Stefanski: Right call was made

Upon further review … the call stands.

Ed Stefanski, president and general manager of the 76ers, said today he had been in contact with Stu Jackson, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations, to see if there was any grounds to protest the ending of yesterday's 98-96 loss at New Jersey, which the Nets won on a 48-foot desperation heave by Devin Harris that beat the buzzer by the slimmest fraction of a second. The three-pointer - New Jersey's 12th trey of the night - erased a 96-95 Sixer lead in about the time it takes to blink your eyes.

"Stu went through the procedure on such a call," Stefanski said. "They went through the tape, freezing each frame, and (the shot) was taken within allowable limits. There was no clock malfunction. All three officials went over the replay and ruled the basket was good. They got it right. The ball was clearly out of his hands."

Official Violet Palmer originally waved off the basket before lead referee Derrick Stafford brought Palmer and Pat Fraher together to look at the tape.

To satisfy himself that the league ruling was indeed correct, Stefanski got confirmation from two outside sources, both of which confirmed that Harris had let fly with under a tenth of a second remaining.

"We did it internally with Comcast (SportsNet) and they also confirmed (the ruling), as did ESPN, which did something we also took a look at. There was nothing more we could do with the league, no procedure we could take to protest the game and come out with a better conclusion that we did. All we can say is that the kid made a great shot to win the game."