Instant replay has become a double-edged sword for sports leagues, as what was supposed to alleviate officiating controversies in a quest to get key calls late in games right has led to just as many controversies over replay rulings. That plays out in a number of ways, from replay changing how calls are made at a fundamental level late in games to restrictions on what officials can look at keeping them from making obvious call changes.
An example of that came during the Western Conference Finals this past NBA season, when Kyrie Irving clearly fouled Jaden McDaniels to cause him to lose the ball out of bounds. Initially, this was called Minnesota ball, but Dallas challenged it and it was overturned to be Mavs ball because it did in fact touch McDaniels last and the referees could not hand out a foul on review. It was an example of how replay can be taken advantage of because of the restrictions in place, and the NBA went into this offseason looking to close that loophole.
As a result, the league announced on Tuesday that when replaying who touched the ball last on an out of bounds call on a Coach’s Challenge, officials can now call a foul if that’s what caused the ball to go out of bounds.
Under the new rule, if instant replay of an out-of-bounds violation is triggered by a Coach’s Challenge, the on-court officials and Replay Center will be able to review the video to determine whether a foul proximate to the violation should have been called. The factors that will be considered in determining whether a prior uncalled foul is proximate to the out-of-bounds violation are below:
Whether the players involved in the uncalled foul are the same or different players than the ones involved in the out-of-bounds violation under review.
The distance between the uncalled foul and the out-of-bounds violation under review.
The time elapsed between the uncalled foul and the out-of-bounds violation under review.
It’s important to note that this is only an expansion on the Coach’s Challenge, not when officials go over to the monitor themselves in the final two minutes. The goal is to close up the loophole that Dallas took advantage of, but as is always the case in these situations, this only further opens up the possibility for issues. It’s a mortal lock that at some point this season, officials will trigger a review in the final two minutes to figure out an out of bounds call and there will be an obvious foul that they cannot overturn because it was not a Coach’s Challenge.
The cardinal rule of replay review in sports is that the best intentions always will go array, and while I more than understand why the NBA wanted to close that loophole, they’re only going to end up having people wondering why (and getting mad) this isn’t something that can be fixed in any review situation.
