Scorekeepers like this give the table a bad name!
Were the two guys/gals on book awake? How can they go nearly 8 minutes without noticing that the board is different from the book?
With that in mind, I have some ranting and raving about overtime:
(1) Recount, recount, recount.
Yes, the book says 60 seconds between end of 4th Q and beginning of OT#1, but I think that until both books completely agree, and we verify it is a tie, you can extend that intermission.
(2)Scoreboard vs. scorebook
In an ideal world, the scorekeeper would control the board. We don't live in an ideal world. In games I have seen, the timer controls the board 100% of the time. I find that in the beginning of the 2nd half, I will often put one or two points up for the wrong team because of the switch in directions. If people (coaches, players, fans) start complaining, I remind them that the book is official, not the board.
That's why you should check the book when the difference at the end of a game is 3 points or less. Towards the end of a close game, the timer (should) has (have) more important matters to be concerned with (i.e., the clock) than the score. (Personally, I don't put up points in the last 10 seconds of a quarter, so that I can be as accurate as possible with the clock.) If we have a made basket than an immediate TO, the timer can get lost rather quickly and forget to put the points up.
Well, that's enough ranting and raving for now. Happy holidays to everyone!
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