NBA office makes bad call on that Lakers-Spurs non-call

They're b-a-c-k...

I'm not talking about the dead people that little girl saw on her TV set in "Poltergeist."

This is worse. It's the NBA office, inserting itself into yet another post-season incident -- the non-call after Derek Fisher bumped Brent Barry at the end of the Lakers' Game 4 win over the Spurs -- and turning a controversy this big into one THIS BIG!!!!

Of course, I did think it was a foul.

I thought it as soon as I saw a replay. I also asked Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register and Sam Smith, formerly of the Chicago Tribune, two of the sharpest basketball people I know, and both thought it was clear-cut.

Barry, a 95% free throw shooter this season, should have gone to the line for the two shots that could have sent the game into overtime.

The Spurs might well have gone on to win that with the Lakers bound to be a little upset after blowing a seven-point lead in the last 42 seconds.

On the other hand, the Lakers still had Kobe Bryant.

In other words, we'll never know what happened. That's the problem, because from now on, people will always ask and there will never be an answer.

Brian McIntyre, the NBA's top public relations official, checked to see whether the referees -- Joey Crawford, Joe Forte and Mark Wunderlich -- would talk to a pool reporter.

McIntyre came back and said it was a judgment call, which is not something the referees are obliged to discuss.

Amazingly -- unless you know San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich, who's always like this -- the Spurs refused to put the loss on the call.

Pop, the one and only, said it was proper and he would have made it.

Barry agreed, as did all the other Spurs -- because Pop told them that was the posture they would be taking. Barry had actually left the floor with his arms outstretched, asking the referees where the foul call was.

And that's where it should have ended.

Talk radio in San Antonio might never have been the same, but as far as being a national issue, it wouldn't have lasted long.

Then, unfortunately, the league office got involved, announcing the next day that the call had been wrong and Barry should have been shooting free throws.

Of course, that was true -- the only problem being that the league has no remedy or any procedure for righting this wrong.

We're not going back to San Antonio to let Barry shoot his free throws.