You can still watch the video of that Pistons Magic clock issue.

(Not the only clock issue of late, huh?)

A few points that I have confirmed with the NBA:

• NBA game clocks accidentally stop sometimes. (Perhaps you have noticed other instances? I’m sure I have, but can’t remember specific games.) Certainly an errant whistle sound is one likely potential cause. To combat that, there is a red light that flashes courtside whenever the clock is stopped — that way the operators are alerted and can in theory then start the clock, while informing the referee at the next dead ball how much time the clock may have been stopped.
• There is a laptop courtside that records what caused a clock to stop. So, the league should be able to determine what happened in this exact instance. It’s kind of like that black box in an airplane cockpit.
• There will likely be some (very welcome) further clarification from the league about what happened in this case.
  

I’m just so glad this didn’t happen at the final buzzer with the game on the line. I have no idea how that would be handled.

A couple of other little points: The clock started at 5.1, and then got locked at 4.8. Then, and this is my favorite part, just as the ball went through the bucket, it zipped from 4.8 to 4.1 and stopped again.

What was that last little part about?

I have heard from tons of people about this, many saying, essentially: Stop whining, Orlando fans! What were the referees supposed to do? Their only options were to take a bucket away from the Pistons — that Chauncey Billups shot fair and square while there was time showing on the clock.

The truth is, though, we know that the exact rules were not followed here. TNT’s replay shows that, in a tight-clock situation that makes things tough for the offense, the Pistons got extra time and used it to hit a game-changing three.

For Orlando, a win in this game could have meant enormous excitment and home court advantage in the remaining five games, with a trip to the Conference Finals on the line. As it is, the Magic are now fighting long odds just to stay alive.

Orlando fans will complain about this forever. That’s just the way it is. No good telling them not to.

What’s less clear is what could have been done.

• No way it would be fair to give the Pistons zero points for not beating a clock that wasn’t running. But I think Orlando would sure be happy with the Pistons having what they were entitled to: A chance at zero, one, two, or three points. To get that, you have to replay the time in question. Which has happened plenty of times in NBA history.
• On the other hand, you have to admire the NBA’s stance to not take points off the board that have been scored. That’s something that stands between the occasional mishap like this and some unimaginably serious craziness at the hands of a misguided referee.
• The best thing that could have happened here would have been that the ball was inbounded, and then an official recognizes the clock is not running and instantly restarts the play. That would have been good. And do you remember when, during the playoffs, there used to be an extra referee on the sidelines? That is something this person could have done.
  
• Somehow or another, instant replay should have been available to the referees.
• Another question: Why are the people who keep score and run the clock not employed by the NBA directly? It’s important they’re impartial.

One final point: A lot of the video scrutiny focused on whether or not Chauncey Billups got the shot off in time. (Working without the benefit of replay, referees ruled that he did, which later proved to be incorrect. You can’t get mad at the referees, though — how were they to know how much time should have come off the clock? The rules kept them from watching the video that you and I were seeing at home.)

But were we distracted by the issue of whether or not Billups got the shot off in time?

A more important issue might be whether or not the play should have been reviewable. And here I’m confused by the ruling. Was it ruled that Billups launched that shot with a fraction of a second on the clock, or was it ruled that he made that shot with a fraction of a second left?

If he is said to have shot it with less than a second on the clock, then of course the clock would have run to to zero with the ball still in the air. And that would have made this an end-of-clock situation, which should have been reviewable.

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