The Houston Rockets have officially filed a protest over Tuesday's loss to the San Antonio Spurs, claiming that James Harden's blown dunk call was as an example of a “misapplication of rules,” according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
The Rockets were reportedly hoping that the league would take action on their own, but they have now decided to file a protest to ensure that the NBA office will make a ruling on their ongoing investigation.
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Harden's forceful dunk with 7:50 remaining in the fourth quarter, which would have given Houston a 104-89 lead, went through the net at such a speed that it actually came back over the rim and bounced off the iron. The refs mistakenly ruled that Harden missed the dunk, and the Spurs finished the game on a 26-13 run to force overtime. San Antonio went on to win in double OT by the final of 135-133.
According to reports, the Rockets don't expect to be awarded a victory, but they're optimistic that the league will allow them to replay the final 7:50 seconds with Houston up by 15.
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ESPN's Tim MacMahon reports that the Rockets protest includes five points of evidence to support their claims that a basket interference call was not made, as crew chief James Capers explained during the post-game. Those points are:
A basket interference signal was never given, the clock continued to run, the Spurs inbounded from the spot where the ball went out of bounds, referee Kevin Scott told the Rockets at the time and later in the game that it was a missed basket, and the official scorer scored it as a missed basket after initially awarding Houston two points.
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