An NBA team hasn’t successfully protested a game since 2008. That streak continued when the league denied the Knicks on Wednesday.
The New York Knicks filed a protest following their 105-103 loss to the Houston Rockets. Houston won when Aaron Holiday made two free throws with less than a second remaining after a foul call on Jalen Brunson that officials admitted was made by mistake.
After a blocked shot, Holiday launched a desperation 3-pointer and Brunson never touched him on the play.
But the referee’s mistake is not enough to support a protest. The NBA ruled that the Knicks had to “demonstrate that there was a misapplication of the official playing rules, rather than an error of judgment by the officials.”
Because the play in question was simply an error by the officials, the NBA did not need to employ an “extraordinary remedy” to correct the play. That remedy would have been to return the Knicks to Houston to repeat an extraordinary period.