PHOENIX — NBA officials demonstrated an extraordinary willingness to reconsider a decision Friday night, overturning a foul call with just 28.7 seconds remaining in the Suns' game against Denver.
The successful Phoenix challenge followed consultation with the Replay Center, which determined that the original foul should instead be ruled no foul.
It was an impressive institutional achievement.
A whistle had been blown. A coach disagreed. Video evidence was examined. The people responsible for the original decision accepted that the decision should change.
Ordinarily, that sequence would require a complete restructuring of basketball's emotional infrastructure.
The league managed it in considerably less time.
Unfortunately for Phoenix, the successful challenge did not change the final outcome. Denver won 127–120, with Jamal Murray scoring 39 points and the Nuggets preserving their lead down the stretch.
The Suns' challenge therefore produced one of the more complicated victories available in professional basketball: a meaningful win against a referee's ruling while losing the actual game.
Coaches' challenges exist to correct mistakes, but their real entertainment value comes from the ritual surrounding them.
A coach signals disagreement, several officials gather around a monitor, and everyone in the arena attempts to interpret the same moving images as though they are evidence from an unsolved international incident.
On this occasion, the system worked.
Phoenix received the corrected call.
Denver received the corrected final result, which remained exactly as inconvenient as before.
