NBA Reportedly Considering Expanding Instant Replay in Late-Game Situations
The NBA is currently discussing the potential implementation of instant replay to review block/charge calls in late-game situations.
The Associated Press (via ESPN) has the news:
"The NBA's competition committee is recommending an expansion of instant replay to include block/charge calls in late-game situations. This marks the first time the league is considering using replay to examine judgment calls by the referees.
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Moreover, according to the report, the committee is recommending replay during these situations for "off-the-ball fouls on inbounds plays and on made free throws," as well.
"Late-game situations" would be defined as the final two minutes of regulation and overtime.
There are, of course, both pros and cons to this potential new rule. On the one hand, the block/charge distinction is a notoriously difficult call to make in real time. It is called wrong almost on a nightly basis during the regular season.
The support of replay would help decrease the chance of the outcome of a game swinging because of a misjudged call.
On the other hand, however, late-game situations are already slow enough.
Timeouts, reviews for out-of-bounds calls, and reviews to determine whether a shot was a two or a three, among other factors, often slow the final minutes of a game to a snail's pace and completely kill the momentum that a team might have.
Implementing yet another reason to stop and have the referees go to the monitor would only further draw out the final moments of a contest.
But those are the type of things the committee has to discuss, and we can only hope that whatever solution they come up with helps improve the quality of the game.
