Houston apparently has been hoping — unrealistically — that the NBA would step in, rule in its favor on the missed call on James Harden’s dunk, and give the Rockets the chance to replay the final 7:50 of their double-overtime loss to the Spurs from Tuesday night.
If the Rockets want the league to rule on this, they will have to file a protest, something they are likely to do, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPN.Houston had been optimistic in the wake of the loss that the NBA office would take action without a protest being necessary. However, sources said the Rockets are leaning toward filing a protest to ensure that the NBA office will have to make a ruling...
The Rockets contend that they should either be awarded the win -- because they actually outscored the Spurs in regulation -- or that the final seven minutes, 50 seconds of the game be replayed at a later date.
There is zero chance the league would overturn the game and hand the Rockets a win. The idea the Rockets even wanted that was described as absurd by some around the league (not directly involved in the case).
Even a protest is a longshot, it requires proof of a misapplication of a rule which seriously inhibited Houston’s chance to win a game. Just saying the crew got the call wrong is not enough. Protests rarely go anywhere in the NBA because the bar to clear is very, very high.
No doubt the officials missed the call (even they owned up to it after the game). Here is the play in question.
The refs really didn't count this Harden dunk 🤔 pic.twitter.com/tkpFWpqu9f
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 4, 2019
Mike D’Antoni said he tried to challenge the play but was not allowed to by the game officials. Crew chief James Capers said after the game D’Antoni didn’t make his protest within 30 seconds as is required by the coach’s challenge rule.
Transcript: NBA Referee James Capers Comments to Pool Reporter after Rockets – Spurs game. pic.twitter.com/rVD6HF9Tca
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) December 4, 2019
Houston’s protest would hinge on the idea that D’Antoni wasn’t given a fair chance to protest the call because of how the referee crew handled the situation.
Problem w/ officials contention last night that Rockets could not challenge because missed their 30-sec window is that after about 5 seconds, officials met w/ each other. Might have provided additional time but replay cut away so I could not watch, time that. NBA surely will.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) December 4, 2019
A protest is a full challenge process that the league would go through, but it’s hard to picture the Rockets winning it.
We’ve seen before with the Last Two-Minute Reports that even if the league admits an officials mistake that could have changed a game nothing is done. An official protest — where just saying the call is wrong is not enough to win — is not very likely to change that. The Rockets would argue that not only was there a missed call but that the crew mismanaged the challenge process. Good luck with that.
The Rockets are going to try, anyway.