Rules analysts have become a common part of all sports broadcasts, but ABC didn’t use former NBA referee Steve Javie to explain several calls in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.
Javie, an NBA referee for 25 years, has been a rules analyst for ESPN since 2012.
A source said decisions are made in the moment about when, or whether, to bring Javie into the broadcast, and the production team decided to lean on the color analysts for rules analysis in Game 3. However, Javie was available and is based at the NBA Replay Center in Secaucus, N.J. He is expected to be available for Wednesday’s Game 4.
With less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Spurs center Victor Wembanyama shoved Knicks guard Jalen Brunson to the floor, though play continued.
“That should be a flagrant 1,” ABC/ESPN color analyst Richard Jefferson said.
That could have been an ideal time to bring in a rules analyst to weigh in.
The NBA acknowledged Tuesday that a foul should have been called, but the league said it would not be upgraded to a flagrant foul.
Earlier near the start of the third quarter, Brunson was called for a flagrant foul after review for a “reckless closeout.” Spurs’ Julian Champagnie shot a three-pointer and landed on Brunson’s calf with Brunson’s back turned to the shooter and hand extended.
Analyst Tim Legler noted after the call that “it didn’t look like (a flagrant foul) at first,” and then he and Jefferson discussed how Brunson had impeded Champagnie’s “landing zone.” The sequence was another moment where Javie’s perspective could have added clarity.
Knicks coach Mike Brown also criticized the officiating for a 24-8 foul disparity in the second half, using the first nearly four minutes of his postgame press conference on the topic before he was even asked a question. The disparity also could have been a topic for Javie.
Rules analysts have become increasingly common across major sports broadcasts. Fox’s Mike Pereira helped popularize the role in NFL coverage beginning in 2010, and ESPN added Javie to its NBA coverage in 2012. Since then, he has been used regularly to provide officiating context during high-profile games and playoff coverage.
The decision not to use Javie in Game 3 came five days after ESPN hired former referee Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling as a rules analyst for select WNBA games to bolster its coverage.