OK, I haven't been around on this forum for a while, and topics seem a bit slow right now, so here's a question posed to me by another veteran official last night: Throw-in on sideline near half-court for Team A, following brief delay for subs to come in and out. Players position themselves in A's front court, anticipating the throw-in, but a Team B player steps OOB to receive the ball without the official noticing the wrong color. He hands her the ball, and she promptly throws it to a teammate who streaks down to her own basket for an uncontested layup, while everyone else is standing on the other end of the court. The official, being probably semi-conscious, doesn't even grasp what has happened until after the basket is made.
So the question is: Ignoring for the moment whether Player B knowingly accepted the ball incorrectly, do you follow the book by swallowing your pride and NOT correcting the mistake (it's not technically a correctable error), or do you call it back, wipe out the bucket, and re-administer the throw-in to the correct team? I.e., do you follow the book to the letter, or do you do the "right" or "fair" thing?
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