Olympiacos files protest after Euroleague loss

Greek Euro league team Olympiacos Piraeus has filed an official protest after yesterday’s Euroleague 72-74 loss to Italian Montepaschi Siena at home.

With 19 seconds to play Olympiacos was up by 72-69 but Pero Antic fouled Bobby Brown on a 3 point attempt. Not very smart of Antic, and there was also some debate whether Brown was actually in the act of shooting, or if he started the shot after the foul. Nevertheless, he made all 3 free-throws and the game was tied at 72-72.

Olympiacos had possession and would attempt a last second shot. At only 10 seconds to go, the clock all of a sudden stopped for at least two or three seconds before it resumed. Olympiacos missed a lay-up after which Bobby Brown scored a lay-up on a fast-break with only 1,7 seconds left to go. Olympiacos was not able to do anything in those 1,7 seconds and lost the game with 72-74.

What is all the fuzz about? It is about the clock being stopped at 10 seconds when Olympiacos had possession. Olympiacos claims that if the clock had not been stopped, then there would not have been enough time for Bobby Brown to score on the fast-break. After all, Olympiacos held the ball for a last moment attempt to score.

When Olympiacos missed the lay-up, the players thought the time was up. Everybody who watched the game could clearly see that the clock was stopped for at least two seconds, and maybe even three, before it resumed.

Interestingly enough, the Euroleague puts the “Euroleague best moments” on Youtube each week and there is a 1.38 minute clip of this game as well, but it almost seems like it has been censored.

The clip doesn’t show any action between the last 44 to 10 seconds, but instead starts exactly at the moment that the clock starts again (10 seconds to go). In other words, the crucial moments just before that, when the clock was clearly stopped for over 3 seconds have been cut out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meFptOlN-UI

Below is the Euroleague clip