Yesterday, the Pelicans lost to the Nuggets by a basket after Zion Williamson failed to dunk the ball following a successful contest by Nikola Jokić with 2.2 ticks left in the match. In the aftermath, he — and plenty of other quarters, head coach Stan Van Gundy included — noted that his attempt was foiled, but not after contact to the hand and head. To be sure, their contention was valid; replays showed the coverage wasn’t exactly clean, and the National Basketball Association’s Last Two Minute Report, issued whenever scores are within five points of each other in the crunch, will no doubt validate the eye test.
Not that the admission of the mistakes, even if by Jokić, will change the outcome; on the contrary, all it does for the Pelicans, and particularly for Williamson, is rub salt on open wounds. If nothing else, it underscores his point that “I’ve got to earn my respect. I’m only in Year 2. I’ve got to get a couple more years under my belt, and, hopefully, things change with that.” As if the definition of a foul changes with time and experience. And never mind that he already has tons of the “respect” he is alluding to; only three other players in the entire league shoot more free throws than he does every outing.
Which is not to say the game arbiters play favorites, or that they swallow their whistles at times. Action in the NBA comes so quickly and so impactfully that it’s downright irrational to expect them to get things right a hundred percent of the time. If anything, contact occurs with every play, and the mandate for the men in gray is not just to keep the proceedings in check; it’s to keep the proceedings moving along at a reasonable pace. Imagine if they called every infraction, real or perceived.
True, a foul is a foul, and it’s precisely what the Last Two Minute Report will show. Then again, there’s a reason officials are loath to decide outcomes by using their whistles; fans come to see the stars perform under pressure, not take anticlimactic charities. Of course, the counterargument is that the officials decide outcomes, anyway, by not using their whistles. As with just about anything else, however, the truth lies somewhere in between. Unless a foul is so obvious as to elicit vehement reactions if it’s not called, the preference is to let the action continue. It’s what happened yesterday, and it’s what will keep happening. Because people decide. And people are people.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.