Substitute Referees Get the Ax in Toronto : Pro basketball: Labor board ruling forces NBA to assign regular officials to Raptor home games.

The Ontario Labor Relations Board shot a hole in the NBA’s lockout of its referees Friday, ruling the league can no longer use replacement officials at Toronto Raptor home games.

The NBA immediately announced that it will assign three regular referees to work--but only in Toronto--starting with Wednesday’s game against the Houston Rockets. Replacements will continue working the other games.

Yet to be learned is what the regular referees will do.

“I have no idea at this time,” said Fred Slaughter, counsel to the referees. “This is hot off the press. We’re still looking at what we’re going to do.

“We’re not convinced, the way the NBA conducts business, that they would ask anybody to do anything. They would rather dictate.”

Said Russ Granik, NBA deputy commissioner, in a prepared release:

“From the outset of negotiations, we have made it clear we are happy to have our regular referees working while negotiations continue. So we have no problem assigning the regular referees to work in Toronto. If that is what the union wanted in Toronto, we can’t understand why they didn’t accept our no-strike, no-lockout pledge that we proposed six weeks ago.”

There have been only two negotiating sessions, however, and none since the season started Nov. 3.

“I’ve been sitting here waiting for their counterproposal since Nov. 1 [the last session],” Slaughter said. “And I’m still waiting. I think probably they were sitting back and waiting to see what happened in Toronto. Now the ball’s in their court.”

The two sides have conflicting interpretations of the league’s commitment to make its referees the best paid in sports. The league says its offer does that. The union says it doesn’t.

Replacements in two-man crews, most from the Continental Basketball Assn., have been officiating amid widespread complaints.