Suns’ Igor Kokoskov allows Pelicans to force OT with technical foul

Up late in a close game, you do not want to foul.

But the absolute last thing you want to do is get a technical foul.

Unfortunately, Phoenix Suns head coach Igor Kokoskov committed a cardinal sin Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Fortunately, the Suns managed to still pull out the win.

With 23.2 seconds left to play in a 117-116 game, the Pelicans’ Julius Randle was shooting his second of two free throw attempts. After the miss, both Pelicans and Suns fought for the rebound.

Thinking his team had the rock, Kokoskov ran out onto the court to call timeout.

Igor Kokoskov almost boxed out and went for the rebound. pic.twitter.com/BudzRkPMjO

— Mike Vigil (@ImPatBurke) April 6, 2019

The only problem was the Suns did not have possession, resulting in a technical foul for the head coach for running onto the court.

Pelicans guard Ian Clark drained the technical free throw to tie things up at 117-117, forcing overtime.

“I should know better, I should know better [with] trusting our guys,” Kokoskov said after the game. “We give up at least one offensive rebound per game when it comes to the free throw situation. … It happens so many times, I should know better. I thought we had the ball so I stepped on the court to call timeout. … I wanted to make sure [the refs] saw me when I called timeout.

“I made a mistake and almost cost us the game.”

Luckily, the Suns’ win didn’t vanish, it was just prolonged, as Phoenix took home the 133-126 overtime win in its home finale.

This wasn’t the first time this season a game has ended in a weird way between the two teams.

In a tight game that ended in a Suns’ win back in March, Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry called a timeout he didn’t have after a Josh Jackson 3-pointer tied things up in OT.

The Pelicans head coach was hit with a technical foul, with Devin Booker hitting the go-ahead free throw to eventually win the game.

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