Rockets officially file protest over James Harden's uncounted dunk against Spurs

The Houston Rockets officially filed their protest Thursday with the NBA regarding their loss Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs. The timing was expected, since teams must file any protests within 48 hours of the conclusion of the game in question.

Houston’s goal is for Tuesday’s game to be replayed from the moment of James Harden‘s uncounted dunk with 7:50 left in regulation, with the Rockets up by the 15-point margin the dunk would have given them.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets’ argument will cite a "misapplication of rules" — with regards to points not being awarded following a made basket, as well as the on-court officials failing to grant a coaches’ challenge to Mike D’Antoni.

Officiating crew chief James Capers said postgame that the initial call of basket interference was reviewable, but the Rockets did not challenge it within the allowed 30-second window. D’Antoni, however, said the officials were unclear in their explanations of what the call actually was — and thus, he didn’t immediately know what to challenge.

According to ESPN, the Rockets noted in their protest Thursday that a basket interference call was not made — which could undermine the validity of Capers’ explanation regarding both the call and why a challenge was not granted.

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With the protest officially in, the Rockets and Spurs now have five days to provide relevant evidence. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver then has five days after receiving that evidence to make his ruling, which would put a likely resolution around Dec. 15.

For the Rockets to win the protest, they will likely need to show that the officiating mistakes leading to it resulted from an improper process, rather than simply an incorrect judgment.

The last NBA protest to be upheld occurred in 2008, when the Miami Heat successfully protested a game against the Atlanta Hawks in which the official scorer incorrectly ruled that Shaquille O’Neal had fouled out.

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