Just really quick

We'll get into this more in the morning but just so people don't go to sleep blaming the wrong people, it's the officials, and not the scorer's table, that controls the starting of the game clock.

Comments

[Noxe]

Doug, where can I write this in?

I have proof that Raptors got loyally screwed:

1) Clock started before ball touched TJ's hand, clearly this picture from the Score shows 0.04, come on now, stop robbing us!
Link - http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/2484/badcallsj2.jpg

2) Check out this screenshot I took from ESPN's highlights site, this is after Mike Bibby's 3 goes in to tie it at 107-107 a piece, the clock comes all the way down to 00.5 sec, even though the picture shows ball has gone through the basket pretty much around 00.9 sec
Link - http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/6051/bibby3wh2.gif

3) Vegas favoured ATL by 1 point.
Link - http://www.vegas.com/gaming/sportsline_nba.html
Cannot ignore this after the Tim Donaghy situation

[j.carlos]

man atlanta has the worst officiating table/officials in the entire league...this is not the first time a team disputed a mistake made by the officiating table in atlanta.

my grandmother wears glasses thicker than stephon marbury's ego, and even she was able to see that the clock started before tj even touched the ball...

a disappointing loss that could have been a W for the raps

[Travis]

I think of it as sports karma. Haha the bruins got a goal they didn't deserve while the raptors got a loss they didn't deserve. One of my teams benefits while the other suffers, from my perspective its a nice trade off. Plus this loss for the raptors just keeps pace with the 6th seed, I mean haven't we all concluded the raptors can't beat lebron, err the cavs?

Blogger's note: Who are these Bruins you speak of? UCLA?

[ghostface]

Don't you people get it?!
The Raptors should've never put themselves in that position to begin with. Squandering a 17 point lead and then not fouling at the end of the game is simply bad basketball and Sam & the team should be embarrassed. If anything, the Raps certainly didn't deserve to win the game.

[John]

Another example of wait to next year. I think the future looks bright but changes have to be made. BC said it right when he mentioned blowing a 17 point lead. The team got themselves in this position and the ref's blew the call. The only real solution is to make the team better and not get in the situation in the first place(I've heard this arguement before).

Which of course makes the off season trades that more important and fun to watch.

[yertu damkule]

doug's right, it's the on-court official who controls the clock starting in that situation...but there's a wrinkle, in that the timekeepers can also control it (it's not as though they cannot or do not start the clock, it's just that the official is supposed to). in any case, who is responsible is secondary to the fact that the raps were, indeed, hosed...if it was an on-court official, does that make it more palatable, somehow? of course not...actually, it's worse, 'cause it shows the ref was anticipating the play (a big-time no-no, and a huge pet-peeve of players). fact is, clock started at least 2-tenths of a second early, and TJ was still almost able to get it off in time...his fingertip was on it for an extra, what 1-50th of a second too long? since it's clear that the total time the ball was in his possession was around 3-tenths of a second, the shot should count, game over, raps win. of course, that's the common sense approach. i can't wait to hear the league's explanation of this one when they don't overturn it. cripes, if the clock had been started any earlier, the buzzer would've went before TJ caught it...i wonder if they'd have noticed?

[Thane]

If they can replay part of a game that involved Shaq getting sent off early, surely they can post-facto correct a blatant timing error which had a more important effect on the game (ie the heat still might have lost; the raps clearly would have won).

Are we going to see action here, or is this just an anti rap (anti canuck?) bias?

[axl]

NBA reffing is now at an all time low.

[t-vor]

Quit whining about a tenth of a second. Pathetic. Human error can account for pressing the button a split second too early.
You all should be whining about how the Raptors let the Hawks get back in the game and manage to tie in the last minute.
Or perhaps the Hawks should be whining about all the cheap fouls and freebies the Raptors got from the refs all game. Or even how CB4 gets free calls every day - anytime the opposition even passes gas in his vicinity.

[Ryan V]

Reading all the comments about the clock and TJ Ford's shot that didn't count.... But what is being disregarded here and what I feel was the real problem.... Was it not the fact that with (I think) 5 seconds left and Atlanta had the ball, Bibby gets a three off uncontested??? Why didn't they foul, then they would have had possession and maybe even still the lead which would have got them the win. This game should have never ever gone into OT.

It seems to me that the last minutes of a lot of games are being screwed up by bad coaching, which is one thing the Raptors really need to improve on. I don't believe that the players are to blame on this one (and for some of the other ends to games that they just didn't pull off), if Sam had called for a foul on that play that would have happened. But he didn't and that lost us the game.

I know Doug that you are normally sympathic towards Sam, but do you feel this comment holds any merit?

Blogger's note: He did want them to foul. They didn't.

[Terence]

In my mind, this situation is even more clear cut than the Miami-Atlanta replay: the officials made a mistake on a play which *DEFINITIVELY* cost the Raps the game. No doubt about that fact. Now the question is, what's the league going to do about it?

Sure, refs blow calls all the time, but does that make it ok? How often are those mistakes made in the last play of a tie ball game?

Whether or not the Raps should've/could've played better down the stretch to avoid this situation is immaterial.

I think the best the Raps can hope for at this point is for the competition committee to review situations like these in the off-season and possibly change the rules to include making sure the game clock starts on time on replays which decide the outcome of a game.

In short, Raps won that game, plain and simple, they just won't be credited with the win.

[yertu damkule]

soul, adam - the point is, there's no excuse for the clock starting EARLY, whether it's 2-tenths of a second or not. the ref's job is to make calls based on what has transpired, not what he assumes is about to transpire. until he clearly sees the ball in TJ's hands, he simply cannot start the clock...which is why the shooter in these situations usually gets the benefit of the doubt. in fact, this is the first time i can recall in which the clock actually started too early.

and let's get this right - there were 4-tenths showing BEFORE ford caught it, 3-tenths on the clock when he actually had possession and it should have started. when there's only 5-tenths to begin with, they basically got robbed of 40% of the time they should have had. and he still nearly got it off in time (he held it for too long by, what, 1-fiftieth of a second)? let's grow some onions, people, and call it like it is. and if you wanna fall back on the 'they coughed up a big lead late, so they didn't deserve to win,' go right ahead...but if TJ messing up the bibby shot cost them the game, then i'd argue that the hawks even worse defense of what should have been the final play cancels that out.

so, i guess this is just another 'blown call?' like the delfino non-dunk? ho-hum, no biggie, raps deserved to lose, yada yada. how predictible.

[Sean Smith]

Doug, can you clarify what the video replay rule actually is for us, please? Is it like the NFL, where a call is made first by the officials and then either upheld or overturned if there is sufficient video evidence to warrant an overturn? Or at the end of a quarter/game do the refs go to the video with a neutral slate and then decide based on what they see in the replays?

If they could see from replay that TJ released it too late, then how could the same replays NOT show that the clock started too early? And, if we're going to play borrow from other sports, shouldn't the tie go to the runner? To Sam's credit, and Delfino's/Ford's execution, it was a great play.

Blogger's note: Video replay is to determine whether the shot left the hand of the shooter before time expired. It cannot be used to determine whether the clock started early or late.
It is not like the NFL where they have to uphold a decision without incontrovertible video evidence. They use video to determine what happened, going into it with no preconceived call.

[reuben]

Everyone's all caught up in the clock mishap but we're missing the face that the Raptors had a 17 point lead in the 3rd and a 10 point lead in the 4th.

This should never have come down to a buzzer beater shot. The raptors struggled mightily down the stretch. Not sure why Sam persists in letting his team play through another teams surges for so long before calling time outs but he did it again last night.

Also what was the play after the timeout that had Bosh catching the ball on the courts edge and coughing it up. Set him on the block not so far outside the key.

Then, sad to say, TJ was kept on the bench way too long in the fourth. Calderone wasnt playing that great at that point TJ needed to be brought back in.

[Michael Torres]

Doug, Leo Rautins pointed out in last night's game that the refs only saw the video replay from the Hawks TV feed. Leo correctly mentioned that in a very close call that the refs should have also checked the Raptors TV replay feed. I think the Raps feed had a better camera angle of the game clock above the rim and the ball touching TJ's hands.

Blogger's note: The officials have every replay from every camera in the arena at their disposal.