The Denver Nuggets filed an official protest after a miscall that led to a last-second loss to the Memphis Grizzlies last Nov. 8 in the FedEx Forum.
With just .7 seconds remaining in the game, Memphis executed a perfect alley-oop play as veteran Vince Carter precisely placed a lob pass to teammate Marc Gasol to beat the buzzer, 108-107. The play, which earned the top spot in the NBA Top 10 Plays of the Week last week, was not even supposed to happen in the first place.
Denver was leading 107-106 with just a few ticks remaining until an inbound pass to Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was stolen by Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley. Conley, racing through the hoop, lost track of the ball as it went out of bounds but referees called the ball last touched Nuggets guard Emmanuel Mudiay, giving the possession back to the Grizzlies.
In the Last Two Minute Report made by the NBA last Wednesday, giving the possession back to Memphis turned out to be a wrong call, stating the officials and the NBA Replay Center made a mistake. The Nuggets should have had possession of the ball when Conley lost it out of bounds.
Nuggets President and Governor Josh Kroenke issued a statement last Nov. 10 saying "there are numerous plays over the course of a game that impact the eventual outcome, including some incorrect foul and judgement calls that affect each team throughout."
Kroenke, however, said that the NBA "has the best basketball officials in the world" but reiterated the play before Gasol's game-winning shot was not reviewed thoroughly and affected the outcome of the game.
In 2014, the Grizzlies faced the same situation as a buzzer-beating alley-oop play by Courtney Lee against the Sacramento Kings was protested.
Memphis was behind 109-110 with just .3 left in the clock before Carter, from near half court, lobbed it to Lee for the reverse alley-oop layup. The Kings protested the shot, claiming that Sacramento center Ryan Hollins tipped the ball, meaning the clock should have started before Lee caught the ball and laid it in. The Kings' protest was denied.
The last protest that was granted by the NBA was seven years ago in a clash between the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks in December 2007 where the latter won. The Heat won the protest but when the fourth quarter was replayed in March 2008, Atlanta still took the game.
As of press time, the Nuggets are currently at 12th place in the Western Conference with a 3-7 record while the Grizzlies have a 5-5 slate for ninth place in the same conference.