride, so I couldn’t stop,” Porter said. “People were looking for me. They couldn’t find me. Then they finally found me, but by that time, it was too late.”
The 76ers’ final play was a dud, as Butler bobbled an inbounds far beyond the 3-point line and couldn’t get a shot off in time.
“I kind of like it,” Boylen joked about the clock starting early.
“I’m taking our clock guys to dinner.”
That capped a Bulls rally from 10 down with just under six minutes left, a surge that was propelled by LaVine, who had 13 points in the final 5:30.
LaVine’s game-winner came amid a communication breakdown by the 76ers. With 4.8 seconds left, he inbounded to Robin Lopez on the left wing, then took a hand-off back with momentum toward the middle of the floor. Butler started the play on LaVine but didn’t go with him, and Lopez’s defender didn’t switch onto him. It left a wide-open lane to the hoop, and LaVine finished through contact.
“He’s a big-time player for us,” Lopez said. “He made more than one big-time play down the stretch. The one at the end sticks out, but he made multiple huge plays for us.”
The other headlining play of the night for the Bulls came with about four minutes left in the third quarter. On a scramble, guard Ryan Arcidiacono dove into the first row along the sidelines to save the ball back to Porter, who then threw a perfect oop pass to LaVine for a dunk to finish a sequence that may highlight the Bulls’ season highlight reel.
“He hit that woman really hard in the front row,” coach Jim Boylen said. “He looked like he took it in the ribs. He got up kind of slow.
“That’s what we have to do. That’s what the city wants to see. That’s what winning basketball is. That’s a big play for us.”
Arcidiacono was no worse for the wear, happy that his team got the last laugh and continued to build confidence with its sixth win in nine games.
“I just search out plays like that, but I feel like they always kind of find me as well,” Arcidiacono said. “It goes hand in hand. Any winning play I can make for our team.”