GHSA Forces Replay of Game's Final Second

[so cal lurker]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

This logic is flawed. Just like an "in progress bad call" can be overcome, the team could have scored more points during the 32 minutes, so that the game was not so close at the end. Baskets scored in any of the 1,920 seconds are equally important. And if a bad call does occur, it doesn't matter when it occurs.

As Bob said, it is "ALL the events of the game" that determine the winner.

This is a great way for referees (and players) to feel better. But there is a difference. On a call that happens in the first half (or a shot that is missed), even if it is a close game, it is never possible to say with certainty "but for that missed call [or shot] we would have won the game," as the events that followed would have been different if the score were different, etc.

But when the mistake by the referee (or player) happens at or about the buzzer, we do know that but for that mistake, the outcome would have been different. Of course, and perhaps really the point you were making, that doesn't mean that mistake (by player or referee) was the sole cause of the end result, but it definitely changed the result.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing for the "refs cost us the game," because as noted there are a zillion events that went into the result. (And I've seen very, very few games where that is a fair statement--not zero, but very, very few.) And I agree that, in most games, the mistakes by the referees roughly balance out over the course of a game (and if not a game, a season). But that doesn't mean that a referee mistake at the end of a game didn't change the result of a game.