VIDEO: Russ Smith serves reminder that Summer League double-OT is sudden death
The NBA's three Summer Leagues are meant to help players develop and help teams evaluate the progress players have made. They are not about discerning an ultimate champion, fun though that may be.
Letting a game extend forever probably wouldn't be in the best interests of players and within the mission of the tournaments, so the leagues have an interesting wrinkle that often gets forgotten: If a game requires a second overtime period, it's played under sudden death rules. Next basket wins.
It came up at least once in Las Vegas last summer, and Russ Smith of the Memphis Grizzlies served an early reminder of it Tuesday in Orlando.
Playing against the host Orlando Magic (or "Blue," for this tournament), Smith received a pass inside the free-throw line during an offensive rebounding scramble, tossing in a game-winning floater. A walk-off floater, with 1:29 still on the clock, in basketball. It's weird.
For as incredible as the NBA is, it's tough to match the pressure-cooked environment that sudden death provides in the overtime of some other sports. Now that there's a taste of what that could look like, well, it's probably for the best.
Smith, by the way, had a terrific game and is making a case for the Grizzlies to keep his non-guaranteed contract on the books as their third point guard. He finished Tuesday's game with 20 points and, according to Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports, created 14 assists opportunities for teammates.
A 2014 second-round pick, Smith played six games for Memphis and another six for the New Orleans Pelicans last year, averaging 18.1 points and 4.2 assists in the D-League around those NBA stints.