Gasol's Goaltending

I have always been under the impression that if a defensive player touched the rim during a shot, it was goaltending. Let's see what the league says:

RULE NO. 11-BASKETBALL INTERFERENCE-GOALTENDING
Section I-A Player Shall Not:
a. Touch the ball or the basket ring when the ball is using the basket ring as its lower base.
EXCEPTION: If a player near his own basket has his hand legally in contact with the ball, it is not a violation if his contact with the ball continues after the ball enters the cylinder, or if, in such action, he touches the basket.
b. Touch the ball when it is above the basket ring and within the imaginary cylinder.
c. For goaltending to occur, the ball, in the judgment of the official, must have a chance to score.
d. During a field goal attempt, touch a ball after it has touched any part of the backboard above ring level, whether the ball is considered on its upward or downward flight.
e. During a field goal attempt, touch a ball after it has touched the backboard below the ring level and while the ball is on its upward flight.
f. Trap the ball against the face of the backboard. (To be a trapped ball, three elements must exist simultaneously. The hand, the ball and the backboard must all occur at the same time. A batted ball against the backboard is not a trapped ball.)
g. Touch any live ball from within the playing area that is on its downward flight with an opportunity to touch the basket ring. This is considered to be a "field goal attempt" or trying for a goal.
h. Touch the ball at any time with a hand which is through the basket ring.
i. Vibrate the rim or backboard so as to cause the ball to make an
unnatural bounce. [Emphasis mine]

That's what I thought. The refs missed Howard's similar--and more egregious--goaltending earlier in the game. All things being equal, though, in the above photo, Gasol's clearly touching the rim, which, according to the league rules, is goaltending. Would Lee's shot have fallen if Gasol hadn't hit the rim? Maybe, maybe not. It certainly had a good chance of going in: hell, every fan in the country thought Lee had stolen the game. I certainly did, and, judging from Kobe's reaction in the above photo, he certainly thought so, too. In the end, the refs swallowed their whistles, and probably cost the Magic the game, and the series.

That, and Van Gundy's decision to play J.J. Redick 27 minutes.

(UPDATE: Phil Jackson confirms it. “Yeah, he got his hand caught in the rim in that one, no doubt about it,” Jackson said. “It's called basket interference is what it's called. Even if you hit the net supposedly in the process that's part of it, but that rule is kind of archaic. It isn't called in this day and age as much, but when we were in high school that was something a high school ref might call, basket interference. According to the rules [the right call] was not [made]. It wasn't made."