Homecourt Advantage Help Pistons Win Game 1

During tonight's game, the Orlando Magic were beating the Detroit Pistons and had all the momentum after drilling 7 3-pointers in the 3rd quarter to take a 2 point lead. However, with 5.1 seconds remaining in the 3rd, the Pistons raced the ball up the court, eventually passed it to Chauncey Billups, who took the shot and drained a 3 - but it wasn't a buzzer beater. The problem? No buzzer! There was still 4.1 seconds on the clock. The clock had actually stopped during the play and now refs had a decision to make. They circled up and talked it over, and after a lengthy discussion, they counted the basket and added .5 seconds back on the clock. Pistons were up 2 instead of down 1, not to mention, now they had the momentum heading into the 4th. They would go on to win the game by 7 even though it was a lot closer, the Magic had a chance to tie or take the lead with under a minute to play. Stan Van Gundy was letting 4 letter words fly, and can you blame him... TNT showed a replay, and a clock they added in the lower left hand corner verified it took around 5.2 or 5.3 seconds for the Pistons to get that shot off, which means it should not have counted.

First of all... I was counting in my head before TNT added the clock, and I kept coming up with right around 5 - I would have said no basket, too close to call. Especially since it was at home, and it was their mistake. Likewise if the game was in Orlando, and that happened - count the basket. I say punish the team whose clock operator makes the mistake. I know that's probably not in the rulebook, but there's gotta be a better way than to just count in your head and decide to put .5 seconds back on the clock. I mean... break out a stopwatch if you need to!!