December 17, 2021, at dawn on the 18th in Portugal, Golden 1 Center, in Sacramento. The regular season match between the Sacramento Kings and the Memphis Grizzlies (105-124) will forever be Portugal’s first official NBA debut, with 22-year-old Nimias Keta as the protagonist. Six months after the Californians were selected in 39th place in the draft and in 30th game in the 76th championship, that’s all! This is history! They can rewrite the League’s books.
There was 1.01 minutes left before halftime (56-56) when assistant coach Doug Christie, who replaced interim Alvin Gentry due to coronavirus infection, told Nimias to step off the bench and enter the field, replacing the striker / Nigerian. Chimezie Metu.
Immediately positioned next to the muffler to fight for a free throw rebound, it took the Portuguese just seconds to feel the back of the left shoulder of Stephen Adams Grizzlies’ powerful stance coming into its own on the ball. rebound. Welcome to the NBA!
Before half-time, the Portuguese pole was still missing a mid-distance shot where nervousness could be noticed, and left one of their trademark images by placing the ball on the far end of Memphis, Kyle Anderson, as he tried to score the entrance to the basket.
When Keta returned to the locker room, he was back on the bench, but with 4.30 meters on the timer until the end of the third quarter (69-74), another opportunity to enjoy the NBA game and start picking up rebounds. There were two of them, one of which was absent until the end of the period.
In the last 2.13 minutes of the Portuguese basketball match, Maurice Harkless returned wearing a Kings 88 jersey. Once again, he always tried to be involved in the kings game, both by climbing a high bar to make blocks, and by working under the basket, after a rebound in attack, he could have fixed his first points at maturity, but failed. After 25 seconds, he had another chance to get the marker to work on the trash entrance, but that too was unsuccessful. The nerves were still exhausted. This is the next time, because the opportunities will definitely not be there.
At this point in record history, there were 8 minutes on the field with 0/3 shots, 4 rebounds (2 offensive), 1 assists, 1 disarm and 1 foul. The Kings will play again tomorrow at the San Antonio Spurs reception.
