The Portland Trail Blazers are throwing in a protest to challenge the result of their 111-109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder due to referee error.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Trail Blazers are claiming their head coach Chauncey Billups called a timeout before Portland were penalised for a double-dribble.
With Portland in front 109-108 with 15.6 seconds on the clock, the Trail Blazers say Billups tried to call a timeout which wasn’t granted by the referees.
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The Trail Blazers were then called for a double-dribble which infuriated Billups, who was given a double technical and ejected from the game.
The Thunder knocked down one of the two technical free throws to tie the game at 109 with 15 seconds left and then get the ball for the game-winning attempt.
Thunder forward Jalen Williams would knock down a mid-range jumper to give his team the lead with two seconds on the clock before Portland turned the ball over on their ensuing possesion, ending the game.
Despite the unlikeliness of the league overturning the result, the Trail Blazers have fired in the protest anyway.
“It is a tough situation. We had timeouts and the referees are normally prepared for that,” Billups said in his post-match presser.
“I’m at halfcourt trying to call a timeout… It’s just frustrating, my guys play too hard for that.”
The Thunder were eyeing off the top spot in the Western Conference after Minnesota’s upset loss to Charlotte on Tuesday.
While they weren’t convincing against the lowly Trail Blazers, and perhaps a little lucky, the win propels Oklahoma City into first place in the West.
A pair of Aussies faced off in Portland’s emerging rookie Duop Reath and Thunder point guard Josh Giddey.
Reath entered the Thunder clash averaging over 15 points and seven rebounds in January, and he again was very good off the bench, scoring 10 points from 3/5 shooting as well as adding four rebounds and three assists.
His play of late has given Billups something to think about moving forward, with Reath again outperforming starting centre Deandre Ayton (five points).
Giddey meanwhile was relatively quiet, recording seven points, five rebounds and three assists in his 25 minutes on the court.
KNICKS DEFEAT CROSSTOWN RIVALS IN NAIL-BITER
This one wasn’t an epic collapse by the Nets.
Just a regular old one was enough.
Brooklyn had another late lead with two minutes left but coughed it up in a 108-103 loss to the rival Knicks before a crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center on Tuesday night.
The Nets (17-26) have dropped five of six, and 11 of 13. The worst had been Sunday, where they had led by 11 before letting the Clippers score the final 22 points — tying the worst endgame implosion since play-by-play has been kept.
Tuesday wasn’t as bad — but it was bad enough.
After leading by as many as 10, and 100-98 with 2:20 left, they allowed a 7-1 Knicks run to see their rivals head back across the East River with a stolen win.
Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle each had 30 points to lead the Knicks.
Mikal Bridges, playing against four of his former Villanova teammates, was the best Wildcat on the court. He poured in a game-high 36 points, and hit a career-high 7 of 13 from behind the arc.
But it wasn’t enough.
Nic Claxon had eight points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds.
And Cam Johnson snapped out of his malaise with 19 points, hitting 4 of 6 from deep.
But he’ll rue the last one he took, a potential game-tying miss with Brooklyn down 106-103 and 6.8 seconds left.
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Fittingly, Randle snatched the rebound and iced it.
Jacque Vaughn went with defensive-minded backup Dennis Smith Jr. extended minutes rather than Spencer Dinwiddie, trying to slow Brunson. It didn’t help.
After Brooklyn had owned this series behind Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving — taking nine straight at one point — the Knicks had won the past three by an aggregate 61 points.
This wasn’t that kind of game.
This one was a nail-biter.
But the Nets have lost too many of those, and add this to the list.
The Knicks improved to 27-17.
They’ve won four straight and 10 of their last dozen since acquiring OG Anunoby from the Raptors for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
The first half saw nine ties and three lead changes. Brooklyn never led by more than five, the Knicks more than four.
A 10-2 run to start the third opened a Nets lead.
A Bridges 3-pointer off a Dinwiddie feed put Brooklyn ahead 59-52 just 1:52 in.
They padded the cushion to double digits.
Cam Thomas found Claxton for an alley-oop for an 81-71 edge, and Bridges hit a midrange pull-up to give the Nets an 83-73 lead with 38.1 seconds left in the third.
The Knicks cut into it in the fourth.
Miles McBride’s pull-up 3-pointer pulled them within 87-83 with 9:04 to play, and this time, Vaughn didn’t hesitate to call a timeout, quickly trying to stem the tide.
It didn’t help.
Precious Achiuwa’s baseline dunk made it 97-96, and after Claxton lost the ball out of bounds, Randle’s put-back layup put the Knicks ahead with 3:57 left.
Dorian Finney-Smith’s left-corner 3-pointer put Brooklyn back ahead by a deuce.
But Randle’s 3-pointer made it 101-100 with 2:19 remaining.
Bridges made just one of two at the line to knot it.
And after Johnson and Smith missed layups, it turned into a go-ahead breakaway dunk for Randle the other way. Randle found Josh Hart for a dagger layup and 105-101 lead with 25 seconds remaining.
Bridges did manage a fadeaway to cut the lead in half. But after Brooklyn fouled Brunson, he sank both.
The Johnson missed 3 iced it.
– This story was originally published by the New York Post and reproduced with permission
NBA SCORES – JANUARY 24
Knicks 108 @ Nets 103
Trail Blazers 109 @ Thunder 111
Jazz 124 @ Pelicans 153
Nuggets 114 @ Pacers 109
Lakers @ Clippers (in progress)
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