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Some thoughts on the 2-man officiating in the last 2 minutes:
1. The TV announcers said that there is not an alternate official present until the conference finals. I wonder if the NBA will take a hard look at this policy now. It seems silly to me to not have an alternate in the building during the playoffs.
2. The officials pretty much worked just like they do in the 3-man system. The lead rotated to the strong side quickly, and quite often both of the officials were on the same side of the court. I know that this is an approved mechanic in NFHS, but most guys are either uncomfortable coming over or frown upon it. On a couple of possessions the Lead rotated more than once to cover a shot and then a weakside rebound. They ran, not walked over.
3. On one foul call near the division line the Trail official, who was tableside, called the foul and immediately turned his back to the players to report. Although, I'm sure this speed looks great and is not much of a problem in 3-man, I would have liked to see this official adjust his game due to the circumstance of only having one partner out there and hold his view of the players for a bit. I know that they don't do 2-man hardly at all and the ingrained habits are not going to be changed in the blink of an eye. It just could have been a problem, if someone had done something silly in that hotly contested game.
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