FIBA, the world basketball association, is finding it increasingly difficult to explain at the pan-European European Championships. In stark contrast to the exciting and rousing games in the preliminary round groups, there were rather unusual glitches with the referees and the technology for a big tournament in the past few days. In Germany’s 109-107 victory over Lithuania, the referees forgot a free throw for the Lithuanians after a technical foul by the Germans.
In the game Georgia vs Turkey (88:83) the clock wrongly advanced 22 seconds, although the match was stopped. The problem: Both games went into extra time twice, so the officials’ small mistakes were potentially decisive for the outcome of the encounters.
NBA star Luka Doncic said of the recent error series: “I think you can see for yourself: the fall with the time in the Turkey game, the technical foul here with Lithuania, that’s something that FIBA takes care of, that’s why I have nothing to say about that.” The Dallas Mavericks guard grinned a little to himself, but refrained from more explicit criticism of those responsible. Germany’s Daniel Theis was unhappy with the referee’s role after the Lithuania match. “I have to be careful what I say. You can see from that that the referees are too busy finding their own line and then something like that is forgotten,” said Theis.
Lithuania and Turkey’s protests were dismissed. The Lithuanians said that the objection was not made within the required period of time, beyond that the reason was not sufficient. In the second case, the officials justified the decision by saying that Turkey could not prove that without the timing glitch the result would have been different. FIBA was also criticized for the duration of the decisions. The rejection of the Lithuanians’ protest was announced at 1 a.m., and almost 24 hours passed before a decision was made on the Turkey case.
By the way, a Gmunden legionnaire is also in the EM (short) mission. Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye has played 9:49 minutes in Great Britain’s four defeats so far. After tomorrow’s match against Italy, the 26-year-old will land at Traunsee and will probably play in the Swans’ test home match on Saturday (7.30 p.m.) against Central German Basketball Club (with Stephon Jelks).
Source: Nachrichten
