07-25-2007, 03:24 PM
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 | Contributor | | Last Online: 12-20-2008 02:06 AM Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Santa Clara, CA
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| Do we need instant replay in NBA?
Quote:
While Stern obviously wants to head off speculation that game-fixing might be a more widespread problem in his sport, there's another question he clearly does not want to address.
Why didn't he take the one obvious step that could have prevented this disaster?
I'm speaking, of course, as I have so often, about using instant replay to correct mistakes in NBA games. When I've derided the "human factor" in the past, it was based on all the honest mistakes sports officials make, none more than NBA refs. I wasn't even addressing all those other human factors — alimony, college tuition, a demanding mistress — that might make a ref all too human. Now that it appears the common human failing of a gambling problem has gotten the better of an NBA referee, isn't it time the league takes this simple step to mitigate against intentionally missed calls?
Implementing instant replay would be the single easiest way to combat the lure of fixing games for financial gain. If a ref knows that his every call might be challenged by a coach, is he really going to knowingly make a mistake with the understanding that it will be dissected from 10 different angles? Would Donaghy, dirty or not, have dared blow his whistle from halfcourt after fellow ref Greg Willard, standing under the basket, had already determined Manu Ginobli had not been fouled on a drive in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals? (The ensuing replay was not kind to Donaghy and is no doubt now an exhibit in the government's case against him.)
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