[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by jdw3018

It hasn't been addressed here, but it may depend on when the whistle actually came.

As many (but not all) of us agree, a timeout can be granted prior to the whistle sounding. It happens a lot in these type of situations. A1 dives on the ball, Coach A requests timeout, B1 gains simultaneous possession creating a held ball, official whistles to grant timeout.

Even though the whistle came after the held ball, most of us agree that if we are certain the request came before the held ball we will still grant the timeout.

In this situation, if my whistle is actually an accidental whistle and not for the granting of a timeout, an argument could be made to go with the POI being at the time of the whistle which was a held ball.

The alternative argument would be that you can't have both. Either officials are able to grant a timeout prior to the whistle in which case an accidental whistle must also be applied to the time prior to the held ball, or a timeout isn't actually granted until the whistle blows in which case a timeout shouldn't have been granted anyway.

Question from the peanut gallery?

You blew the whistle to grant a TO. That fact doesn't change. Just follow the rules from thereon. Thinking too much can be dangerous. Don't make things any more difficult than they actually are.