Lakers-Nuggets Game 1: Clock malfunction causes forces shot clocks to be moved to corners of court
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Hosting their first Western Conference finals game since 2009, the Nuggets ran into a bit of an issue ahead of their Game 1 matchup against the Lakers. The game and shot clocks above the backboard malfunctioned, so the game started with shot clocks placed in the corners instead.
According to the ESPN broadcast, the issue was only affecting one of the clocks (though the clocks on both ends were turned off so neither team gained an advantage), and the malfunction was causing the number four to look like a lowercase “h” and the number two to look like the number nine.
Though the issue was something both teams had to deal with, the Nuggets didn’t seem to have many issues, jumping out to a 37-25 first-quarter lead behind eight points, 12 rebounds and five assists for Nikola Jokic. Neither team committed a shot clock violation in the opening period, though there was a possession early where LeBron James clearly looked toward the corner late in the shot clock before a bad miss.
While malfunctioning shot clocks aren’t unheard of, it was a strange last-minute adjustment for both teams ahead of their much-anticipated series opener.