NBA denies Nuggets' protest, but admits call was wrong
The NBA has denied the Denver Nuggets' protest of their 108-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 8.
The protest stemmed from Denver's stance that Memphis was incorrectly awarded possession of the ball with 0.7 seconds left in regulation.
During the game, the on-court ruling was upheld after the NBA Replay Center confirmed that Denver's Emmanuel Mudiay touched the ball last before it went out of bounds. The Grizzlies then proceeded to win the game on Marc Gasol's buzzer-beating tip-in off the inbounds pass.
Despite the league's ruling Tuesday, it conceded that Replay Center officials in New Jersey should've reviewed other camera angles, something they avoided in an effort to resume the game.
From a NBA email:
Following the game, one of those angles made clear that Mudiay did not in fact touch the ball and that possession should have been awarded to Denver ... The league determined that while the out-of-bounds call was incorrect, it was an error in judgment by the Replay Center official and not a misapplication of the playing rules - which is required under league rules to justify the extraordinary remedy of granting a game protest and overturning the game’s result.
The league said it will further review operational matters.