Raptors Blame ESPN For Shot-Clock Malfunction [Update]

The shot clocks blew out in the third quarter of Saturday's Game 1 in Toronto, which led to pure absurdity: the Raptors' PA guy counting down the shot clock while looking at a stopwatch held by an NBA official next to him. When it expired, he would literally say "Horn!", and it was the funniest damned thing:

It wasn't funny to officials for the Raptors and the Air Canada Centre. For their first playoff appearance in six years, it was an embarrassment—and an inconvenience for the players. Kyle Lowry said he rushed one specific shot late in the game because of the audible countdown.

ESPN mocked the Raptors for the malfunction, and let's be honest, they weren't the only ones. But one unnamed Raps official said the lion's share of the blame should fall on ESPN, claiming the network unwisely plugged into the shot clocks' power supply, frying everything:

"Let's just put it this way, they're not the worldwide leader in electricians," the Raptors official joked, when reporters probed him for the culprit.

A little further down the story, the Raptors' owners admit that they fucked up too, using the same power source for both their primary and backup shot clocks. (It's been six years. Give them a break.)

Update, 4/22/14: The Raptors have now sheepishly admitted that ESPN had nothing to do with the outage.

[ CP]