Stotts raised his hand and called the final timeout.
With 35 seconds left, theoretically, both sides still had one Offensive Time remaining.
Although the Trail Blazers had possession, if they failed to score on this trip, there was a high probability the Pelicans would hit a game-winner against them.
After all, even though they had battled the Pelicans to the very end, they had basically been unable to stop the Pelicans all game.
They had not stopped them all game. Hoping for Superhuman performance on the final defensive possession was too unlikely.
So regardless of the score, they had to score on this possession.
After the timeout, Lillard brought the ball into the frontcourt. He did not attack right away, instead dribbling to run down the clock.
They needed to score, but they could not leave the Pelicans too much time either.
With around 10 seconds left on the Offensive Time and 21 seconds remaining in the game, Nurkic came up for a High Post Pick and Roll.
It was a standard pick-and-roll play, designed to give Lillard a mismatch against Dedmon.
But Dedmon had already left Nurkic, ready to Double Team Lillard with Butler.
That had also been Stevens's instruction during the timeout: do not give Lillard an easy scoring opportunity.
But at that moment, something no one had expected happened.
Lillard did not use Nurkic's screen to launch the attack as the play called for. He attacked before the screen had even been set!
From two steps beyond the three-point line, he launched a Deep Three-Pointer!
With the game tied and the Pelicans guaranteed at least one more offensive opportunity, it was an incredibly unexpected choice.
Even Stotts had not expected it.
Lillard was not Curry. His Shooting Percentage from that distance was not guaranteed.
Yet everyone in