OFFICIALS DECIDING GAME

[Mark Padgett]

Originally posted by Kelvin green

Was it the kind of foul that you should put a player at the line to win the game?

Please explain what kind of foul you would call only if it didn't put a player "at the line to win the game".

Whether or not a particular foul creates a situation that can affect the final score or not is the player's decision, not ours. He (OK, Juulie, or she) commits the foul, not us. We only point it out to everybody when it happens.

If you called it this way in the first minute, then you call it this way in the final minute - period.

Now Kelvin, I know you meant to ask whether or not it was enough of a foul to call in the first place, and certainly I know you were just making sure the call was consistant with what had gone on during the game, but I just wanted to emphasize that "swallowing your whistle" late in a close game is something that is commonplace in hockey (unfortunately), and should not be in basketball.