playing short by choice

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

I think I read (maybe written by the same guy) that somebody watched a tape of the game and that's really pretty close to how it played out. I have no idea where to confirm that, though.

The two disc DVD set includes the video footage of the entire Milan vs. Muncie game. You could verify it by watching that.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

The two disc DVD set includes the video footage of the entire Milan vs. Muncie game. You could verify it by watching that.

Ok, I went and pulled out the DVD. Here's the critical portion of the 4th quarter:

1:42 remaining -- game tied, 28-28. Milan is awarded 2 free throws and hits both. Muncie does not request a time-out.

1:30 -- Milan steals the ball, dribbles in frontcourt to let the clock run.

1:00 -- Milan attempts a FG and misses. Rebound Muncie. No time-out requested.

0:45 -- Muncie scores a FG. Game tied, 30-30. Neither team requests time-out. Milan dribbles to frontcourt and holds the ball to let the clock run.

0:18 -- Time-out Milan.

Under 0:05 -- Milan scores a FG. Muncie does not request time-out. Muncie inbounds the ball and heaves a desperation attempt.

But the announcer doesn't say when the clock expired. So it's possible that the horn sounded immediately after the ball went through the basket. In any case, it would've been tough for Muncie to get a time-out and run a play anyway.

So it looks to me as though there are only three points at which Muncie might've been expected to request a time-out in the last 2 minutes of the game: (1) during the possession immediately following Milan's free throws with 1:42 remaining; (2) after Milan's miss at the 1:00 mark; (3) immediately after Milan's basket with less than 5 seconds left.

In (1), they were only down 2 points with lots of time. I can see where you might want the time-out, but it's not panic time; and as I said, the coach may already have called the play during the free throws. In (3), it's unclear if they actually could've requested a time-out; the horn may already have sounded. I think that (2) is the only time when I would have expected a time-out request.

That, of course, assumes that Muncie had a time-out available to take. I think they probably did, because I didn't see a lot of time-outs granted, but I didn't watch the whole game.

So, IMHO, the real-life coach of Muncie Central didn't "screw up" the clock management all that much at all. Now for Hollywood purposes, to make it more dramatic, they added more back-and-forth action and so there were more opportunities to get a time-out.

As for Spike Lee's ruminations about the movie inserting race-issues into the story by having black players on Muncie (making a black vs. white matchup), Muncie actually did start 2 black players. I couldn't tell from the game film the ethnicity of the head coach.

A couple other things I noticed. Milan violated during the opening jump ball. One player very obviously stepped into the jump circle before the ball was tipped. That player then batted the loose ball to another Milan player to contol the ball.

Also, a Muncie dribbler was called for charging and Milan was awarded a free throw. I guess there was no player control foul back then.

Finally, early in the 2nd quarter, the announcer said "over his back"!!

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Also, a Muncie dribbler was called for charging and Milan was awarded a free throw. I guess there was no player control foul back then.

You guess correctly. It was defined as a common foul in dem long lost days.