ItsTheBlog™

So the NBA decided that the Hawks and Heat will have to replay the final 51.9 seconds of their Dec. 19 game in which the Hawks won 117-111.

With 51.9 seconds left in OT and the Hawks leading 112-111, Shaquille O'neal "fouled out" with just his 5th foul. For whatever reason, this was not caught, and the Shaq-less Heat went on to lose.

The Heat, after figuring out that the center only had 5 fouls, appealed to the league, who made the decision today to have the game be replayed. When you go to ESPN.com archived scores and click on December 19, it shows that 51 seconds are remaining in the game. In other words, whatever stats were accumulated in that final time frame have been eliminated from the record books.

My question? What impact will this have on fantasy teams? Will the stats retroactively change? I guess it's not a huge deal, but strange nonetheless.

The game will be replayed in March, when the Heat visit the Hawks again. Interestingly, as the NBA was likely trying to re-create the scenario of the game, Shaq is always a question mark and may be injured, as he is currently. If Shaq isn't healthy in March when the time comes, will the game still be replayed? It would appear so, but what's the point? Perhaps I'm missing something.

Anyway, it's incredibly interesting, and this is the first time since 1982 that a portion of a game has had to be replayed. In 1982, I heard that the team who filed the complaint did indeed come back and win.

Both teams records have been temporarily changed, with the Hawks being stripped of their win, and the Heat not being handed their loss quite yet. Pretty strange scenario, but it will definitely be interesting to watch.

With that, in the wake of some scorekeeper's stupidity for thinking Shaq had 6 fouls, I leave you with one of my favorite videos exhibiting some NBA player's stupidity. Namely, Allen Iverson.

If you haven't watched this before, you'll enjoy it.

Labels: basketball, hawks, heat, iverson, Kevdog, NBA, shaq