I would just like to offer a possibilty from real life. With 8 seconds left, the coach told his team to take a quick shot so that, if missed, they could fight for an offensive rebound. On the inbounds play, the center was left unguarded so he slid out past the 3-point line, got the ball, and let it fly. This is a common tactic in basketball- shoot and crash the boards so if the shot is missed you have another chance rather than hearing the buzzer.
I agree that the GE does not always pick the "perfect" option. I have never been involved in a basketball game where the "perfect" option was chosen every time. Has your team ever called a timeout with a few seconds left in a 1-point game only to find they had no timeouts left? Not that crazy? Check NCAA final game when Chris Webber was a freshman at Michigan.
Once I scored a basket that still makes me laugh.