Here’s an NBA Referee Explaining That He’s Stalling the Game for the TV Commericals

During last night's Spurs and Lakers game, there was an odd delay where the players were just standing around the court after a timeout. Turns out the refs were holding the game up because the TV commercials had to run and the NBA and ESPN don't really care for action to start before the cameras are ready.

This happens all the time, but you rarely (or never) get to hear a ref spelling it out like this. Mike D'Antoni had called a 20 second timeout, but had used it already, but before that could get cleared up, the network had gone to commercial. So while play was ready to be resumed, ESPN wasn't back from their break yet. At least it looked like Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan were having a good time together.