After a rather embarrassing officiating mishap on Friday, the NBA will look at ways to change the rules to make uncalled out-of-bounds plays reviewable late in games.
With 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down a game-winning dunk against the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, in the runup to the dunk, Antetokounmpo had stepped out of bounds, which the officials missed.
The referees explained after the game that the play was not reviewed because action was not stopped at any point.
“In any reviewable matter, there has to be a whistle called on the floor,” head official Derrick Stafford said, via ESPN’s Royce Young. “There was no whistle blown for the play, so we couldn’t review it.”
On Saturday, league spokesman Tim Frank said plays such as that would be added to the competition committee’s March agenda. The commitee will explore ways to make such a play reviewable in the future.
It’s good that the NBA will take a look at this. It will come as little comfort to the very frustrated Thunder, however.
