Ball Don't Lie

Ty Lawson lays in the first buzzer-beater of the NBA season (VIDEO)

Eric Freeman
Ball Don't Lie

There are many things to like about the NBA, and various people can disagree as to what they like best about basketball played at the highest level of competition in the world. What few dispute, though, is that it's pretty great when the entire game comes down to one possession and one shot. It's dramatic, fun, and an opportunity for supremely talented basketball players to do something amazing.

Preseason games are necessarily less intense than those during the regular season and playoffs, but the final moments of a close game can still thrill. And so, even though it's not yet technically the 2012-13 NBA campaign, we can say that we have our first buzzer-beater of the season.

On Saturday night, the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers faced each other at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. With the game tied at 104 and only 3.1 seconds left on the clock, Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson took the ball at the top of the key, darted past his Clippers counterpart Eric Bledsoe — who had made the game-tying basket on the previous possession — and laid the ball in at the horn to give Denver a two-point win. It didn't mean anything, but it was still pretty cool.

Real games start three weeks from Tuesday. Contain your excitement as best you can.

(via SLAM)

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