Watch Devonte’ Graham’s miracle shot bail out Garrett Temple

The New Orleans Pelicans came back from a double-digit deficit and beat the OKC Thunder on a buzzer-beating miracle by Devonte’ Graham.

No one is happier that shot went in than Garrett Temple, who tried and failed to foul Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the play before, allowing him to launch a miracle of his own, which he nailed.

The Pels were up three with 4.5 seconds to go, so the smart move is to foul and not allow OKC to take a 3-pointer to tie.

It appeared that Temple was trying to foul, but if you watch closely, he never really did, which allowed SGA to drain a wild step-back.

Before we could even digest what had just happened, Devonte’ Graham was heading the other direction to fire a shot from beyond half court, which he banked home:

Devonte’ Graham’s clutch shots and Garrett Temple

It was great that Devonte’ hit that shot and who knows, maybe this is the thing that will finally get the Pelicans going. They did battle hard to come back in this one, Brandon Ingram was great once again and this was a game they really needed to win.

This is the second time Graham has beaten the buzzer to win a game this season, which is pretty impressive considering they’ve only won nine games. Graham has the clutch gene and a knack for hitting those big shots.

As a veteran player, Temple has to make a smarter play on defense on that last possession, as the one thing you can’t do there is allow SGA to take a 3-point shot. It obviously was not an easy shot but it’s the only one that can tie the game so you can’t let him have it whether it is contested or not.

Normally the refs have a quick whistle if they know a guy is trying to foul on purpose, but Temple didn’t really touch him. It’s a tricky play, as you can’t foul while he is shooting or risk losing the game, which is why you have to foul him as soon as he got the ball.

It didn’t end up mattering because Graham hit that crazy shot, but if he didn’t and the Thunder go into overtime with momentum and win, that would have been a heartbreaker for the New Orleans Pelicans and Temple would be getting put on blast for failing to foul there.

That was one of the best endings to a game I’ve ever seen and I am happy the Pelicans are on the winning side of it because that would have been painful.