The Toronto Raptors have officially filed a protest with the league office to challenge the controversial ending of their loss Sunday night at Sacramento.The Raptors, despite their seemingly remote hopes of a ruling in their favor, formally lodged their protest Tuesday night and will have five business days to present evidence to the NBA, after which the league will have five days to make a ruling.The Raptors went ahead with the protest, at a cost of $10,000, even after the league office released a statement Tuesday reiterating that the ruling Sunday night made by the leagues replay center in Secaucus, New Jersey, was the correct call.Theyre in contact with the league office and they will decide what direction to go into with that, Raptors coach Dwane Casey said Wednesday before his team faced the Houston Rockets. I know Ive gotten a lot of calls from coaches around the league.Following a timeout with 2.4 seconds to go in regulation and the Raptors trailing by three points at the Kings new Golden 1 Center, Torontos Terrence Ross took control of a pass deflected by Sacramentos DeMarcus Cousins, took two dribbles and sank a 33-footer that appeared to force overtime until a replay review determined that the elapsed play took 2.5 seconds, ruling out Ross shot.When Terrence caught the ball near half court, he knew he only had a couple of seconds to shoot the ball before time expired, but he also knew he had a clock above the backboard to glance up at as time winded down, Raptors president Masai Ujiri told the Toronto Star. Unfortunately, the clock he needed to look at was in New Jersey.In his statement Tuesday, NBA president of league operations Byron Spruell said: After review at the league office, we have concluded that the end of the game was officiated correctly by NBA rules. We reviewed all aspects of the final 27.4 seconds and below is a summary of our evaluation.Toronto inbounded the ball with 2.4 seconds remaining in the game, and the clock did not start when the pass was deflected by Sacramentos DeMarcus Cousins. Per the NBAs precision timing system, the clock can be started by either the referees or the clock operator. The referees noticed the clock malfunction immediately which triggered a replay review under rule 13.1.a.5, which states that a review must occur if a play concludes (i) with no time remaining on the clock (0:00) at the end of any period or (ii) at a point when the game officials believe that actual time may have expired in any period; and the officials are reasonably certain that the game clock malfunctioned during the play.Per rule 13.2.e.1, the Replay Center was then tasked with determining the proper time (if any) on the game clock following the clock malfunction by determining how much time on the game clock actually expired. To determine how much time actually expired, Replay Center referee Zach Zarba used a digital timer on the Replay Center screen. The determination was that 2.5 seconds expired, thus negating the basket.We also reviewed the question surrounding the time left on the clock for Sacramentos final possession. That possession started with 26.4 seconds remaining on the game clock since that is when Cousins secured possession of the rebound after a missed free throw. The subsequent shot clock violation on the Kings possession therefore left 2.4 seconds remaining in the game.Spruells statement was the second from the league office since Sunday night that the referees on the floor and the officials in charge of the replay review made the right calls. The fact that there has only been one successful protest in the NBA over the last 33 years, dating to the 1982-83 season, would appear to further dampen the Raptors hopes.In the event that the Raptors do manage to change the leagues mind, its unclear when the final 2.4 seconds of the game could be replayed, since Toronto and Sacramento have already played twice this month, thus completing the teams season series.ESPNs Calvin Watkins contributed to this report.Adidas NMD R1 White . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Adidas NMD R1 Wholesale . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. http://www.cheapnmdonline.com/wholesale-adidas-nmd-xr1-china.html . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Adidas NMD Womens Sale . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Adidas NMD Black Sale . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season.In his weekly column, Sky Sports Spanish football expert Guillem Balague reflects on the competitiveness of La Liga after the top two slip up, what happened in Atletico Madrids shock defeat and Reals best performance of the season...La Liga as competitive as any, Barcelona are just extraordinarily goodA lot of people think the Spanish league is not competitive because they see the likes of Barcelona nine points ahead of Atletico Madrid, and 10 points ahead of Real Madrid. The problem is that if Barcelona were in the Premier League there would be that difference or even more, and it would be the same in the German league or the Italian league as well. We are seeing something extraordinary from Barcelona. It hasnt been seen before, certainly not this consistency at this level for that long. However, when you see a team like Villarreal, who are fourth in the table, doing well in Europe, in fact the top six teams in La Liga are still in Europe, that should kill any suggestion the league is not competitive.Sporting Gijons energy was too much for over-confident Atletico Celebrations for Sporting Gijon after surprise win over Atletico Madrid In the last 15 years the difference between top and bottom in England and Spain is shorter. That may surprise some but it is the case. These kind of games like the one between Villarreal, who only made one change from the game against Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday, and Barcelona where the visitors went 2-0 up before being pegged back to 2-2, suggests the teams in Spain are very sophisticated. Tactically they work very hard without the ball, they run a lot, they are more aggressive than people think, but what makes them difference is the variation of what they do with the ball.People say that doesnt happen in La Liga but it happens more than you think, and Sporting Gijon were proof of it. Atletico were too conservative after scoring the first goal. They were partly tired and they thought they had the job done, and Sporting with their youth, exuberance and the fans managed to turn it around. Atletico Madrids hopes of winning La Liga were dealt a huge blow as they were beaten 2-1 by Sporting Gijon Real Madrid produced best performance of the season, thanks to the reformation of their deadly front three Real Madrids Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale celebrate It was interesting to see what happened at the Bernabeu. It was the best Real Madrid of the season. They had the BBC [Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo] up front and that has only happened 11 times this season in the league. Imagine if Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar had only jooined forces 11 times this season, we may be seeing a story!It feels like a good point in the season for Real.dddddddddddd Everybody is fit and they are all playing well, especially Karim Benzema, Keylor Navas and Casemiro. It is a more balanced team and that is what Rafael Benitez was working towards, but he had everyone working against him. Ronaldo fluffed his lines as he tried to extend Real Madrids lead against Sevilla from the penalty spot Zinedine Zidane has found the same need to balance the team with Casemiro, the same need to get rid of Isco and James Rodriguez from his line-up and what you saw against Sevilla is the team he is going to use more often with Sergio Ramos and Pepe, who were absent at the weekend, at the back.They are too far away to win the league, but they seem to have been lifted by the fact Wolfsburg is the next team they have to face in the Champions League. It probably means they will be in the semi-finals and then they are getting closer and closer to glory. Karim Benzema scored a stunning volley as Real Madrid opened the scoring against Sevilla When that happens it seems everyone has shaken off their injury problems and are ready for battle. Real Madrid certainly looked that way against a Sevilla side that could have got something from the match at the Bernabeu, if Kevin Gameiro had scored the penalty they had missed, and then there was the disallowed goal that should have counted after Gameiro fired past Navas.However, Real also had decisions go against them with Gareth Bale also have a goal wrongly chalked off. Sevilla caused Real problems for a while but the home side were playing at a very high level with key performances from Benzema, Navas, Casemiro and also Marcelo, who makes the team tick. For me he is as important as any forward in the team.Also See:Real win as Bale makes historyBarca throw away lead to drawZidane ready for El ClasicoGuillem Balague ' ' '