NBA rule?
 

So watching near the end of the 4th quarter this weekend, (I can't remember which game it actually was) the team behind rolled the inbounds pass after a made basket, to delay the clock from starting, no big deal, normal strategy. But what I noticed is that the official started a visible count while the ball was rolling on the ground, before it was first legally touched. Is there an NBA rule that requires an inbounded ball be touched within a certain time limit? I had never noticed before. And I actually saw it happen 2 or 3 more times within the same game, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a fluke thing where the official was just absent mindedly counting. If anyone knows (APG....) please comment

Ball only has to be released within 5 seconds...you were perhaps mistaking what the official was doing for a count.

Boy, it sure looked like a deliberate count. Thanks anyways, if I happen to see it again, I'll note the game and time