Blogs.Bulls.com

Referee admits mistake

by

May 8

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.

Here’s the pool report from NBA official Bennett Salvatore, who signaled an inadvertent whistle with the Hawks leading 100-94 with 2:27 left when Jamal Crawford appeared to foul Derrick Rose on a three point attempt:

“An inadvertent whistle is when a referee blows his whistle and didn’t mean to. That’s exactly what happened. I blew my whistle and didn’t mean to. I didn’t think it was a foul. Having watched the replay after the game, it was a foul and I should have called it. I made a mistake. I blew my whistle. I was positive it was not  afoul. I blew my whistle by accident. Which is an inadvertent whistle. That’s why I disallowed it. Having watched replay. It was a foul. I made a mistake. I was wrong.”

Said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau:  “At that time of the game I’ve never seen an inadvertent whistle, but Bennett (Salvatore) is a good official who said he missed the call. He’s still a good official. He’s human and we all make mistakes. When (Rose) got (Crawford) in the air, I thought it was a foul, but sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t.”

What do you think? Leave a comment below: