The controversy that arose from the Technical Committee’s decision to reverse a basket with 6.2 seconds left in Game 1 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals last season won’t happen again. It will be recalled that San Miguel Beer’s Mo Tautuaa scored a basket with 56.1 seconds to go and the three referees disregarded goal interference to count it. That gave San Miguel a 98-97 lead. The ensuing inbound allowed TNT to regain possession without a deadball. Then, with 6.2 ticks to go, Chris Ross tied up Jordan Heading for a jumpball, leading to a deadball and a review by the Technical Committee of the Tautuaa basket. The verdict nullified Tautuaa’s shot, bringing back the lead to TNT, 97-96. As a result, San Miguel was forced to give up the foul and Calvin Oftana hit two free throws to extend the lead, 99-96. San Miguel missed a triple that would’ve knotted the count and TNT held on for the win.
The Technical Committee came under fire from certain quarters for making the late judgment. A retired FIBA and PBA referee said the decision was technically correct because there was contact with the rim but in the spirit of the law, the shot should’ve been upheld as the ball’s entry into the hoop wasn’t compromised and it went in cleanly. What made the situation murkier was the Technical Committee called for a presscon immediately after the game to explain the late call without PBA commissioner Willie Marcial’s go-signal. The Committee noted that it could’ve reviewed the shot even after the game but this was later admitted to be a mistake.
The brouhaha prompted Marcial to reexamine the situation and come up with rule changes to assure the incident wouldn’t be repeated. Starting Game 3 of the Finals, Marcial removed the Technical Committee’s authority to check on calls and left it up to the three referees plus the substitute to rule on challenges or other reviews.
In the offseason, PBA consulted coaches twice before ratifying nine rule changes. Marcial retained the referees’ authority to rule on challenges or other reviews, assigned Nol Quilinguen as supervisor of officials and designated the reconstituted Technical Committee to simply handle the video review mechanics.
The pertinent rule change is that in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or OT, there will be a deadball after every made basket whether two or three or four or a foul shot. There will also be an automatic review by the referees of a goal tending or basketball interference called. However, if it isn’t called, there will be no review. If there is a possible goal tending or basket interference at the end of a game, referees will review and determine a violation or none and time remaining. The automatic review will be made only if it affects the outcome.
This rule, if applied on Tautuaa’s shot, would’ve counted the basket and no review could’ve been made because there was no call. The new rule allays fears that a repeat of the Tautuaa mishap could happen again.