Beal: Refs took 0.1 seconds off clock because of 'tough s--- rule'

Bradley Beal is still trying to piece together the referees' explanation of the confusing ending to the Washington Wizards loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

With the Wizards inbounding from the sideline with 1.2 seconds left, the scorer's table believed Tomas Satoransky's pass to Beal had been tipped, causing them to start the clock early and giving Beal less time to get his shot off.

Due to the early start, the Wizards were then given the opportunity to inbound the ball again, but this time from deeper down the sideline. For some reason, though, they also had to do so with 0.1 seconds inexplicably shaved off the time remaining, giving them now just 1.1 seconds to find a bucket.

Beal questioned the officials as to where that tenth of a second disappeared to, and was given a candid response.

"Excuse my language, because I'm gonna say verbatim what they said," Beal said postgame, according to ESPN's Lawrence Murray. "They said it's something called the ... some s--- rule. It's a freak rule ... Oh, it's the tough s--- rule. That's what it is.

"I don't really understand it, I don't get it. We had a great play. Now that you take that away, that gives the defense a chance to set up, change some things. Now we gotta go back and change into a different play with the ball in the corner."

In his defense, crew chief official Bill Spooner attempted to clear the air surrounding the confusing mess, though his explanation seemed to provoke more questions than answers.