A live sports production is full of split-second decisions about how best to communicate what’s happening within the game to a viewer at home, and there are many tools at a producer’s disposal to accomplish that goal.

Within the last 10-15 years, the rules analyst has become one of the tools in that tool belt. Typically a former official themselves, rules analysts are often called upon to clarify controversial calls throughout the course of a broadcast.

Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs had plenty of controversial calls, so many that Knicks head coach Mike Brown couldn’t contain himself in his postgame press conference, yet ESPN opted to keep its rules analyst Steve Javie on the sidelines.

According to a report by Mike Mazzeo in Sports Business Journal, not bringing Javie in during those key moments came down to good old-fashioned split-second decision making in the truck. Per Mazzeo, “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.”

Among the controversial calls in Game 3 was a shove from Spurs star Victor Wembanyama on Knicks guard Jalen Brunson that went unnoticed by officials. ESPN game analyst Richard Jefferson said on the broadcast the no-call “should be a flagrant-1,” but Javie was never called upon to weigh in. Similarly, ESPN decided not to give Javie the tap during a review which resulted in Brunson being assessed a flagrant for a “reckless closeout” on the Spurs’ Julian Champagnie.

Given the attention placed on the officiating throughout the game, it’s a bit surprising ESPN opted not to include Javie at some point. But in reality, Jefferson and his analyst partner Tim Legler did a reasonable job explaining what was happening themselves. Perhaps ESPN is reserving Javie for calls that are particularly confusing.

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