The Portland Trail Blazers are filing a protest with the NBA head office to challenge Tuesday’s 111-109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Portland believes officials missed head coach Chauncey Billups calling timeout prior to whistling a double dribble on Malcolm Brogdon.
Billups was given two technical fouls and ejected from the contest with 15.6 seconds remaining. Crew chief Bill Kennedy said postgame that the technicals were given due to Billups making contact with an official while expressing his frustration and subsequently following the official.
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tied the game after making one technical free throw before Jalen Williams made a pull-up jumper to win the contest.
When asked about the missed timeout, Kennedy said the referees handled the situation correctly, waiting for the play to finish with the double dribble before turning their attention to Billups.
The Blazers coach said postgame that he was frustrated the officials didn’t hear him calling to pause the game.
“We got timeouts, referees are usually prepared for that situation,” Billups said, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Schlecht.
The loss drops Portland to 12-31 on the season.
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