SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- San Antonio Spurs fans have the unusual opportunity to enjoy a doubleheader basketball game tonight but the first game should be a quick one.
Actually the Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers have three seconds of a disputed game to replay and will line up before tonight's regularly scheduled game to conclude a game begun Nov. 30.
Prior to their regular season game Wednesday, the two teams must play three seconds of an earlier game that does not yet exist in the record books because of a mis-ruling over a fake free throw by Laker Norm Nixon.
The game ended in a double overtime victory for the Lakers. But the Spurs protested a call on a fake free throw by Laker Norm Nixon.
Leading 116-113 with four seconds left, the Spurs fouled Nixon, who made his first free shot, cutting the lead to 116-114. But Nixon pumped on the second free shot, sending both teams into the lane in anticipation of a rebound.
The referees called a double lane foul and a jump ball. The Lakers won the jump, scored and tied the game 116-116. By the end of double overtime, the Lakers took the game 137-132.
'He (Nixon) never released the ball,' said Spurs' spokesman Wayne Witt. 'That's the key (to our protest). The referee should have blown the whistle, lined everybody up and had him shoot (the second free throw).'
NBA league officials agreed, so tonight, with three seconds on the clock, Nixon will come to the foul line with the score 116-114 to shoot that second free throw.
