Controversy Narrowly Averted in Game 7

One of the most exciting series in playoff history ended with mostly a whimper on Saturday. There were no last-second shots, no game-saving blocks, and no overtimes. And there are some people in the league office who are likely breathing a huge sigh of relief because of it.

Game 7 between the Celtics and the Bulls was tense throughout, but the game was decided long before its final possession. Which is excellent news for those who aren't into controversy, since you can bet there would have been truckloads of it after a point was added by the officials to Chicago's total with just under six minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

Before Ben Gordon started missing everything in sight, he began the game 3-for-3, which included an apparent three-pointer with 8:32 to go in the first quarter. Watching the play in real time, it was clear that Gordon was behind the line when he launched this shot, but the scoreboard on the TNT broadcast only credited him with two, and said that the Bulls had gone up 13-6.

I kept glancing at the score over the next few possessions, waiting for it to change, and for Gordon to be credited with the extra point. But when it didn't happen and the announcers made no mention of it, I figured my eyes must have simply deceived me.

But they hadn't. It just took someone at the scorer's table a couple of hours to figure it out.

With the scoreboard showing the Celtics leading 89-83 with under six minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the public address announcer let everyone know that Gordon's shot from the first quarter -- you know, like, two and a half hours ago -- was in fact a three-pointer, and as a result, one point was being added to the Bulls' score.

This now made it 89-84.

How this is supposed to work is, if a three-pointer is at all questionable, the referees will go to a video replay at the next timeout, and make the adjustment then -- which supposedly happened back in the first quarter, right around the 3:37 mark. Apparently, the guy running the arena scoreboard didn't get the message.

The official play-by-play of the game makes no mention of this at all, but it's unclear if it was simply cleaned up after the fact to reflect what the official determination was. Anyone watching in the fourth quarter will surely remember this happening, though, and thankfully, the Associated Press documented the incident as well.

If you thought that pondering the possibility of Rajon Rondo being suspended for two consecutive games was pedestrian, then be thankful that the Celtics ended up winning this one by double digits. Because if Game 7 had come down to the final possession like five of the previous six games in the series had, this little adjustment is all anyone would have been talking about for the foreseeable future.