I just finished watching the Nuggets-Lakers game -- boy, what a finish! Kobe Bryant, having spent the entire day in court, arrives late at the Staples Center, enters the game in the second quarter and remains relatively quiet until the fourth quarter, when, with the game tied 99-99, he catches an inbounds pass, head-fakes Nuggets’ guard Jon Barry out of his socks, and calmly buries a 20-foot jumper as the buzzer sounds. Lakers win, pandemonium ensues, celebration...
Interrupted. Wait a second, people. Just wait. We have to make sure the bucket is good. Just hang on, folks. The referees are on it -- hey Kobe, Shaq, instead of running triumphantly off into the locker room, high-fiving fans on the way, can you hold on for just a minute while we confirm that Kobe got the shot off before the buzzer?
Welcome to the NBA, night in and night out the most exciting sports league in the world which just so happens to have recently implemented one of the most gruesomely unexciting rules of all time: thanks to an officiating snafu in the 2002 playoffs, every single buzzer beater in the NBA is subject to mandatory review by the officials before it can count. As a result, players, coaches and fans are often left in an awkward lurch as the referees pore over multiple camera angles, relying on technology for something most people can determine with their own eyes.
Look, I understand that in this day and age, referees are under more scrutiny than ever for blown calls, and there is really nothing worse than making the wrong call on a buzzer-beating shot. In fact, the only thing worse than having a referee make the wrong call on a buzzer-beating shot is having the magic and pure bliss of a last-second win virtually eliminated. What really kills the moment is the delay. It’s almost always immediately obvious whether or not a player has gotten the shot off, and the officials have their hands tied by the rules: no matter how clear it was whether the shot beat the buzzer, they have to review it, and it often takes a painstakingly long time to do so. Come to think of it, the officials probably don’t mind having their hands tied -- their chief concern is undoubtedly to make sure they’re covering their own asses, not to worry about generating as much excitement as possible.
Deep down, I understand the desire to be certain before making the final call, but there’s got to be a way to go about doing it so the officials can determine the result right away. Why not rig up the refs with an electric wire so that they get a full-on shock prodding when the final buzzer sounds? That way all they have to do is watch to make sure the player released the shot before or after their entire body starts convulsing.
Okay, that was a stupid idea. There’s no way that refs would really dig the whole electric shock thing. I only mentioned it because I thought it would be kind of funny to see the refs all suddenly hit the floor as the final buzzer sounded. In truth, I don’t really have a legitimate idea as to how we can improve this situation. I keep thinking about things like a ball that explodes when the final buzzer sounds, but of course that’s problematic for a number of reasons.
It seems as though ultimately, we’re left with a choice: either hold NBA referees accountable and let them call the game as they see it, thus keeping the excitement of the moment intact, or make sure that they get every single last second call right, even at the expense of sapping the pure fun from one of the greatest moments in sports.
The answer seems obvious to me. If we can’t have electric shock prodding, then let’s make the Zebras earn their keep.
