Before this season started, NBA officials warned that violations that had gone largely unenforced in recent seasons -- like traveling and three seconds -- would be called.
They just forgot to tell us they were going to make all those calls in one game.The Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs and a full-house crowd Monday night at the Delta Center were witnesses to what is believed to be a modern NBA record: seven three-second calls.
They also witnessed a hard-fought 91-85 Jazz victory, but forget that for a moment. What was really noteworthy was a trio of referees who attempted to call the game as if it were real basketball.
The Spurs and Jazz are the two oldest teams in the NBA, with a combined 203 seasons of experience, and they all agreed they'd never seen anything like Monday night.
"It must have been the Guinness Book of World Records record for three-second calls," said San Antonio guard Mario Elie.
"There were a lot (of three-second calls), an exceptional amount, more than I've seen in a full season," said the Spurs' Tim Duncan.
"They called one on Malik (Rose), and he had just a little part of his shoe touching the white line," said Spurs center David Robinson.
"It's about like you had to stay outside the lane completely tonight," said Utah center Olden Polynice. "Funny thing is, that's not even a rule change. I don't know what it was. I guess that was just the call du jour for the night."
The NBA did make some rule changes this season, and players are having to adapt to those. But what seems even harder for them to adjust to is the sudden enforcement of longstanding -- but ignored -- rules.
For instance, there were also a half-dozen traveling calls Monday night. That total probably has been reached before, though rarely. What made these calls especially noteworthy is that they were made without respect to stature or status. Duncan, consensus favorite to be the league's Most Valuable Player this season, was whistled for traveling twice. Officials also nabbed last season's MVP, the Jazz's Karl Malone, as well as veteran Utah guard Jeff Hornacek, who has never been thought quick enough to commit a travel.
"They're making changes to get scoring up, and I think scoring is up, and that's a good thing for the league," Duncan said. "I'm getting used to it. I think everybody's getting used to it."
In the meantime, though, there are stretches where all the whistles bring the game to a standstill. It took nearly three minutes of the fourth quarter for these two veteran teams to score, as the refs charged two three-second violations, one traveling and six personal fouls.
"Offensively, we couldn't get in a very good rhythm at all," Robinson said. "The refs aren't going to win a game or lose a game for you, and we just have to adjust to what they're doing out there."
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan acknowledged that he hadn't seen so many three-second calls since grade school, but he also said it's about time. In fact, he had a hand in the first call, screaming out "Three seconds!" just moments before referee Hue Hollins made the first such call of the night, on Duncan.
"That's the way it should be called," Sloan said. "That's the rule."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich agreed.
"There did seem to be quite a few of them, but they did seem to go both ways, too," he said. "If they were really three seconds, sure, it's part of the game."