The League Admits That Orlando Got Screwed
It’s not often that the NBA publicly acknowledges that they got one wrong, especially under the ultra-intense glare of the postseason.
After much hand-wringing following Game Two of the Magic/Pistons series, the League admitted that Chauncey Billups’s long three to end the third quarter should not have counted.
“After reviewing the video of last night’s Pistons-Magic game, we determined that the play that concluded with Chauncey Billups’ three-point field goal at the end of the third quarter took approximately 5.7 seconds.
Because there were only 5.1 seconds remaining in the quarter when the play began, the shot would not have counted had the clock continued to run.”
Chin up, Orlando. That’s a moral victory. Those count, right?
The good thing in all of this, is that the gaffe might lead to an expansion of the use of instant replay in similar situations.
33 Responses to “The League Admits That Orlando Got Screwed”
May.7 at 9:04 am
Hot Pubes says:
Steve Jave is an ass!
May.7 at 9:05 am
Ken says:
It’d be nice if this resulted in a rule change. Still sucks for Orlando.
May.7 at 9:18 am
Eboy says:
………..
May.7 at 9:26 am
Tuomas says:
Shameful? Yeah. Unfortunate? Sure. Time for a rule change? Absolutely. Luckily even Orlando isn’t trying to act like it absolutely cost them the game.
May.7 at 9:42 am
riggs says:
common sense would say that the play they ran was more than 5.1 seconds, come on rip (i think) kicked it out to billups at the last second because he was contested that along wastes time.
May.7 at 9:44 am
Mark Z says:
They should make the Pistons start Game 3 with -3 points.
May.7 at 9:46 am
TADOne says:
***passes a tissue***
May.7 at 9:47 am
BETCATS says:
this is like telling your wife you cheated AFTER she walked in on you and ran out crying screaming ‘you b@stard!!you b@stard!!’. It just doesnt make a difference because the damage is done.
May.7 at 10:01 am
The Second Coming says:
Since we’re talking rule changes, they should change the 24-sec shot clock to tenths-of-a-second. No more BS “one second left on the 24″ when it’s really .3 of a second left.
May.7 at 10:18 am
BETCATS says:
or they could make a huge shot clock that caluclates things out to millonths-or-a-second! The bad ideas continue to rip out like farts out of a gassy person.
May.7 at 10:38 am
Russ Bengtson says:
Would have never happened if Shaq was the GM.
May.7 at 10:52 am
ciolkstar says:
This was turrible. I can still picture the ref trying to count 1-1,000 from memory to decide how long the shot took. Are you kidding? Thats allowable by rule but checking/timing the replay isn’t…
May.7 at 10:53 am
ciolkstar says:
Orlando probably still woulda lost
May.7 at 11:00 am
Nathalie says:
Hell no, that doesn’t count for anything.
May.7 at 11:01 am
Russ Bengtson says:
So when does the League plan on admitting that Seattle got screwed?
May.7 at 11:12 am
Orlando says:
they should replay the game!
May.7 at 11:20 am
detroit says:
You know what even if Detroit started the forth down one they would not have lost. Orlando is not very good or else they would be able to come back from being down two going into the forth. Their starters are fighting with our bench! Doesn’t that say something about their playing ability if they can only talk smack to our bench?
May.7 at 11:39 am
B. Long says:
This is somehow TMac’s fault.
May.7 at 12:10 pm
RV says:
i dont understand why this is such a big deal, there’s been much worse calls that affected the game more than this, but i keep seeing this on local and national sport headlines, and the refs didn’t screw anyone over, they couldnt review it because of the rules.
May.7 at 2:27 pm
daniel says:
congratulations chauncey billups, you got yet another totally bull**** call. this definately cost them the game, in such a tight game the magic would have had the lead near the end when hedo decided to jack up that ridiculous three. those 3 points changed the entire strategy of the last few minutes of the game, orlando would have been shooting the ft’s and detroit would have been trying to come back
May.7 at 2:56 pm
setlasmon says:
Dick Bavetta is not walking through that door… oh wait.. he is! Hey, Dick!
May.7 at 3:20 pm
B. Long says:
This is like if Florida came out today and said Al Gore actually did win that election….ridiculous.
May.7 at 3:26 pm
TADOne says:
Daniel: Get over it, this did NOT cost Orlando the game. Orlando had 12 minutes to overcome a 2 point deficit. They actually had a 4 point lead with around 4 minutes left and couldn’t hold on to it.
May.7 at 4:35 pm
The Biz says:
Is Hedo the PF for Orlando thats weird but still Detroit would have won
May.7 at 4:38 pm
youngmuggsy says:
orlando didn’t deserve to win with all of those turnovers.
May.7 at 4:45 pm
what says:
SO WILL THEY REPLAY THE F-CKING GAME LIKE THEY MADE THE HAWKS DO WITH THE HEAT? Probably not. YOU SUCK DAVID STERN!!!!
May.7 at 4:53 pm
dma says:
im a magic fan and while i think the call was horrendous, i don’t think the call itself made the magic lose. that foul at the end when they were inbounding the ball did.
May.7 at 6:53 pm
josiewales says:
Why don’t they replay the final X.X seconds like they made the hawks and heat do? Or is that just a rule they invented for crappy teams?
May.7 at 7:53 pm
PistonsRuleTheCourt says:
@ B. Long: wtf, its not TMac’s fault. and all y’all Orlando fans, if you really resepct your team, you would know that they had 12 minutes to win and you wouldn’t blame it on the 3. that’s just stupid.
May.7 at 8:15 pm
Dacre says:
OR THE SUNS…?
May.8 at 2:01 am
Henry Wu says:
detroit, u sed Orlando sucks? check the score tonight when the game took place in Orlando. Does a “sucky” team blow out your so-called “good” Detroit team like that?
May.8 at 7:42 am
rikson says:
Why can`t you guys understand that kind of issues are part of every sport. As long as you give it your attenchion such things will continue to happen. And the fact that we are talking about it right now, seems to be just perfect for the league (cant get much better advertising).
Don`t forget … it`s entertainment baby! peace Im from Europe so my english is not the best!
May.8 at 7:43 am
rikson says:
Why can`t you guys understand that kind of issues are part of every sport. As long as you give it your attenchion such things will continue to happen. And the fact that we are talking about it right now, seems to be just perfect for the league (cant get much better advertising).
Don`t forget … it`s entertainment baby! …peace… Im from Europe so my english is not the best!