.3 situation, can't look good

[Nevadaref]

At the end of the game before one of mine at the LV tourney last week a situation occurred which made the officials look bad even though they got the final call right.
A kid scored with the time running out to bring his team within three, and frantically called for time-out. There was some confusion as to when the whistle blew for the TO and how much time should be on the clock for the throw-in. My buddy and I waiting to take the floor for the next game, thought about 2.7, but the game crew put up only one second.
This throw-in was muffed and deflected OOB on the sideline right in front of the opponents bench by an offensive player. The clock expired and the horn sounded, and again there was confusion amongst the crew. They huddled and finally put .3 back on the clock. I would have simply ended the game. Then my friend and I started talking about what a bad situation they could be getting into here.
Of course, the team trailing by three inbounds the ball for a catch and shoot 3-pointer, which clearly beats the horn, and banks in. They immediately waved it off, which we know is correct according to 5-2-5, but the fans and players, who don't know the rule and don't understand why a shot which clearly beats the horn is being waved off go absolutely nuts. People were all over the floor, the losing team encircled one of the officials screaming at the poor striped-shirted person.
I thought that the S.W.A.T. team was going to have to be called to get those officials safely out of the gym.
This got me thinking that there is really no way to look good when this happens.

Later in the day, I had the team which lost this game and the coach came up before the game to hello. We briefly chatted about his earlier game since he brought it up by saying that they lost a tough one earlier in the day.
I told him that I saw the finish. He said that he knew the .3 rule and wasn't upset about that call because in the excitement he simply forgot about it and didn't design a tap play, but he was really unhappy with the way the clock was handled in the final seconds. He, rightly IMO, claimed that they should have had more than 1 second after the TO. He said 2.9, I smiled and nodded. He felt they got screwed at that point. He then told me that he didn't like the .3 either because it was arbitrary. Why not .4 he asked? Then the shot would have counted. When I told him that he was fortunate to get .3, since I wouldn't have given him any time, it was his turn to smile and nod!
We went on to have a good game and his behavior was great.