NBA: Hawks and Heat to replay final seconds of December's game

The Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat were ordered by NBA to replay final 51.9 seconds after bad call on Shaq.

NBA: Hawks and Heat to replay final seconds of December's game The NBA has ordered the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat to replay the final 51.9 seconds of their last month game. The Hawks won 117-111 at home in overtime on December 19th, but NBA ordered a replay of the final seconds this Friday, stemming from a wrong call on Shaquille O'Neal. During overtime Atlanta was leading on Miami 112-111, when a foul was called on Shaq and the scoring table personnel, who are provided by the home team, ruled it was O'Neal's sixth foul, when actually it was only his fifth. According to the NBA, the mistake was made when a foul was called on Udonis Haslem with 3:24 remaining in the fourth quarter, but that foul was mistakenly credited to Shaquille O'Neal at the scoring table. The replay will have to occur before the two teams next scheduled game on March 8th.

"Because of this conduct by Atlanta's personnel, Miami suffered a clear competitive disadvantage, as O'Neal, the Heat's second-leading scorer and rebounder that night, was removed from a one-point game with only 51.9 seconds remaining," read the official statement by the NBA. This ruling is the first time the league sends teams back to replay time since 1982 when the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers were called back on the court.

Published on 01/11/2008