Devin Harris 50 Foot Buzzer Beater

Not surprisingly, the Sixers agree.

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/02/24/sixers-to-contact-league-office-regarding-harris-miraculous-buz/

The Sixers also said the clock did not start precisely when Harris caught the inbounds pass, allowing him another half-second with which to work.
Sixers spokesman Mike Preston said the Sixers would be in touch with the league regarding the final 1.8 seconds.

 

So many years ago the NBA did all kinds of study after a controversial shot similar to this one by Trent Tucker of the Knicks. All that study let to them coming up with the .3 rule that says there cannot be a catch-and-shoot with less than .3 seconds left.

As part of the rule, they also recognize that there is a human delay of about 2-3 tenths of a second in the timekeeper from seeing the ball touch a hand and flipping the switch to start the clock.

Asking humans to be precise to the tenth of a second is simply asking too much. The Sixers can bitch and moan all they want. The shot was good.

 

I guess the call went the only way it could, given the system that is in place, but just because I feel it necessary to disagree with Old Tony, to keep the cosmos in alignment ... if there's a rule that a catch and shoot can't happen with less than .3 left, why is it OK to build an extra two or three 10ths into a 1.8-second span? You want to protect the defending team from getting screwed by human reaction time when there's .3 left, but not when there's 1.8 left?
Harris didn't do all that in 1.8 seconds. If they can go back and overturn the ruling on the court -- which was no basket, ref Violet Palmer said -- by looking at the tape and seeing the light wasn't on when the ball left Harris's hand, they can go back and ascertain that the clock didn't start when he touched the ball, and that the light SHOULD have been on when the ball left his hand.
This is why replay, in every sport, is less than a panacea.