“ Chauncey Billups, the entire staff, called for time out. I literally turned to the ref on the sideline, and it was clear the ref didn't want us to have a timeout. » This absence of time-out, described by Malcolm Brogdon, in the defeat against the Thunder, angered the Blazers coach. In the process, the franchise filed a protest to contest the result.
How does this procedure work? The question is worth asking because such a situation is not common in the NBA. The proof: the Blazers' claim is only the 45th in the history of the league.
48 hours to claim, $10,000 to donate
According to NBA regulations, the franchise that wants to file a complaint must do so within 48 hours following the match, either by fax (old world) or by email, by sending a message to the league boss.
Only the owner or coach of the franchise can make this gesture. Not a player then. And it's not free since a check for $10,000 is signed to the league. If the team concerned wins the case, the $10,000 will be refunded. Otherwise, the amount is “confiscated” and falls into the pocket of the NBA.
As soon as Adam Silver receives the complaint from the Blazers, he will inform the members of the Thunder and both camps will then have five days to submit the elements they consider conclusive to justify the final result. Upon receipt of the evidence, the league boss will decide within five days.
In this case, the Blazers will talk about this absence of time-out at the end of the match. A sufficiently strong argument? Probably not for our colleague from The Athletic, John Hollinger, who was vice president of basketball operations for the Grizzlies between 2012 and 2019. He was even in charge during a Kings claim on November 13, 2014, against the Grizzlies. Sacramento had failed to convince.
According to him, the complaints are not really about missed whistles, which are bad luck and not a poorly applied rule.
For example, we can take the last successful claim, which dates from December 2007 and a match between the Heat and the Hawks. The scorer's table had taken out Shaquille O'Neal when he had only five faults – and not six. As the rule had not been properly applied, the end of the match was replayed in March 2008. Without the pivot, transferred to Phoenix in the meantime… Atlanta had again won this match played twice.
Only 13% success and two victories
Of the 44 complaints filed, the first of which dates from February 26, 1952, only six were able to replay a sequence of play. That is 13.3% success rate. Then, of these six partly replayed matches, on two occasions, the team which had initially lost finally reversed the trend.
The first time was in March 1953 with a victory for the Philadelphia Warriors against the Milwaukee Hawks (who would then go to Saint-Louis and Atlanta). The first had protested against an illegal change in the defeat of November 1952.
The second time goes back to April 3, 1983. The Spurs lost on November 30, 1982 against the Lakers, in double overtime, after a strange action. There are four seconds left in regulation time, the Texans have a three-point lead (116-113), and Norm Nixon is on the free throw line. He scores the first and fakes the second, thus forcing the rebounding players to come out of their supports. The referees whistle a jump ball, won by the Lakers, who score and equalize, thus snatching extra time, before winning after 58 minutes of play.
The Texan franchise would have wanted a second free throw for Norm Nixon and not a jump ball because, in the end, he never took his second free throw. It is therefore the last three seconds of the game which will be played more than three months later, allowing the Spurs to win 117-114, without overtime.
