Absurdity
NBA Declines To Watch The Part Of The Video That Explains Everything
By Jeff Garstein, . BSN Network. Satire.
The New York Liberty lost a game this week on a clock reset that a referee credited to a timeout. ESPN's NBA Today revealed Thursday that a new camera angle and courtside audio show no timeout was called, no timeout was granted, and nobody in a Liberty uniform asked for one.
The league reviewed the play. The league confirmed the call was correct. These are both things the NBA said in the same week.
The referee in question explained his decision on audio. The audio is, at this point, the main piece of evidence against the referee's explanation of his decision. This is the kind of situation that usually resolves itself once everyone agrees to watch the footage together, which is why the NBA has not done that.
ESPN analyst and former referee Rodney Mott described the sequence as 'a situation where the process worked as intended, and the result should give everyone confidence that the process is being taken seriously.' He did not specify what the process is intended to do, or how a phantom timeout fits inside it, but he spoke with considerable confidence for close to ninety seconds.
The Liberty, who needed the win, did not get the win. The team issued a statement saying they trust the league to handle the matter through the appropriate channels, which is the sports equivalent of telling the waiter the food is fine and then never coming back to the restaurant.
The NBA's officiating review office has jurisdiction over exactly this kind of dispute, and has historically resolved exactly this kind of dispute by releasing a two-sentence statement between eleven and fourteen days after anyone still cares. Sources familiar with the office describe the current timeline as 'on track.'
The footage, meanwhile, shows what it shows. It has been watched by analysts, by fans, by at least three people on Reddit who have slowed it to four percent speed and added a diagram, and by nobody employed by the NBA in any capacity relevant to changing the outcome.
The Liberty's next game is Saturday. The timeout remains on the books.
The story we are making fun of: https://nypost.com/2026/10/08/sports/new-footage-contradicts-refs-reset-timeout-claim-in-liberty-loss/