REAL MISTAKE BELONGS TO NBA.

Byline: JOE STEVENS

That heckle came from a fan during the Clippers-New York Knicks game Friday night. Veteran referees Steve Javie, Derrick Stafford and Gary Zielinski all followed suit with their officiating colleagues and wore their jerseys backward with a handmade ``62'' on them.

The action was in support of Michael Henderson, who wears No. 62 and was suspended for three games for blowing a call at the end of the Lakers' victory in Denver on Wednesday. This was the first time such a suspension was handed down, and hopefully, it will be the last.

The NBA made a grave error Friday when it suspended Henderson, who became the first official in league history to receive a suspension for making a mistake.

In comparison to Henderson's call, the league's call was worse. The league took two days to make its ruling, while Henderson's miscue took a split second. Henderson immediately admitted his call was wrong. But as of Saturday, the league stuck to its stance, that it was correct to suspend him.

Referees are a much-maligned, misunderstood bunch. Rarely do fans even consider them unless they make a wrong call against their team.

Cheesy as it might sound - refs are people, too. They make mistakes on a nightly basis, but officiating in the NBA is a difficult job. Players are so fast, so big and so unpredictable that it is impossible to be perfect.

To be in the NBA, an official is elite in his field. Only 58 men and one woman, Violet Palmer, have made it to this level, and demand for their positions is ridiculously high.

To get this far, refs have to be perfectionists. They strive to call flawless, seamless games, and when they do, fans expect it.

There also is no guarantee that a ref will keep his job. A system is in place to count missed calls and errors, and each year, a few of the ``problem refs'' have to leave the league.

Players often complain about having long stints on the road. But referees have no homestands.

With that schedule, the divorce rate is high among officials, but at least the pay isn't bad. A first-year referee makes a little more than $100,000, and the most experienced official makes approximately $300,000. The average salary for NBA players is $4.9 million.

With Friday's suspension, a precedent may have been set, that if officials blow a call, they also will be punished.

Some people, as Friday night's heckler will attest, say that it is about time. Officials make so many errors that it's a good thing they're being disciplined.

That view, however, is short-sighted and unfair.

Can a student imagine being suspended for getting an answer wrong on a test?

Should I fear getting disciplined for a typo?

Should sixth-graders fear suspensions for looking at the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue?

Oops, a sixth-grader did get a three-day suspension in Belpre, Ohio, for bringing the swimsuit issue to school.

After 28 of the 30 officials working Friday wore No. 62, commissioner David Stern released a statement that read: ``Last night's display was woefully inconsistent with the professionalism with which NBA officials normally conduct themselves. There is nothing more to say at this time.''

Talk about inconsistencies. Is anything more inconsistent than all of a sudden suspending a ref for a missed call?

And Henderson's call wasn't exactly the worst in the history of officiating. He blew his whistle to indicate a 24-second shot-clock violation when the ball actually hit the rim. The officiating crew ruled it was an inadvertent whistle, so there was a jumpball at half court.

The Lakers won the jumpball, then won the game 112-111 and Carmelo Anthony, coach Jeff Bzdelik and Denver Nuggets fans were left bad-mouthing the refs.

Denver lost a seven-point lead with 1:27 left. The Nuggets repeatedly rushed shots and misused a timeout. Their meltdown was more to blame for the loss, not the call.

Another sidelight to Henderson's suspension is that not many players or coaches spoke out about the ruling, even though many thought it was wrong.

Referees participating in the protest were instructed by the National Basketball Referees Association not to comment on the ramifications of the suspension. Lamell McMorris, the lead negotiator for the NBRA, did comment, saying the move will not help anything. If refs are supposed to be more conscientious of critical calls, then maybe they won't be at ease when calling them and make more mistakes.

``The NBA's decision to remove a referee from officiating games based on a judgment call is in complete contradiction of the established NBA's Officiating Performing Standards,'' he said.

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