The Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz played a highly competitive game on Wednesday night. With the Warriors leading 121-119 and under a minute left, things got contentious. Jazz point guard Jordan Clarkson tried driving to the basket and got tangled with Warriors youngster Jonathan Kuminga. Kuminga went up and blocked the shot and Clarkson appeared to get him from behind around the neck.
That set Kuminga off and he had to be held back by teammates as a fracas nearly was set off. Meanwhile, Clarkson had to be held back by officials as he circled the Warriors forward. It took a couple of minutes for things to cool down. Eventually the refs took a look at the play and assessed a Flagrant 2 to Clarkson, ejecting him from the game.
The Warriors would hit one of two free throws, giving them a three-point lead. After Klay Thompson blocked a shot on the next Jazz possession, Jordan Poole would also go one-for-two from the line. That's when the craziness really ensued.
The Jazz' Malik Beasley sank a deep triple, cutting deficit to 123-122 with just under seven seconds left. The Warriors called timeout, enabling them to inbound the ball in the front court. However, Poole had the ball stolen by Nickeil Alexander-Walker leading to a Simone Fontecchio dunk with 1.3 seconds left. That handed the Warriors a devastating, gut-wrenching 124-123 loss on the road.
It appeared after the fracas, Golden State had the game in hand. But this was a cruel reminder to play all 48 minutes.