NBA Officiating and Technology

From Hoopedia

The National Basketball Association uses multiple technical solutions to ensure the highest quality officiating at all NBA games. Every year, these systems are enhanced and extended.

• Each NBA game is recorded onto a computer hard drive located in the referee's locker room. After the game, the officials plug in a flip disk and take the game with them to review on the plane. The referees grade themselves as they watch the replay, then submit their self-review to the league that same day.
• NBA officials also have the capability of hitting the locker room at halftime and instantly reviewing atypical calls or difficult situations from the first two quarters.
• NBA officials use television replays to view multiple angles of plays that happen at the end of each quarter. Any basket or foul that occurs at the quarter-ending buzzer is automatically reviewed to determine if the action in question happened before the quarter ended.
• Backboards at all arenas are outlined with a red LED light that illuminates when the game clock strikes zero.
• Lighting is installed along each sideline near midcourt to help referees determine where the ball was when the horn sounded.
• The NBA uses a sensing device attached to the referee's whistle to stop the clock automatically when the whistle is blown - this avoids the time lag that occurs when a sideline timekeeper listens for the whistle and then shuts off the clock. The clock then restarts when the refs press a tiny button at their waist as play resumes.