I agree, Bob. What if the home player secures the ball and manages to get off a shot that goes in before the ref blows his whistle. Or even worse, the ref blows his whistle as he starts his shooting motion and the ball goes in? You gonna disallow that goal in either case because the clock didn't start? I hope not. Let the play continue, and explain that you were counting to yourself even though the clock didn't start.
The main problem, of course, is that since the ball had front court status, the inbounding official probably is not counting anymore. Someone is still going to have to come up with how much time is left and when to stop play. I like someone's suggestion from a post a couple or so weeks ago: With seconds left in the game, do a mental count just in case. Or, as I tend to do, glance at the clock as soon as the ball is touched on the court, and start counting if the clock didn't start. On any closing seconds situation, we need to be VERY aware of the clock--both on throw-ins and when we blow the whistle to stop the clock.
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