FIBA World Championships

[Jay R]

I wanted to start a thread to see if anyone else is watching the games. Also any comments about the officiating?

This is the 1st time that FIBA is using three-person crews for a World Championship. It should help the quality of officiating, but I've seen some unusual calls already. The officiating is not near NBA or NCAA Division I but I think it is getting better all the time. Notice how the lead official is constantly in the close down position. I believe this is how FIBA teaches the mechanic.

In the USA-Puerto Rico game, the timekeeper was not very good. In the last two minutes of the 4th quarter, the clock stops with every field goal. There were times when the clock did not stop at all and there were other times when it was stopping 4 or 5 seconds longer than necessary. My son who is timekeeper from to time was amazed that these types of inconsistencies could occur at a tournament of this magnitude. Welcome to FIBA basketball.

The USA-Italy match on Wednesday should be interesting.