Charlotte Beat Richmond in One of the Craziest Endings Ever, From Down 3 to Up 5 Thanks to Technicals in Final Five Seconds

Charlotte and Richmond just provided an ending that will be difficult to top. Richmond had a three point lead as Charlotte inbounded the ball with just over five seconds remaining. Richmond employed the foul strategy.

I broke down the foul up three scenarios, and then Ken Pomeroy noted some actual results, which included some bad beats for teams fouling. None, though, topped this. I can tell you I didn’t account for the “opponent will make first free throw, while you get called for a technical” scenario. My bad.

After Charlotte made the first free throw, Derrick Williams of Richmond got called for shoving his man to the ground while the free throw went through the net. The ref signaled a technical. It could have been called a personal foul instead – in fact, I would say probably should have. It was action during the course of a rebound. Chris Mooney, the head coach of Richmond, probably thought so, too.

Had it been a foul, Charlotte would have still gotten the free throws, but Richmond would have gotten the ball back. Plus, it would have been a different (worse) shooter at the line. Charlotte made all three remaining shots (the 2nd free throw and two technicals) to go up by 1. Richmond then had to foul, and after the foul, the frustrated Chris Mooney also got a technical. Four more free throws later, and Charlotte was up 5, with eight straight free throws from two intentional fouls and two technicals.

By the way, Charlotte ranked first in Ken Pomeroy’s luck statistic, even before this game. Going to guess they aren’t going down in that category now.