NBA News Wire
Kings file game protest
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
The NBA announced Monday that the Sacramento Kings have protested the team’s 111-110 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 13 at FedExForum.
The basis for the Kings’ protest is that guard Courtney Lee’s game-winning shot should have been disqualified as having been made after time expired.
Under the protest procedures in the NBA Constitution, Memphis and Sacramento each will have an opportunity to submit evidence in support of its position and the protest will be decided by Dec. 2.
With just three-10ths of a second showing on the clock, Grizzlies guard Vince Carter threw an overhead inbounds pass from the side of the court to under the basket. Lee raced to meet the ball and tossed it in, looking over his shoulder to see if the red light on the backboard came on yet. It hadn’t.
The officials spent several minutes reviewing the play. The Kings’ bench believed that center Ryan Hollins, who was guarding Carter, tipped the pass.
Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace believes his team’s win will be confirmed.
“The officials made the correct call on the play that ended the game on Thursday,” Wallace told Yahoo Sports. “Then the officials followed league procedure and reviewed the conclusive footage provided by the state-of-the-art NBA replay center.
“After a thorough review, the play was correctly upheld. The inbounds pass was not tipped and Courtney Lee did get his shot off in time. The league even posted conclusive video footage supporting the call on its replay website.
“We are confident that the NBA will uphold the game result regardless of the media campaign being waged.”
