<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">(03-06) 04:00 PST Auburn Hills, Mich. -- Upon further review, the Warriors have opted against protesting the pair of foul calls that cost them their game at Washington on Sunday. "I think as an organization, we collectively decided to just move forward," general manager Rod Higgins said. "It's one of those situations that you look at now as something in the rearview mirror and focus on tonight's game." That's not to say the Warriors agree with the officiating in the final second of regulation. Though Stu Jackson, the league's executive director of basketball operations, said in a phone interview Monday that everything was done by the book, the team still contends it was wronged on both the shooting foul called on Mickael Pietrus as time expired and the technical foul coach Don Nelson received while protesting said call. "The rule clearly states that if the ball is in the player's hands when the (clock) goes off, a shooting foul cannot be called," Nelson said. "That's the rule. And clearly, you got the (freeze frame with) the ball in hand with zero-zero on the clock." No applicable example could be found in either the NBA's rule book or its supplement, however, and Jackson said that a shooting foul is based on when contact is made, not when the ball is released. Therefore, when officials reviewed the play, they determined that Pietrus bumped into Gilbert Arenas with one-tenth of a second left. Jackson also acknowledged Wizards coach Eddie Jordan's presence on the court during the final official's huddle, but said it was the combination of Nelson coming onto the court and his arguing the foul call that led to his technical. "(Eddie) did not engage in conversations with the officials. He did not summon them. He did not complain as he was on the court," Jackson said. Meanwhile, Nelson reiterated that he did not direct any expletives at the officials, despite accounts from Wizards players who said Nelson went to referee Tony Brothers said, "Tony, you're a f -- idiot." "There was no swearing at all. What I did say was 'Tony, are you kidding me?' End of quote. No superlative," Nelson said. </div> Source
Wow, I did not realize how close it was. They were within their right to protest, but I respect the fact that they didnt and just moved on...
I wonder if the refs don't like Don Nelson or what. I wonder what Mark Cuban would be doing right now if this happened to his team, haha. Cuban would probably be fined multiple times if he were part of the Warriors this season, just on making comments against the referees. One game is huge in this race for the last couple of spots for the playoffs, and the Warriors really can't afford to lose too many games in this fashion or in any fashion really.
Well, what can they really acheive with a protest? I mean, it's not like Stern is going to go back and change the score to a win for GS, is he?
This game might matter if we were a game out of the playoffs... If we were in playoff contention, I'd be pissed. But you know, it doesn't matter because we're not a good team despite some fans thinking otherwise. We're just not good enough consistently to be that team loyal fans can believe in. And yeah, it was a b.s. call. But one game doesn't solve much. In fact it could help us in some way should we qualify for some kind of extra lottery odds or it helps us to beat a potential tiebreaker. Wouldn't that be funny if a game caused us to get an extra lottery ball that helps us win a top pick we had no business landing. That would be the dream to go from #7-#14 to top 3. If we get top 3. Get Durant or next best thing.
Yeah, I agree with you CR2. What goes around comes around. Some day, hopefully this season we will benefit from a similar situation.
