Wizards assistant distracts Courtney Lee on pivotal play (Video)
The Washington Wizards earned a narrow victory over the New York Knicks Thursday night, but it was not without controversy thanks to assistant coach Sidney Lowe.
In a 113-110 victory over the New York Knicks, the Washington Wizards improved to 23-19, which is good for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
Unfortunately, the great play of John Wall and the team’s 20-10 upswing following a 3-9 start might be overshadowed by one silly mistake from assistant coach Sidney Lowe in the game’s winning seconds.
With New York trailing by one in the final minute, John Wall rebounded a missed shot, put the ball behind his back to get past Brandon Jennings, and scored an easy dunk in transition to put Washington up three with 13.7 seconds to go.
The Knicks still had a chance to tie, but on the game’s final possession, it looked like shooting guard Courtney Lee passed up a decent look at a corner three. He drove past the defender who was trying to close out on him and dished the ball back out to Brandon Jennings, but Wall knocked the ball knocked loose and the Knicks never got a shot off.
As you’ll notice though, a certain Wizards assistant is damn near inside of Courtney Lee’s ear on that final play, yelling at him and waving his arms in the corner of his eye:
closeup of Wizards asst Sidney Lowe on the floor in the final seconds of the game. Moves his arms and yells at Lee to act like a defender pic.twitter.com/UjtZfJMi4i
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) January 20, 2017
This isn’t the first time a coach — head coach, assistant or otherwise — has been way too far on the court, and it won’t be the last. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a coach do something childish to try and distract a player from the sidelines either.
However, it’s the latest incident in what is becoming an increasing issue for the NBA. It may not seem like much, but that corner spot is a tight area of the floor. On the final play of a closely contested game, that little bit of interference out of Lee’s peripheral vision was enough to dribble him off the three-point line and make his ill-advised pass to Jennings.
According to Lee, Lowe was yelling, “I’m here” and “I’ve got your help,” which made Lee think the Wizards defenders had closed out on him:
Courtney Lee says a sly tactic from a Wizards assistant coach tricked him into thinking he had help on the last possession. pic.twitter.com/UhwGIT9JQK
— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) January 20, 2017
After the game, Lee voiced his frustration and wanted the league to take a look at that final play. That kind of interference should have resulted in a technical foul.
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Nothing can be done about the result now, but Lowe could very easily be facing a fine for this flagrant and lame antic.