NBA will release referee grades for close games

Beginning Monday, the NBA will release officiating reports of referees' calls that took place in the final two minutes of a close game or overtime, the league said in a news release on Friday.

Each play that falls under the defined parameters will be reviewed by a senior referee manager or basketball operations manager, who will assess the call as either correct or incorrect. Notable non-calls will also be reviewed.

"NBA referees have the most difficult officiating job in sports, with so many split-second decisions in real time," NBA executive vice president of referee operations Mike Bantom said in a statement. "We trust this consistent disclosure will give fans a greater appreciation of the difficulty of the job and a deeper sense of the correct interpretations of the rules of our game."

This opens the window on NBA officiating, and it will reveal how closely calls are scrutinized by the league's referee operations staff. It is a positive step in revealing not only incorrect calls but correct calls, too. In past seasons, the league would release statements acknowledging incorrect or missed calls in the final seconds of a close game.

A close game, defined by the league, is when the score is within five points at the two-minute mark or a game that goes into overtime.

The NBA posted a sample report from a Jan. 19 game between the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers. NBA officials reviewed 12 plays in the final two minutes of Portland's 98-94 victory and concluded officials made 11 correct calls and one incorrect call.