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Report: Raptors plan to submit formal protest over controversial Kings finish

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

The Toronto Raptors aren't letting this one go without a fight.

According to Michael Grange of Sportsnet, the Raptors are planning to submit a formal protest over a controversial decision made by the league's review center to negate a would-be game-tying shot at the buzzer by Terrence Ross.

The shot was initially ruled good, but video review showed that the game clock started late as Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins deflected the ball on the inbound pass.

Ross operated under the assumption that he had 2.4 seconds to work with (an estimate that might be inaccurate to begin with) but the replay center determined that his shot actually took 2.5 seconds and therefore did not count.

That estimate, however, is also in question as shown below:

Grange reports that the Raptors are filing the protest on two grounds.

One, the review center made their estimates of when the clock should have started based on frame-by-frame video. That doesn't accurately reflect the human element of a timekeeper starting the clock.

Two, Ross took his shot based on the in-arena clock. Any inaccuracies on behalf of timekeepers or officials on location shouldn't be used to penalize Ross, who would have altered his shot had he known the supposedly correct time.

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