Players, coaches and fans were left scratching their heads when the shot clock lost power during Thursday night's NBL game between the Sydney Kings and Cairns Taipans, causing a delay for close to an hour.
When both teams came back from their half-time break with the Kings up 48-37 at the Cairns Convention Centre, players were left in a state of uncertainty when they could not continue the match because the shot clock would not turn on.
The air conditioning in the building also malfunctioned.
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After 51 minutes of no play both teams agreed to play out the game without a shot clock and no penalties for 24-second violations.
However, the integrity of the match may have been compromised, when some players took advantage of the anomaly, and dribbled the ball for longer periods before getting a shot off.
In the end, the Kings held on for a 86-83 in a nail biting finish that saw Jonah Antonio score a three-pointer off the backboard for Cairns at the death, only for it to be waved off because it came after the final buzzer.
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Sydney Kings coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah said of the delay: "I've never been a part of anything like this so we just need to go with the flow.
"No explanation for it. But hopefully both teams will be ready and hopefully nobody gets hurt."
Cairns coach Adam Forde praised Sydney's sportsmanship for agreeing to continue despite the challenges.
The Kings could have called for a win by default and Forde said he may have not been so generous if their situations were reversed.
"We wanted to play because we were down. If the game gets called [at half-time], they win," he said. "I appreciate the amazing sportsmanship shown by all of them."
It's not the first time power issues has plagued Cairns Convention Centre and the NBL.
In 2016, a city-wide power outage during a Queensland derby between the Taipans and the Brisbane Bullets was abandoned with less than two minutes remaining when the game went dark.
Brisbane was leading 84-76 at the time of the blackout and were awarded the win.
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