Grizzlies Protest Because of Clock

The Vancouver Grizzlies have filed a formal protest with the NBA office, claiming a malfunctioning clock led to the Lakers’ overtime victory on Monday at Staples Center.

Replays indicate the clock hesitated for about three-tenths of a second as Shaquille O’Neal gathered a rebound and put back the shot that would beat the Grizzlies, 113-112, at Staples Center.

Referee Leon Wood ruled that while O’Neal’s shot came after the buzzer, he was fouled four-tenths of a second before the game ended. Wood put those four-tenths back on the clock, and awarded O’Neal the continuation basket.

According to NBA officials, the Laker timekeeper has been cleared of wrongdoing. It is more likely that a referee blew his whistle in error.

The Lakers have until Monday to respond to Vancouver’s protest. The league then will make a decision.

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Moved by a television report of a family broken apart by last week’s earthquake, Kobe Bryant sent a substantial donation to be used toward Red Cross relief efforts in El Salvador.

Bryant said he sat in the players’ lounge before Monday’s game against Vancouver when the story aired. It told of three sisters, one who had gone to the library, the other two crushed when their home collapsed.

“The story just touched me,” he said.

At the conclusion, the news agency posted a telephone number. Bryant jotted it down.

“The way I look at it, it’s a small world, period,” said Bryant, who spent part of his childhood in Italy. “El Salvador, Italy or wherever. These are human beings. Whatever you can do to help out, you need to help out. If you had seen that story, trust me, you would have done the same thing.”

Bryant, who has seen enough controversy this season, downplayed his contribution, saying many others athletes are at least as giving.

“The reason why it goes unnoticed is because for a lot of people, the first thing that catches their ears is something negative,” he said. “That’s more of an attention getter.”

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The Lakers activated forward Devean George, who had been on the injured list for a month because of a sore throat and ear infection.

Forward Slava Medvedenko, who played in four games since he replaced George on the roster Dec. 19, returned to the injured list because of tendinitis in his right knee, according to the team.

George, 23 and in his second season, averaged 1.7 points and seven minutes in the season’s first seven weeks.

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Derek Fisher will have another bone scan Feb. 1 and, assuming a positive finding, has his mind set on a Feb. 23 return against Atlanta. Fisher has a stress fracture in his right foot.

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Coach Phil Jackson said he was curious enough about Horace Grant’s recent play to ask if the sturdy power forward was healthy. Grant, who suffered from back spasms three weeks ago, has been inconsistent since.

“He’s not been productive so far in a lot of games we’ve had this month,” Jackson said. “I was even looking to see if he was 100%, or 90%, at one point. Physically, he says he’s OK, that he wants to slug it out to overcome his slump.”