Orlando v. Detroit - Game 2

At the end of the 3rd quarter in game 2 between the Magic and Pistons, there was a clock malfunction. Chauncey Billups ended up hitting a 3-pointer. The problem was, it took more than the 5.1 seconds the Pistons had for Billups to get the shot off. So, if the play had gone as it did and the clock had been running, the shot wouldn't have been allowed. The result would have been three fewer points for the Pistons.

I'm not going to say that the Magic would have won if the shot had been waived off. But, I'm not going to dismiss the possibility either. The game was close late, with the Pistons pulling away (they won 100-93) with FT's late. Anyone who knows anything about basketball knows that the Magic wouldn't have been fouling to put the Pistons on the line if Orlando was ahead late.

I find the entire situation to be distasteful for a couple of reasons. First, the officials reviewed the play and couldn't get it right. The official statement today was that it took approximately 5.7 seconds before Billups got the shot up. I don't know how hard it is to get a stop watch and let the footage go and see that it took more than 5.1 seconds. So, the officials (i) don't have the resources/authority to get the call right, (ii) aren't competent, or (iii) didn't want to upset the home fans. None of those possibilities is really all that promising.

Second, I don't see why it's a shot/no shot situation. Why wasn't the entire play done over? The shot definitely shouldn't have counted, but how were the Pistons supposed to know when they needed to get the shot up if the clock wasn't working? It seems like the play should have stopped when the clock malfunctioned, which was right after the ball was in-bounded ... so why not do the whole thing over? Then, it's as fair as it's going to get (considering the clock stoppage) for both teams.