The NBA's Last Two Minute Report for Sunday's games was released on Monday evening, and the league did not find that officials made any mistakes in the last minute of the Sacramento Kings' 102-99 victory over the Toronto Raptors. If you missed the controversial finish, Raptors swingman Terrence Ross' game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer was waived off because of what the referees called a "clock malfunction" -- the 2.4 seconds that were remaining should have started ticking down as soon as DeMarcus Cousins tipped the inbounds pass, but instead only did so when Ross touched the ball.
In addition to the standard Last Two Minutes Report, the league also released a statement on the matter:
"After review at the league office, we have concluded that the end of the game was officiated correctly by NBA rules. We reviewed all aspects of the final 27.4 seconds and below is a summary of our evaluation.
"Toronto inbounded the ball with 2.4 seconds remaining in the game, and the clock did not start when the pass was deflected by Sacramento's DeMarcus Cousins. Per the NBA's precision timing system, the clock can be started by either the referees or the clock operator. The referees noticed the clock malfunction immediately which triggered a replay review under rule 13.1.a.5, which states that a review must occur if 'a play concludes (i) with no time remaining on the clock (0:00) at the end of any period or (ii) at a point when the game officials believe that actual time may have expired in any period; and the officials are reasonably certain that the game clock malfunctioned during the play.'
"Per rule 13.2.e.1, the Replay Center was then tasked with determining 'the proper time (if any) on the game clock following the clock malfunction by determining how much time on the game clock actually expired.' To determine how much time actually expired, Replay Center referee Zach Zarba used a digital timer on the Replay Center screen. The determination was that 2.5 seconds expired, thus negating the basket.
"We also reviewed the question surrounding the time left on the clock for Sacramento's final possession. That possession started with 26.4 seconds remaining on the game clock since that is when Cousins secured possession of the rebound after a missed free throw. The subsequent shot clock violation on the Kings' possession therefore left 2.4 seconds remaining in the game."
None of this will please the Raptors, who are "putting together a formal protest" about the ending, according to Sportsnet's Michael Grange. And while the league might be correctly following the letter of the law here, Toronto has every right to be upset.
The crux of the issue is that, regardless of the "malfunction," Ross and the other nine players on the court were paying attention to the time on the shot clock. He clearly released the ball before the clock hit zero, and there's no way to know what he would have done if he had caught it with less time on the clock. It's unreasonable to assume that he would have taken the exact same shot and allowed time to expire, and that's exactly what this ruling suggests.
