[Bette]

Whistles for traveling, long a traditional mode of transportation among some cagy NBA players, are up this season. Meanwhile, the league's forbearance regarding what it says is a lack of respect for the game is down, leaving technical fouls on the rise. But neither trend might have the impact of last week's move by the league toward closing a gaping, and embarrassing, loophole in its rules that might play a role in the Boston Celtics losing homecourt advantage for the playoffs.
On Dec. 30 in Portland, the Trail Blazers inadvertently had six players on the floor against the defending champions. With 10.1 seconds left in the first half, the Celtics frantically tried to cover up defensively on an in-bounds play, but the Trail Blazers' Travis Outlaw broke free and dunked off a Greg Oden pass. Oden wasn't supposed to be on the court.
The points counted. The Celtics went berserk. However, crew chief Mike Callahan, with referees Rodney Mott and Zach Zarba, could not disallow the points because it was a non-correctable call. Portland was assessed a technical foul and the Celtics ended up with one point in return.
As a result, the league's competition committee approved a recommendation to the Board of Governors on Friday that will change the rule in the upcoming weeks.
The revised rule will allow the non-offending team to accept the result of the play and shoot a technical foul or decline the play's outcome and shoot a technical, with the offending team, in essence, creating a "do-over." In other words, the Celtics would have been able to disallow the Trail Blazers' points and shoot a technical, followed by Portland inbounding.


NBA expected to enact new rule to shore up officiating loophole - USATODAY.com


And I thought the NFL officiating was messed up. Did anyone see this game?