Kings' protest is latest in fascinating NBA history
Harvey Catchings once played for both teams in the same game, so he's used to drawing attention whenever an NBA protest is filed.
He wasn't surprised he took a call days after the Sacramento Kings protested their Nov. 13 111-110 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, saying Courtney Lee's game-winning shot should have been disqualified for coming after time had expired. Both teams can submit evidence to support their case, and the NBA said it would rule on the protest by Dec. 2.
Catchings, now 63 and living in the Houston area, was part of the craziest protest game in NBA history — a 1978-79 matchup between the New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers. He was one of three players to play for both teams in the game, which started Nov. 8, 1978, and ended March 23, 1979. Future Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, then a part-time assistant for the Nets, was activated as a player for the finish after the protest.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Catchings told Paste BN Sports. "It's almost surreal when you sit back and think about."
Hearing about the Kings' protest gave Catchings a good-natured cringe.
Filing a protest is rare, and upholding a protest even rarer. Since 1952, teams have filed nearly 35 protests with three upheld, according to Paste BN Sports research: that Nets-Sixers game, a 1982-83 Los Angeles Lakers-San Antonio Spurs and a 2007-08 Miami Heat-Atlanta Hawks game. The result was those games' finishes were replayed at a later date, though the latter two didn't provide quite the zaniness of the one Catchings took part in.
In the third quarter, Nets coach Kevin Loughery and Nets forward Bernard King were incorrectly issued their third technical fouls — two is the maximum — and the Sixers were awarded more free throws than allowed.
The Nets protested the game, and because there was a misapplication of rules — a key phrase to consider when a game is under protest — then-NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien upheld the protest. But before the game was replayed from the 5:50 mark of the third quarter, Catchings and Ralph Simpson were traded from the Sixers to the Nets, and the Nets sent Eric Money and Al Skinner to the 76ers.
Catchings ended up scoring no points for the Sixers but eight for the Nets. Simpson had eight points for the Sixers but zero for the Nets, and Money had 23 points for the Nets and four for the Sixers.
BLOCKED SHOTS
The Indianapolis Olympians filed the first protest in February 1952, claiming one of the officials was incompetent. Then-NBA president Maurice Podoloff denied that protest from the Olympians, a unique story in their own right.
They were called the Olympians because several players were on the U.S. 1948 Olympic basketball team, including four who played at Kentucky. Two players, Alex Groza and Ralph Beard, were banned from the NBA for their role in a point-shaving scandal during their careers at Kentucky.
There were 12 protests from 1978 to 1985 and then 13 from 1986 until the Kings' recent protest. It's probably not a coincidence that protests declined when David Stern took over as NBA commissioner. In an e-mail to Paste BN Sports, Stern responded with a Stern-like answer.
"Given the high standard of proof that a team must meet to have a protest sustained, I think our teams just decided that filing a likely losing protest was not a good use of time and resources," Stern said.
Over the years, the NBA has instituted rule changes, including the use of replay and a centralized replay center, designed to get the call right on the court and eliminate the need for protests.
In the Kings-Grizzlies game, Lee jumped to catch an inbounds pass with 0.3 seconds left and in one motion made a layup as time expired. Officials on the court and in the replay center reviewed the final play and determined Lee's basket was good and the pass to him had not been tipped by lanky Kings center Ryan Hollins.
Given the league's high standard of proof, as Stern points out, it seems unlikely the protest will be upheld and the finish will have to be replayed.
LAKERS' LUCK?
Stern upheld one protest — the 2007-08 Heat-Hawks game in which Miami's Shaquille O'Neal was credited for a foul he didn't commit and fouled out with 51.9 seconds left in overtime when he really had five fouls. But it didn't change the outcome; the Hawks won when the final 51.9 seconds were replayed.
One protest that was granted did alter the outcome. In a Nov. 30, 1982, game between the Lakers and Spurs, Lakers guard Norm Nixon was at the foul line for his second free throw. San Antonio led 116-114 with seconds left in regulation. Nixon faked the free throw shot, and players from both teams went into the lane. The refs called a lane violation on both teams and issued a jump ball at halfcourt. The Lakers won the tap and Nixon scored the tying basket, forcing overtime. The Lakers won 137-132 in double overtime.
The Spurs filed a protest and won. Officials should have made Nixon shoot the second free throw instead of going to a jump ball.
"It's a bigger thing to other people. It was just funny how it transpired," Nixon said. "It was a memorable moment, but as far as relevance and being a big game, no, it was one of 82."
The final seconds of regulation were replayed, and the Spurs won 117-114. "We laugh about it because the call the ref made was wrong," Nixon said.
Two decades later, the Spurs protested another game against the Lakers — the playoff game in which Derek Fisher made the winning shot after the ball was inbounded with 0.4 seconds left. Stern and the league ruled the clock started on time and sided with officials who said Fisher's shot was on time.Stern denied that protest.
WILDEST OF THEM ALL
That 1978-79 Nets-Sixers game was as blatant a misapplication of the rules as it gets. A couple of months after the initial game, Catchings went to Sixers coach Billy Cunningham and general manager Pat Williams to ask for a trade, which led to the potentially game-defining swap.
"I told them, 'I love being here. I love the organization. But if I stay here, my career is going to die because you're committed to play Daryl (Dawkins) and you're committed to playing Caldwell (Jones) regardless of how well I do,'" Catchings said. "They said they would take a look around. Pat was able to put together a trade."
Among the oddities of that game, Money scored 37 points the first time around in what looked like a 137-133 Sixers win in double overtime. But because the final 17:50 was replayed, the Sixers won 123-117 in regulation and Money totaled 27 between the two teams. The game was replayed before a regularly scheduled Sixers-Nets game, and the Sixers won that one, too, 110-98.
Who else played in that game? Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Doug Collins, Henry Bibby, Eddie Jordan, Jan van Breda Kolff, Bobby Jones and Joe Bryant, father of Lakers star Kobe Bryant.
"Eric Money said it best," Catchings said. "He said that game has kept his name alive all these years."