Billups’ free throw lifts Nuggets over Bulls 90-89

By ANDREW SELIGMAN, AP Sports Writer Nov 11, 12:08 am EST

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CHICAGO (AP)—Chauncey Billups(notes) sat and laughed, figuring the Denver Nuggets would celebrate soon enough. In the meantime, the Chicago Bulls were having their moment.

Billups hit the go-ahead free throw with six-tenths of a second left and Denver beat Chicago 90-89 on Tuesday night after a potential winning jumper by Brad Miller(notes) was overturned following a lengthy replay review.

“As soon as I saw the flight of the ball, I knew it was good,” Billups said. “Then, I was sitting and laughing. Not so much about the shot, but looking at their reaction. They were dancing and jumping around like they had just made the Sweet 16. The longer it took, the better I felt. It was a great ending.”

And a nerve-racking one.

Billups was fouled by Kirk Hinrich(notes) on a drive and then intentionally missed the second free throw after making the first to break the tie, figuring the Bulls would need a “miraculous” shot. He didn’t count on this: Joakim Noah(notes) grabbing the rebound with three-tenths of a second remaining, and the Bulls nearly pulling it off.

After a timeout, Miller caught the inbounds pass from Hinrich and, in one motion, buried a jumper from the top of the key. The crowd went wild. So did the Bulls.

“It was crazy,” said Miller, who had two points in 14 minutes. “I was just trying to win a game and that was a lot of fun.”

It didn’t last.

After about a 10-minute review, the officials ruled he did not get the shot off in time, and the Nuggets snapped a two-game losing streak.

“I thought it was good when I first saw it,” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. “That is irrelevant. The refs have to make the call. My understanding— 0.3 is enough time to catch and shoot. But I guess the ball was on his fingertips, probably. The refs made the call after looking at it about 20 times.”

And the longer they took, the more confident Nuggets coach George Karl became that they would overturn the shot.

“Fortunately I just read the rule a couple of days ago that with three-tenths of a second you can’t pivot or turn,” said Karl, who got his 939th win to move past Red Auberbach into eighth place on the NBA’s all-time list. “It doesn’t count. The longer it took, I thought the more it was in our favor. We’ve talked about missing that second free throw. It’s a perfect situation with five-tenths, it’s imperfect at six or seven.”

Carmelo Anthony(notes) scored a season-low 20 points for Denver, while Billups added 17, and Kenyon Martin(notes) had 15 points and 10 rebounds after missing a game with a bruised left fibula.

Derrick Rose(notes) led Chicago with 22 points, while Luol Deng(notes) scored 21. Noah had a career-high 21 rebounds for the Bulls, who had won three straight.

Both teams struggled from the outside, with the Bulls hitting 4 of 18 3-pointers and the Nuggets 5 of 16.

There was never really a big run in the game.

It was 87-83 after Anthony tracked down a loose ball following a broken play by the Bulls and Martin dunked with 1:56 left.

Hinrich buried a jumper to make it a two-point game and then picked up a loose ball after a missed 3 by John Salmons(notes), keeping the possession alive. Rose then followed a blocked layup by Noah with one of his own to tie it at 87 with 33.9 seconds left, and he answered Anthony’s jumper with two free throws with 10.4 seconds remaining, helping set up the wild finish.

“I thought it was a fact that you can’t shoot with 0.3,” Deng said. “So that’s why I was kind of like, I mean, if it counted then they’ve got to change a lot of things because I thought it was 0.4. That’s what I was worried about. But on the tape, I kind of saw it behind the ref. It’s a tough decision. It could go either way. I wish it went our way, but it didn’t.”

NOTES: Denver’s J.R. Smith(notes) scored five points in his first game after serving a seven-game suspension. He said he wants to go by his given name, Earl III, although the Nuggets plan to keep calling him J.R. … Del Negro said there are no plans to bring in outside help even though the Bulls are down to 10 healthy players. … Del Negro said “everything has gone well” with F Tyrus Thomas(notes), who is out for at least a month with a broken left forearm. “It’s just a matter of getting him on some cardio program so he can stay in the best condition as you can in this situation,” Del Negro said. “But it’s going to be awhile.”

Updated Nov 11, 12:08 am EST
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193 Comments

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  1. MidasWelby
    192. Posted by MidasWelby Thu Nov 12 11:43am EST

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    Steven W has an idea so intriguing it must at least be discussed. I love basketball and I enjoy watching the game be played at its highest level. But the last two minutes of close games can sometimes take up to twenty minutes of real time. And that's not 20 minutes exciting hoops action either. Clippers announcer Ralph Lawler has been saying for years: first to a hundred wins , folks! And in 30 years I've seen his "law" broken 3 maybe 4 times tops.
  2. allan
    191. Posted by allan Thu Nov 12 10:44am EST

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    well, i love basketball and thats the rules that needs to be followed, love it coz i used to be a professional player and now taking up officiating class so i know more than these stupid refs, my goal is to go to NBA and call the right way, no superstars or anything, and learn to give fans actions and games of basketball that they will love rather than watching a boring and foul filled actions, sometimes i think they could not really tell if its a foul or not, im angry coz im an official itself and im looking that NBA officials calls better but i guess not, by the way im not a Bulls fan it applies to the league that to call fair and right...
  3. Dirk
    190. Posted by Dirk Wed Nov 11 9:27pm EST

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    Get over it bulls fans you lost the game and quit your crying. The nuggets are the better team
  4. Steven W
    189. Posted by Steven W Wed Nov 11 9:04pm EST

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    Can someone explain why it is necessary to have a game clock in the first place? Why can't we just get rid of it? All of the rules and arguments that I have read here is a tremendous waste of time and energy. Do people just enjoy arguing about small fractions of seconds? I would think people would rather watch a real competitive game. Major League baseball doesn't have a game clock and they do just fine. How about thinking out of the box? Get rid of the game clock - that would also get rid of the ridiculous fouls that occur in the last 2 minutes or so in order to stop the game clock. Why do we have to reward teams for committing fouls? Think about that. Is that how it should be? Do you really enjoy watching someone hack a guy accross the arms and try to act like he didn't really mean to do it. Is that what basketball should be about? Do you really enjoy watching all the commercials before the guy goes to the line and shoots his free throws? Wouldn't you rather watch basketball?
  5. Tim Thomas
    188. Posted by Tim Thomas Wed Nov 11 8:46pm EST

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    Post 173:

    Denver didn't cover.

    -2 1/2

    This would prove how stupid referees are.
  6. LAallday
    187. Posted by LAallday Wed Nov 11 6:45pm EST

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    Zach C- actually the need for conclusive evidence applies to the NBA review as well, but in this case the evidence was pretty conclusive for the call to be overturned
  7. allan
    186. Posted by allan Wed Nov 11 6:12pm EST

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    Bulls got robbed of this game not by Miller's no count shot but by Hinrich foul on Billups, thats where it started. wow that's not a foul, Chauncey always do that moves making his body outbalanced to get the call but in fact he is the one making the contact and these crazy refs are buying that, ihate it somebody said that Hinrick hacked Billups why will you hacked him you know theres no time and the score is tied, ive watched the tape and its should be no call yap no call, i guess these refs wanted to go home and dont want n extra time, they're tired, i hate these NBA refs, replacements are better than them actually..I love watching NBA games but these refs are killing me..or killing the games
  8. Zach C
    185. Posted by Zach C Wed Nov 11 6:01pm EST

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    #174 Matthew

    Denver fans are ignorant, huh? Than why did the NBA just come out with a statement declaring that the referees made the correct call and handled the situation appropriately? And for someone so "intelligent," I find it interesting that you claim that there has to be "conclusive evidence." Stop watching football dude. That rule doesn't apply to basketball. Which is why they took 10 minutes, and then picked the side that they thought was correct. And they were, end of story.
  9. troy
    184. Posted by troy Wed Nov 11 4:14pm EST

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    Section III—Replay Review Process
    a. All replay reviews would be conducted by the officials as a crew after gathering as
    much information as possible. In cases of conflict, the crew chief would make the final decision.
    b. The crew shall have a maximum of two minutes to review the video, and, following
    that, make a ruling. The officials would be given a reasonable amount of additional time
    beyond two minutes for review of flagrant fouls/penalty 2 and player altercations.
    c. If the replay system is not working, the crew chief will use the nearest courtside TV
    production available.
    d. The call made by the game officials during play would be reversed only when the
    replay provides the officials with “clear and conclusive” visual evidence to do so.
    e. The officials will use the following to make their final decision in the order listed
    below regarding scoring, timing or fouls at the end of any period.
    (1) Game clock or shot clock on top of backboard.
    (2) LED lights.
    (3) Game clock on the facades of the balcony.
    (4) Game clock on score boards hanging from the ceiling.
    (5) Superimposed TV clocks.

    Not only that they got the call wrong but they took 10 MINUTES!! to make their decision.Rule says 2.The ONLY way they could have more than 2 minutes is if they were looking around for a flagrant1 or 2 foul.THERE WAS NO FLAGRANT FOUL AT ALL!!Also the were suppose to have "CLEAR AND CONCLUSIVE"VISUAL EVIDENCE!!!Yet in EVERY SINGLE IMAGE it was much TOO CLOSE to call!!So in short im gonna move on from this.But STILL the Bulls got screwed.They Broken about what 3 rules during the replay NBA refs are seriously THE WORST refs of ALL TIME!!
  10. JeffK
    183. Posted by JeffK Wed Nov 11 3:03pm EST

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    If the rule states that you cannot catch and shoot in less than four tenths of a second, then they should have waved off the basket. It’s simple as that. Now, the thing that bothers me isn’t the foul called when Billups went to the hoop, that was legitimate. What bothers me as a Bulls fan is that the refs didn’t review (and Delnegro didn’t make a point of asking them to) exactly when Billups was fouled and how much time should have been left on the clock. I think it was more than the six tenths of a second that they put on the clock. As for the timeout after the missed free throw? It’s ridiculous to think that Noah could rebound and control the ball in six tenths of a second. The game should have been over after Billups missed the free throw in reality
  11. <i>wispaco</i>
    182. Posted by wispaco Wed Nov 11 2:58pm EST

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    You are 100% right wjrudy. It also must take more than .3 seconds to catch and shoot. However the NBA rules clearly state that .3 is the minimum time it takes to do these things, so the refs use this as their guideline and will only take off .3 seconds on a rebound and timeout. Because it is impossible to actually time these things (when does the clock get turned on?) - they use the .3 seconds rule as their rule.

    Here is the passage from the rule book about this:

    NO LESS than :00.3 must expire on the game clock when a player secures pos-session of an unsuccessful free throw attempt and immediately requests a timeout.
  12. <i>wjrudy</i>
    181. Posted by wjrudy Wed Nov 11 2:51pm EST

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    Oh... sorry. I see now that some time had expired after the Billups miss. What? .28 of a sec? My point is still there. How is a rebound made and a timeout called within the time span of a quarter of a second? The fact that there was still time on the clock after Billups missed the foul shot doesn't seem to make much sense to me. Whatever. Long season. Over the course of time calls have a way of evening out.
  13. <i>wjrudy</i>
    180. Posted by wjrudy Wed Nov 11 2:43pm EST

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    I haven't read all the post.s.. but have read enough. WHY is everyone focusing only on the time of the last shot? Part of the real problem lies in the clock operation BEFORE that shot ever occurred. Billups was at the line WITH .6 sec. left on the clock. He intentionally MISSED the second free throw in order to leave no possibility of a last shot. But somehow, inexplicably, Chicago rebounded the shot and then called timeout and NO TIME had expired. That is not possible! Denver was screwed by the clock operator at that point. What happened afterwards should have been irrelevant. So those of you thinking that Chicago was "robbed" or that the game was "fixed" are overlooking the obvious PRIOR to the moment in question. Had that finial shot counted, you can be assurred that there would have been some real questions about the shot clock operation prior to end.
  14. 4 aces
    179. Posted by 4 aces Wed Nov 11 2:24pm EST

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    Da bottom line is da foul should have never been called n da 1st place no 1 calls a foul @ a time like dat den it wuz a touch foul @ dat den dey let him get da shot off cuz dey didn"t think he would make it den wen he did dey had 2 put da bullsh!t n da game cuz its all bout money if dat wuz da cavs lakers spurs magic or celtics teams dat dey covet more den dey do da nuggs no call would have been made die hard bulls fan (but still like da nuggets & da heat) d-wade melo #1-2 n da future king james distant #3
  15. <i>wispaco</i>
    178. Posted by wispaco Wed Nov 11 2:23pm EST

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    It seems that the people who are still debating whether or not the ball was touching Miller's fingers still don't understand NBA rules or didn't even bother to read my last post. The final clock is irrelevant in these situations. The NBA detemined years ago that you can't possibly start the clock at the exact moment that someone catches the ball, so they put in a rule that states that you get to catch and shoot if there are at least .3 seconds on the clock. But you can't set up. You also can't pivot. I am assuming that the refs were looking to see if Miller had pivoted, but that shouldn't have taken 10 minutes. Again, if they were actually looking to see if the ball was out of Miller's hand before the light went on, then that is a real problem. That would mean that 3 refs do not know the rules of the league. Whether or not the Nuggets won the game is nowhere near as important an issue as whether or not 3 refs don't know the rules of the NBA.
  16. 4 aces
    177. Posted by 4 aces Wed Nov 11 2:08pm EST

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    People always wanna beat da best & chicago is always gonna b da best city n da world denver l.a. new york all 3 texas cities atlanta philly ohio & orleans all know dat got luv 4 all mid west but dey know 2 crook county is da best place in da world
  17. Biz Consultant
    176. Posted by Biz Consultant Wed Nov 11 2:07pm EST

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    Point blank...that was some bull....the replay just from our limited vision shows it cleared his fingers so I know they have better technology then we have access to. But they lost and thats that. You still have to look at the big picture...the Bulls, without an all-star and not much depth are holding there own against powerhouse teams so far and that cant be taken away from them with a silly ass bs ref call. So GO BULLLS
  18. bobby h
    175. Posted by bobby h Wed Nov 11 2:06pm EST

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    exactly jsun... how can u make a call with the fingers obviously would be over the ball
  19. kristy
    174. Posted by kristy Wed Nov 11 1:53pm EST

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    OMG!!! will you please stop whinning!!!!The RIGHT CALL WAS MADE!!! and there is no way that any time should have been put back on the damn clock!!! So the same ref that put the time back on the clock is the same ref that took the shot away!!!! Instead of the bulls celebrating like the won the championship game the should have waited until the final call was made!!! HAHAHAHA!!! TOO FUNNY!!! THEIR FACES BROKE when the found out the basket didn't count. loved being in the UNITED CENTER last nite!!! GO NUGGETS!!!
  20. JSun
    173. Posted by JSun Wed Nov 11 1:47pm EST

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    obvious a catch and shoot can be doin with .3 seconds left because miller did it. how can you determine the call off ONE view of the replay..all the other replays showed he did get it off and the one they determined it from could've really showed his fingers just HOVERING over the ball. its stupid because there was not even no where near enough evidence to overturn the call...wow..it must hurt them to see the bulls handling top dog teams...but pay back is a b***h...go bulls
  21. Matthew
    172. Posted by Matthew Wed Nov 11 1:44pm EST

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    Denver fans are being ignorant.

    The shot was called good initially.

    There was no conclusive evidence that the ball was touching his fingertips when the buzzer went off.

    So why did they overturn it without conclusive evidence? The answer is that they shouldn't have.

    However, in light of all of this... stuff happens. Neither the Bulls or Denver are going to win the championship this year anyway. Both have absolutely no chance between Celtic/Magic and Lakers/Dallas/SA.

    Good thing for the Bulls... we'll get an oppurtunity to catch a free agent. Not Denver. Have fun paying K-Mart $13m next year.
  22. tsylvia
    171. Posted by tsylvia Wed Nov 11 1:38pm EST

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    Horrific call. The refs must have bet on Denver for this one. Now the Bulls will need multiple makeup calls for this robbery. Stern, get Donaghy back into the league immediately.
  23. 4 aces
    170. Posted by 4 aces Wed Nov 11 1:34pm EST

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    Da league is fixed & we all know it but still we watch it bcuz we luv da game so bulls fanz don't get mad cuz da league wanted da nuggetz 2 win so datz wut happend u c dey already pumping melo 4 m.v.p. so dey gotta make good on dey investments dey planing on him 2 b a money drawer da windy city will b okay we know dat denver on da other hand need da pubs but we doing just wut da league wanna c us do controversy sell betta
  24. Zach C
    169. Posted by Zach C Wed Nov 11 1:32pm EST

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    Can someone please explain to me why they think Chauncey is acting like a 5 year old? If anything, it was Noah and Del Negro acting like 5 year olds. Jumping around and cheering when they hadn't even won anything. And specifically Del Negro and the coaching staff for some bush-league behavior trying to influence the refs call. Why did all the Bulls players crowd the refs and try to influence the call? That seems pretty juvenile to me. Especially when the Nuggets all acted like men and just waited calmly for the decision to be made. There was no cheering or effort to influence the refs, just accepting whatever the call was. And when the RIGHT call was made, they just calmly walked off the court. Looks like the young bulls would do well to watch how real men handle their business.
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Top Performers

 Top Performers
 Denver
C. Billups Chauncey Billups
5-12,  17 Pts
2 Rebs, 6 Assists
 Chicago
D. Rose Derrick Rose
10-17,  22 Pts
1 Rebs, 5 Assists

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