Sources have informed Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle that the Rockets intend to file a league protest with the NBA over referees’ controversial ruling on a James Harden dunk in an eventual 135-133 double overtime loss to the Spurs Tuesday.
Harden slammed home the jam with 7:50 left in regulation and Houston still up by 13 points, but game officials ruled that the basket did not count when it popped out in front of the basket upon getting caught in the net. Had Harden’s dunk been tallied, it would have boosted the Rockets’ advantage to a 15 points. When the dust had settled, the team would go on to blow a 22-point lead in San Antonio.
Additionally, sources tell ESPN’s Tim MacMahon that the Rockets hope to have the final 7:50 of regulation be replayed in the future, with Houston up 104-89 and the dunk being counted for two points. Houston does not anticipate an automatically-rewarded win.
Replaying game action is not wholly unprecedented, though it is exceedingly rare. Due to this, the Rockets’ request faces an uphill battle for acceptance. The final 51.8 seconds of a Hawks–Heat game were replayed in 2008 during a subsequent meeting between both teams. Two other partial game replays over reversed rulings transpired in 1982 and 1979.
Both the Rockets and Spurs have five days to provide necessary evidence in support of their claims. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver then has five days after receiving all evidence to make a ruling.
This controversial call happened with over seven minutes left in regulation and the Rockets were winning by 15. Once again the Rockets just being crybabies it’s kind of what they do.
Why crybabies? In a very competitive West every win is important. Are they short of 2 points in the game? Yes. Would it matter if they had counted the 2 points? We don’t know and that’s why you replay the stretch. Of course it’s the rockets fault for losing. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to disregard this matter.
The article says they blew a 22 point lead. I can understand being upset with the call, but it wasn’t a game deciding basket. If they were up by single digits I could understand, but a 22 point lead blown? Sorry, just take the loss
It was a deciding basket, as the final regulation score was a tie.
It doesn’t say that, says they were up 13 with 7+ minutes to go in the 4th quarter
Exactly! Teams blow 10+ point leads daily. 2 points would’ve made a difference. I’m not sure what your argument is, since with every post you’re making my point more and more.
Oh wow! You had a point! One prob, basketball is a game, they could have gone cold and lost either way, they obviously lost a 22 point lead and then still the game. I’m sure both sides could argue there were foul calls missed-which are potential points that also could have changed the game. They need to suck it up and go to the next game.
Whiny clowns. It’s no different than the refs missing a foul call that woulda led to 2 points. They were up 15, shoulda closed out the game. Who knows how the game ends, they still choked a big lead away. It’s not like this happened with a few seconds left.
Who are you to say the 2 points doesn’t matter? You can’t say it would or wouldn’t make a difference. And it’s different from a foul call. Some foul calls could be subjective. The ball actually going in is not subjective.
I think the rest of the NBA would like to file a protest against the refs for all those calls James Harden is getting!
They can put this right next to the “2018 NBA champs if CP3 was healthy” banner.
so they are really mad over 2 points. how about they be mad over how they blew a big lead.
They should be mad at harden for playing the game the wrong way.
So if it happened in the first minute they’d want to replay 47 minutes? Nutty. And why should the Spurs have to “provide evidence?” They didn’t do anything.
Excellent points.
They need to start a 2 min rule like the NFL where all the normal rules are out the window and some guy in NY decides the game…after he calls his bookie.
To maintain a look of studied befuddlement in the “courtroom”, the Spurs could hire a character actor like Dustin Huffman.
If we replayed games every time the refs blew a call in a game, we would never see an end to a NBA season. They would need at least sixteen months to play all the games and replay games, and all the replayed playoff games.
Of course teams would wait until the end of the game, just in case they pull it out before diverging to an alternate timeline of the game. Either the sport will die or the refs will evolve to become infallible.
Pretty sure the Oakland A’s would like a replay of Jeter’s shovel pass in 2001 playoffs, because Jeremy Giambi was actually safe on replay.
Hilarious. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off. That’s a bad look for even a CYO team. Smh.
Can ANY pro sports team from Houston not act like pathetic trash losers anymore???
Houston is cursed. Move all pro sports teams elsewhere, just give up, they refuse to act right.