NBA: Teams will replay 51.9 seconds
ATLANTA (AP) - January 11, 2008 The Hawks won 117-111 at home in overtime Dec. 19. The NBA said
Friday the replay will be held before the teams' next scheduled
game - March 8 in Atlanta. Play will start from the time after
O'Neal's disputed sixth foul.
The Hawks also were fined $50,000, with commissioner David Stern
ruling the team was "grossly negligent" in failing to address the
mistake.
The protest is the first granted by the NBA since December 1982,
when then-NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien upheld a request for a
replay by the San Antonio Spurs after their 137-132 double-overtime
loss to the Los Angeles Lakers the previous month.
The Spurs and Lakers finished the game in April 1983, with San
Antonio winning 117-114.
The Hawks were leading 112-111 in overtime when O'Neal was
called for a foul. The scoring table personnel, who are provided by
the home team, ruled it was the Miami center's sixth foul, when
actually it was only his fifth.
According to the league, the mistake stemmed from a foul with
3:24 remaining in the fourth quarter that was called on Udonis
Haslem but was mistakenly credited to O'Neal at the scoring table.
Stern ruled the Hawks "failed to follow league-mandated scoring
procedures and failed to respond effectively when the members of
the statisticians' crew noticed the mistake," the NBA said in a
statement.
"Because of this conduct by Atlanta's personnel, Miami suffered
a clear competitive disadvantage, as O'Neal - the Heat's
second-leading scorer and rebounder that night - was removed from a
one-point game with only 51.9 seconds remaining," the statement
added.
Al Horford hit two free throws after O'Neal's foul to give the
Hawks a 114-111 lead. Anthony Johnson added a running jumper with
14 seconds left to put the game away.
Now, they'll have to do it over again.