Bibby made a 3-pointer off the glass at the buzzer to give the Sacramento Kings an 85-82 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in a finish that was not without a bit of controversy.
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Grizzlies-Kings: 300k   Bibby's buzzer-beater: 300k |
Bibby, who scored 10 of Sacramento's 11 points in the fourth quarter, took an inbounds pass from Peja Stojakovic with 1.4 seconds left and banked in a 27-foot turnaround jumper to give Sacramento its ninth home victory in 11 outings.
The inbounds pass was tipped by Grizzlies swingman James Posey, but replays showed the clock did not start until Bibby received the ball. Memphis coach Mike Fratello argued to no avail that the shot should not have counted.
"They did not start the clock and the ball was deflected," Fratello said. "Therefore, the game should be in overtime right now."
"That how it goes sometimes," Bibby said. "We got the last shot."
The Kings made only one basket over 12½ minutes bridging the third and fourth quarters before Bibby scored seven consecutive points to put Sacramento on top, 81-72, with 5:07 to go.
"We were getting good shots, open shots," Kings forward Darius Songaila said. "In the end, it came down to getting big stops on the defensive end and Mike making that big shot."
Memphis rallied with a pair of 3-pointers by Brian Cardinal and a driving layup by Posey in a 10-1 spurt that tied the game, 82-82, with just under a minute to go. But Posey missed a go-ahead 3-pointer with four seconds remaining.
"They kept coming back," Bibby said. "But we got what we wanted. We got the defensive rebound and we got the last shot."
Stojakovic scored 19 points and Maurice Evans grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds for the Kings, who shot 36 percent (30-of-83) from the floor -- their lowest percentage in a victory this season -- to raise their all-time record against the Grizzlies to 31-8.
Cardinal scored 15 points and Posey and Lorenzen Wright added 11 apiece for the Grizzlies, who saw their four-game winning streak end.
"You always get a great show when you come to ARCO," Posey said. "That's what it is, a show."
Kings coach Rick Adelman won his 696th game, tying him with Hall of Famer Red Holzman for 15th place on the all-time list.