The Toronto Raptors are officially launching a protest of the result of their match-up against the Sacramento Kings where a controversial clock issue occurred at the end of the game.
Source: Raptors indeed launching official protest of end of game Sunday in Sacramento.
— Doug Smith: Raptors (@SmithRaps) November 21, 2016
Protest costs $10K, money refunded if they win; have 5 business days to submit evidence, league has 5 days from then to rule https://t.co/s1lWVhHSSy
— Doug Smith: Raptors (@SmithRaps) November 21, 2016
The end of the game featured one clock controversy regarding how much time was left for the Raptors after a rebound on the defensive end and an immediate timeout.
More notably, there was an error on the part of the in-house timekeeper in starting the clock after DeMarcus Cousins tipped the inbounds pass. After a Terrence Ross buzzer-beater that would have forced overtime, the officials checked the issue in Secaucus and deemed that Ross’ shot had actually occurred after the clock should have hit zero.
The last two minutes report from the NBA concluded that the officials had made the correct calls in both cases.
Toronto’s main gripe will be that Ross was unable to get the shot off in time because he did not know he had less time than what was shown on the clock. As a result, he waited longer to shoot.
It’s probably highly unlikely that the Raptors win this protest after the L2M report already deemed it a correct call. If the Raptors do win, the NBA would probably have to find a way to schedule at least an overtime period between the two teams to find an official winner. That’s a massive rarity and I don’t expect it to happen this time.
