Goofy situation

[daveg144]

A coach calls timeout with 15 seconds remaining and the score tied to set up a last second shot for the home team. The table informs the official that there are no timeouts remaining so a technical foul is issued. The opponents go the other end of the floor to shoot 2 technical fouls. Both were made.

The ball is taken out-of-bounds at half court and a lob pass is thrown to the center for a dunk where he is fouled and given a chance to take the visiting team to a comfortable five point lead with 9 seconds remaining. The defending center has just fouled out committing his fifth foul of the game.

Suddenly the horn blows as the official is reporting the foul with the table indicating that there was a mistake with the previous timeout and the coach did have one timeout remaining.

Where do we go from here?

[btaylor64]

I know this would not be supported by the rulebook, but if I was the CC I would wipe the technical Free throws, wipe the foul, and give the home team the timeout again with them getting the ball wherever it may be with 15 seconds left, IOW just play it like any of that never happened. It might not be right by rule, but it sounds like the only fair thing to do.

[FishinRef]

I would hand my whistle to the score keeper and let him figure out what HE created..........................
Better yet, let's just institue a New Rule - Score keeper can be flogged at any point during the game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dan_ref]

Correctable Error

[Adam]

After reading the other thread, here's my two bits' worth.

1. Wipe the T and take off the points from the free throws.
2. All other action stands; including the two points from the dunk, the 5th foul on the center, and the ensuing free throw for the dunker. Go to POI.

[btaylor64]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

After reading the other thread, here's my two bits' worth.

1. Wipe the T and take off the points from the free throws.
2. All other action stands; including the two points from the dunk, the 5th foul on the center, and the ensuing free throw for the dunker. Go to POI.

Why would all other action stand. If you don't have the Technical then the visiting team would not have had the ball to get the dunk. It would have been the home teams ball with 15 seconds left. I am sticking with what I said on this one.

[Adam]

Using some sort of combination of correcting a bookkeeping error and a correctable error (unmerited free throws), I think you can justify erasing the free throws and retracting the T. However, nothing in the rules allows you to go back in time to cancel anything that occurs while the clock is running. Team B earned their dunk, and A5 earned his 5th foul.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by btaylor64

Why would all other action stand. If you don't have the Technical then the visiting team would not have had the ball to get the dunk. It would have been the home teams ball with 15 seconds left. I am sticking with what I said on this one.

And you would be wrong.

We've discussed this type of thing many times before. "Do overs" sound like the fair and right thing to do, but they are not allowed by rule. Even the correctable error rules allow for all other activity to stand, even though the error itself is corrected. What do you tell the assignor (or the rare coach) who really does know the rules? Do you say, "I don't care what the rule says, we're going to do what I think is fair instead."?

This is why we try to communicate with the table and with each other during the game to make sure these types of issues don't come into play. We don't get paid the big bucks to just call the occasional travel, we get paid to make the correct calls when it really counts.

[daveg144]

Doesn't this (referring to this thread, not the older one) fall under 2-12 article 11 which states a bookkeeping mistake can be corrected at any time until the referee approves the final score?

[Adam]

That's arguable. The timeout itself would be a bookkeeping error, no doubt, so I'm willing to, at least, add a timeout to the team's ledger if we can't go back and remove the T. I'm even willing to go back and retract the technical foul later in the game. However, canceling the free throws has a specific time requirement under correctable errors. The other part of that requirement is that all action that occurs between the error and its discovery stands.

I should add that whether the team gets another timeout depends on whether we can cancel the free throws. If we can cancel the free throws, then I'm good with not giving them another timeout beyond the one they took already. If we can't cancel the shots, then the coach has essentially purchased an extra TO.