On Wednesday night, Washington Wizards wing Trevor Ariza sent home the Detroit Pistons with a thrilling buzzer-beater. With the Pistons ahead 96-95 and seconds on the clock, Ariza took the ball off a broken play and calmly drained a three-pointer from the corner, sending away the Pistons with a narrow road loss. The Verizon Center home crowd was so stunned and elated that many of them couldn't cheer.
Except that's not what happened at all — it's just what the Wizards broadcasting crew of Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier took to be the outcome. In reality, Ariza's attempt came well short and hit the side of the net, providing the illusion that it had swished through the hoop. Buckhantz screamed "Dagger!" and called it a "miraculous comeback." Chenier said "Wow!" and began to credit Webster for his amazing shot ... until he saw the replay from a better angle. As Buckhantz says later, "The dagger has been retracted."
It was an embarrassing moment for Buckhantz and Chenier, but the shot does actually look like it goes through the net on the first angle. The best evidence that it didn't is that none of the Wizards and very few of the fans celebrate — in fact, Pistons forward Kyle Singler raises his hands in triumph. Context clues are important, you guys.
(Video via PBT)