Only fair: Overtime warrants extra foul

Someday, an NBA playoff game will go five overtimes, and in what should have been an epic finish, scrubs and refs will decide the outcome. The starters will have fouled out.

The NBA, and the college game for that matter, should add an extra foul for every two overtime periods. If a player had been benched in regulation, he would remain disqualified. But if a player can get through a full 48 minutes of NBA basketball, he should get something akin to a fresh start if the game keeps going.

The single-overtime game between the Heat and Celtics on Sunday illustrated the necessity. Paul Pierce and LeBron James both had to leave in the overtime period. James’ sixth foul was a farce, a flip of the judgment-call coin after he and Mickael Pietrus went down in a tangle.

After the Heat lost, James questioned that foul, and a couple of others. “I know how to play the game of basketball, and I don’t need an advantage of holding somebody or pushing somebody down,’’ he said, “but whatever, we lost.’’

The quality of the officiating is largely beside the point. Players know the risks when they approach the foul limit and should adjust their game accordingly. Some of them might count on the star treatment, expecting officials to go easy on the whistles in overtime of a playoff game.

No one can plan ahead and strategize properly for multiple overtimes. Such a game should not descend into a battle of attrition. Let the fatigue do its work, but not the fouls.

The current formula is simple. Colleges allow five over 40 minutes and the NBA six over 48 — one for every eight minutes. Allowing another for every two periods of overtime — 10 minutes — requires even more careful budgeting. It won’t produce a goon effect, with endless walks to the free-throw line. It will prevent the telecast of a great game from becoming a constant pan to the bench, showing the real players watching the action rather than delivering it.