Several questions or thoughts:
1. Why don’t team managers check the balls they will be using before the game?? In my coaching days including a stint as an asst.college coach, the managers checked everything.
2. If the balls were inflated in a warm room and then taken out into a cold stadium they would naturally loose some pressure.
3. What effect does a slightly deflated ball (which is the case) have on the game??
“2. If the balls were inflated in a warm room and then taken out into a cold stadium they would naturally loose some pressure.”
That might be the real explanation for the lower (only 2 lbs/in2 lower) ball pressures. Of course, an innocent explanation does not grab the headlines.