# Stern lays the smackdown on the Spurs protest



## GB (Jun 11, 2002)

The National Basketball Association announced today that Commissioner David Stern has denied the San Antonio Spurs' protest of its 74-73 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on May 13.

The Spurs claimed that Lakers guard Derek Fisher’s game-winning shot was not taken within the 0.4 seconds that remained in the game when the ball was in-bounded. *Video tape review revealed that the game clock was started appropriately and confirmed the finding of the referees using instant replay that the shot was released before time expired.*



nba.com


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## Luiz_Rodrigo (Dec 2, 2003)

The shot was normal. Everyone saw that.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Shucks. We all knew we lost, and this was a desperation heave by the Spurs.


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## ucdawg12 (Jun 3, 2003)

of course stern is going to rule in favor of the lakers, he loves the lakers especially and huge market teams, I bet they didnt even check the tape


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## jc76ers (Feb 4, 2004)

there is no way in hell anyone can do what derek fisher did in 0.4 seconds!!! do you guys realize how quick 0.4 seconds is??? i mean, come on, fisher had time to catch the ball near his waistline, turn around, elevate to the peak of his jump and release the ball...all in 0.4 seconds?!?!?! bunch of baloney!!! the clock definitely started late. and don't be blaming the spurs for that because its the nba officials that are responsible for starting the clock. we all know the nba favors the lakers. popovich is right!! from the way, phil was setting up the play, he didnt think there was enough time to do the fisher shot as well, thats why he originally wanted to do a lob to shaq. at 0.4 seconds, that is basically all anyone can do to get a shot off. spurs were screwed!!!


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>jc76ers</b>!
> there is no way in hell anyone can do what derek fisher did in 0.4 seconds!!! do you guys realize how quick 0.4 seconds is??? i mean, come on, fisher had time to catch the ball near his waistline, turn around, elevate to the peak of his jump and release the ball...all in 0.4 seconds?!?!?! bunch of baloney!!! the clock definitely started late. and don't be blaming the spurs for that because its the nba officials that are responsible for starting the clock. we all know the nba favors the lakers. popovich is right!! from the way, phil was setting up the play, he didnt think there was enough time to do the fisher shot as well, thats why he originally wanted to do a lob to shaq. at 0.4 seconds, that is basically all anyone can do to get a shot off. spurs were screwed!!!




The Spurs screwed themselves by playing like dog crap out there in the biggest game of the season. They falied to show up, so they shouldn't have won. 


You know what, let's just say that Fisher's shot shouldn't have counted, even though I believe otherwise. That's one game. That shot didn't have anything to do with the Lakers' wins in games 3 & 4. It's one game, one shot, and it would be foolish on our part to point fingers at that one play. The shot counted, we lost, game over.


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## jc76ers (Feb 4, 2004)

oh come on koko....your response is that its one shot, one game. but do you realize that one shot affected the game?!?? and with that loss, its gonna definitely affect the series. lakers shouldn't have gotten that shot off unless it was a lob, thereby, spurs should have won the game. it would be the spurs up 3-2 and not the other way around. yeah, no one is saying that they deserve to win games 3 and 4. they definitely played like crap. but game 5 was theres. you defend the outcome of game 5 because of how the spurs played in games 3 and 4???? what in the world does game 3 and 4 have to do with 5?????????


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>jc76ers</b>!
> oh come on koko....your response is that its one shot, one game. but do you realize that one shot affected the game?!?? and with that loss, its gonna definitely affect the series. lakers shouldn't have gotten that shot off unless it was a lob, thereby, spurs should have won the game. it would be the spurs up 3-2 and not the other way around. yeah, no one is saying that they deserve to win games 3 and 4. they definitely played like crap. but game 5 was theres. you defend the outcome of game 5 because of how the spurs played in games 3 and 4???? what in the world does game 3 and 4 have to do with 5?????????




Oh, don't get me wrong, that shot has a huge weight on the outcome of the series. What I was trying to say is that if the Spurs lose this series, they/we can't put it on that one shot. They have played terrible basketball in three games, and that has impacted the series more than just one shot. That's all I'm trying to say. That shot has taken a huge amount of momentum in their way, but it's not officially over yet.


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