German League Decides On A Do-Over After Botched Call Decides Playoff Series

Can Adam Silver and the NBA learn a thing or two from the German League on how to handle blown calls that can decide the outcome of a series?

One week after Doc Rivers, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Co. lost Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinal after the referees botched what should have been a foul on Matt Barnes, the German League has decided to go in a different direction.

MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, a squad featuring Michael Stockton and Coby Karl, the sons of NBA legends John Stockton and George Karl, will be given a second chance on Wednesday against Bayren Munchen, after initially losing 3-1 what would have been the deciding Game 4 of the best of 5 series.

According Sportando, “With less than two minutes left in the game and the team from Bavaria (Bayren) up by 2, Bayern’s Taylor committed a foul on Stockton. The guard went to the free throw line and made the first shot. But both coach Pesic and Schaffartzik convinced the official Anne Panther that Huff was fouled and not Stockton.

So the refs changed their decision and gave the ball to Bayern Munich canceling the free throws assigned to Ludwigsburg.”

The top seeded Bayren Munchen, one of Germany’s major clubs, was the heavy favorite against the eighth seed Ludwigsburg, and Bayren winning the series could have easily gone over the head of many in the international basketball community outside of Germany. However, with Ludwigsburg taking Game 2 at home, they put themselves in position to pull off a historic upset. With the seventh seeded Artland Dragons ousting Brose Basket Bamberg in the first round, the German League could see both the one and two seeds out in the playoffs opening round. Now that the league has decided on a do over for the game, it will be interesting to see if Ludwigsburg will rally around this favorable decision, and attempt at pulling what would surely be one of the most memorable upsets in German League history.

Now, just to be clear, this is not the same thing as what happened with the Clippers and the Thunder. In the NBA there is a specific protocol as to what is allowed to be reviewed, and the bottom line is, according to the rule book, the officials couldn’t overturn the non-foul call. A step further, there is also pretty clear policy as to the level you can criticize the officials to the media, and there was no doubt that Doc Rivers fully expected to be fined well before he opened his mouth in what was one of the most entertaining press conferences of this NBA playoffs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PRWLsphUcQ#t=13

While it may be difficult to imagine that the NBA would consider re-playing a playoffs game, the NBA’s behavior was quite perplexing. In the past, the League has admitted to missed calls, and in ’07-’08 Miami replayed the final minutes of a game against Atlanta, because Shaquille was called for his 6^th foul on a bad call, despite Shaq having been traded to Phoenix in the time between the original game and the do-over.

Maybe replaying an entire game is a bit to the extreme, but Adam Silver and the rest of the league office should take a hard look at the statement the German League is making in their commitment to fair results and sportsmanship, and consider updating the instant replay policy to ensure the most correct and fair results, especially in crunch time of important games.