TORONTO — Jamal Shead flipped the ball high off the glass at the buzzer and ended up at the bottom of a celebratory scrum with his Toronto Raptors teammates.
What a game-winner — until it wasn’t.
Shead appeared to hit a winning layup at the buzzer against the Washington Wizards, but he and the Raptors — along with their fans — ended up deflated when a video review showed he got the shot off 0.1 seconds too late.
“Those are tough moments,” Shead said after the Raptors’ 118-117 loss on Saturday night. “You make it, it’s a great moment. Sometimes you don’t get the shot off in time and move on.”
The final sequence started after the officials missed Shead stepping on the sideline trying to inbound the ball with 2.3 seconds left — Washington’s Khris Middleton tried to point it out — before calling timeout. The Raptors set up a new play and A.J. Lawson inbounded the ball to Shead, who immediately drove the ball down the right side of the lane.
Shead managed to arc the ball high off the glass and in over two Wizards, sending the fans out of their seats and the Raptors in a pile on top of Shead.
The Wizards started dejectedly walking off the court as the Raptors celebrated, but the officials determined Shead just missed getting the shot off in time, rapidly shifting the emotions on both sides of the court.
“Tonight, luck was on their side,” Raptors coach coach Darko Rajakovic said.
Jordan Poole scored 34 points to help the NBA-worst Wizards win their second straight game.
The teams will meet again Monday night in Toronto.
Bilal Coulibaly added 18 points and 10 rebounds to help Washington improve to 13-49 with its second straight victory. The Wizards beat Utah at home Wednesday night before heading off to Toronto for the start of a seven-game trip that also has a two-game set in Detroit and games at Denver, Portland and Utah.
RJ Barrett led Toronto with 23 points, and Jakob Poeltl added 21. The Raptors beat Utah at home the night before for their third straight victory.
Poeltl was giving Washington fits, but when he was benched for the rest of the night because of a minutes limit, Washington took advantage.
Toronto played without several players, including Immanuel Quickley (rest), Gradey Dick (right knee bone bruise), Ochai Agbaji (left ankle sprain), Ja’Kobe Walter (right hip flexor), and Jonathan Mogbo (nasal fracture).
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