[GlenTaylorSucksParticipant]

So, on the whole, this has to be one of the worst officiated postseasons I’ve ever seen. It’s gotta be up there with the notorious Tim Donaghy Kings-Lakers reffing.

A few thoughts:

1) The NBA SERIOUSLY needs a system to evaluate referees based on performance, and have only the best ones reffing the playoffs. Joey Crawford has no business reffing any playoff games, let alone this one being his 41st (!!) finals game.

2) On that note, the very fact that I know of referees by name is a serious problem. Basketball should not be about officials. As someone who refs (soccer), one of the very first things they tell us is that the refs should be invisible- they should let the players play their game, and not upstage it. I can’t think of a single series this postseason that hasn’t featured blatant favoritism and calls that draw unnecessary attention to refs like Crawford.

3) Call me a crazy-@$$ conspiracy theorist, but I can’t rule it out (since Tim Donaghy proved me wrong before)- is it possible that somebody really, REALLY wants the Heat to win the finals? I know the odds of any sort of fix is really low, but like i said, I can’t rule it out because it’s happened before. It seems like Wade and James have like a 3 foot bubble surrounding them and if anybody gets closer, it’s a foul. And on the West side, the same thing has been happening with Durant and Westbrook (though not as obviously as with DWade and LBJ).

All that said, I don’t want people to take this as being a biased OKC fan- I know they lost because they blew it at the end with horrible offensive possessions and didn’t knock down their FT’s. I just think it’s a valid concern that the reffing has been absolutely horrible, and that I feel they’re trying to upstage the game by making crappy calls/playing blatant favorites.

 

[HaleParticipant]

Aren’t you a Wolves fan?

[GlenTaylorSucksParticipant]

Yeah, I am…but being a MN sports fan is super depressing at the moment. So I’ve been rooting for the Thunder this postseason because I want a team from our division to win if it’s not gonna be the Wolves, haha.

[Wahoo757Participant]

I’m tired of people bitching about the officiating. There have been a lot of close games and every call is magnified because of that. Making split decisions on calls is tougher than most think. It’s not a conspiracy. I’m a Celtics fan and there were some tough calls that went against them, but again sometimes it’s difficult a difficult call to make. The game doesn’t hinge on the refs, had the Celtics played better that series than the officiating would have been a non issue because the game wouldn’t have even been close. Same applies to the Thunder and the no-call on Lebron in the last couple seconds last game.

[llperez]

1) The NBA SERIOUSLY needs a system to evaluate referees based on performance, and have only the best ones reffing the playoffs. Joey Crawford has no business reffing any playoff games, let alone this one being his 41st (!!) finals game.

—-they do have a rating system based on performance to have the best officiate the playoffs. i dont follow individual refs well enough to say if i agree with their selections nor do I know what the criteria is based on.

2) On that note, the very fact that I know of referees by name is a serious problem. Basketball should not be about officials. As someone who refs (soccer), one of the very first things they tell us is that the refs should be invisible- they should let the players play their game, and not upstage it. I can’t think of a single series this postseason that hasn’t featured blatant favoritism and calls that draw unnecessary attention to refs like Crawford.

—–refs are out there and they make mistakes, thats unavoidable. They will be scrutinized and become names. Its just how it is, certainly I think all parties involoved would ideally like it if we never talked about them or knew their names.

3) Call me a crazy-@$$ conspiracy theorist, but I can’t rule it out (since Tim Donaghy proved me wrong before)- is it possible that somebody really, REALLY wants the Heat to win the finals? I know the odds of any sort of fix is really low, but like i said, I can’t rule it out because it’s happened before. It seems like Wade and James have like a 3 foot bubble surrounding them and if anybody gets closer, it’s a foul. And on the West side, the same thing has been happening with Durant and Westbrook (though not as obviously as with DWade and LBJ).

——–I thought they did a poor job tonight, but no i dont think there is any conspiracy or fix. And no it never has been proven to happen before. Donaghy said he never ever fixed a game nor did he have any knowledge of any refs ever fixing a game. He simply provided insider insider information to mob guys who then used the info to bet on games. He also said he beleived that the officials who reffed game 6 of the lakers kings series were company men that would do what was in the best interest of the league but he never claimed to have any info to support that and the incident was investigated by the FBI and nothing ever turned up.

All that said, I don’t want people to take this as being a biased OKC fan- I know they lost because they blew it at the end with horrible offensive possessions and didn’t knock down their FT’s. I just think it’s a valid concern that the reffing has been absolutely horrible, and that I feel they’re trying to upstage the game by making crappy calls/playing blatant favorites.

——-Bad calls happen. I agree the heat got the benefit tonight. But like you said, the thunder have to look in the mirror for blowing it. Harden struggled, both durant and westrbook missed looks late with KD blowing two moves to the basket in the 4th where he went up soft and RW missing a wide open three to tie. ALso fish had some dumb shots very early in the clock and those back to back fouls on threes were about as silly as it gets.

Refs are human and miss calls. But people need to understand that the nba is a billion dollar business with millions being gambled on games. If the league fixed things and were caught, lots of guys would spend a very long time in prison. I just dont see why the league would risk everything for ratings. Its much more probable that the refs just blow calls. The thunder will probably get the benefit of the doubt on a few more close calls in game 4 to make up for it which i do beleive happens all the time, but thats not a fix just human nature to stay fair.

 

[frogmanParticipant]

Don’t worry I don’t take you as a biased Thunder fan, I take you as a biased HEAT hater.  I’m so sick of posts like these.  

[EuroBallParticipant]

Game 3 should not be blamed on officiating at all, in the fouth quarter OKC made some silly passes in the last 5 minutes. Give Miami Heat defense some credit, plus their offense has shown improvement, for one last year they were known as a team not knowing how to close out games. This year they are much better at it. 

 

[bad boysParticipant]

so i really dont have a dog in this fight but i did think Joey crawford was awful. The 2 fouls he called on durant were really bad. And in the 2nd game whith that last play I think Kenny Smith said it best there are only 3 people in the world who didnt see the foul to bad for us that all 3 refed the game

[dolla130Participant]

it’s kind of hard to call foul for the thunder when they take jumpshots 90% of the time ppl are complaining about Miami getting calls but when your aggressive attacking the basket of course you will end up at the line a lot, Miami collectively took I think 10 jumpers last night and lebron is playing solid defense on Durant forcing him to play a lot more on the perimeter, the  thunder are also getting there fair share of calls exp james harden who flails ever time he drives to the basket and he never has full control of the ball, if the refs were tryig to cheat for miami lebron would have shot like 20 fts last night because he was getting the dwight howard treatment when he posts up

[mj23mj23besteverParticipant]

its great hearing van gundy constantly bitching about how awful the refs are like the blown call when king bytch threw the ball off the back of the back board but yet the heat keep the ball and when fisher obviuolsy got whacked across the head on the break away lay up yea great officaiting looks the nba is gonna give that pos drama queen his ring

[thparadoxParticipant]

The officiating has been terrible for certain games, but overall pretty good in these playoffs.

Joe Crawford has been at the epicenter of the poorly reffed games.

Heat-Celtics – Game 4

Thunder-Spurs – Game 6

Finals – Game 3

All Joe Crawford games. All poorly reffed. He’s unpredictable and loves to blow the whistle.

Sometimes calls are missed. The referees aren’t perferct..and there a number of rules that we need to refine. But Joe Crawford has been absolutely terrible and he’s really ruined these games. THere are simply too many whistles, which has two consequences 1) Takes superstars out of the game 2) Turns the game into a sloppy mess of free throws

Rules to refine:

1) Charge rule. There are too many iffy charges. Right now 60% of the blocks/charges are basically coin flips. We need more no-calls in these situations.

When a player in coming DOWN from their jump after releasing the ball. That should NEVER be a charge.

There was also a play last night where Sefalosha threw the ball away on the fast break, straight into Lebrons hands, and afterwards (like a full second) collided with a heat player who was taking a charge… that was called a blocking foul. That is totally illogical as it was clearly a turnover first. There should NEVER be mistakes like this.

2) Off ball contact. We need less fouls called. Refs should warn players that a specific action is going to lead to a foul… it’s really silly how they protect superstars and then call them on ridiculous fouls for mild bumping that has ZERO impact on the game

REPLAY REF: I would also have a designated replay ref who watches the game on TV and has access to very quick replays from all camera angles. He’d be allowed to chime in and reverse a call if the refs are even slightly unsure.

[smithers3551Participant]

The officiating has been horrible. But complaining about it wont make it any better, I have said it before Lebron James is a talented player but if not for the refs bailing him out he is just a good player. For years people have said he gets the calls because he attacks the rim. He attacks the rim because he gets the calls, he is an average at best jump shooter and the league protects him by bailing him out, they have allways protected there star players. This time they went a step further and actually created a star. Without the refs Lebron would be nothing more then a second option or third option on a team.

[JrbenzCuse23]

It has been pretty bad the last couple of games. Not to mention the fact that Heat wouldn’t have even made it to finals if refs didn’t ignore Rondo gettingraked in the face of OT game 2. Im sick of people saying you can’t complain about the refs, when it is just obvious that they are Heat fans who don’t want to admit what is obvious. It is every single game they play. Every game. It is one of the most obvious things that anybody who knows basketball can observe. How can ANYBODY deny it? Honestly?

[mgreener_34Participant]

 "The game doesn’t hinge on the refs"

I totally disagree with that. During game two every time OKC started to get their momentum the refs would blow a whistle and settle them down. Stopping the game and giving another team free throws changes everything. And it’s not that these playoffs have had bad officiating for me, because sadely that’s expected. but it’s that they are missing blatent calls that there is no way they didn’t see. LeBron off the backboard, LeBron no call on the end of game 2, Wade foul on Rondo. All these a blind person saw, but not the refs. Hey why are all the questionable calls for Miami?…must just be a conincidense 

[B-ball fanParticipant]

 I honestly don’t think the reffing has been that bad in the playoffs.  You guys are complaining about a few calls that are very hard to call in real time.  I agree with thparadox that the rules for charge/block calls and for off-the-ball fould need to be made more objective.  There is too much inconsistency game to game in the officiating in the NBA.  Refs also should make more non-calls during in some plays.  Too often when players get caught off balance and go down due to slight incidental contact is there a foul call.

@mgreener:  The reason why the refs blew their whistles in game 2 was that there were fouls committed.  It isn’t the refs job to try to keep OKC’s momentum going.  That is OKC’s job.  No offense, but I think you are letting your bias for your favorite team’s get in the way of objectively evaluating the officials. 

[A Lil EnglishParticipant]

The officiating has been bad yes but if you think it’s all on Miami you haven’t seen enough of these playoffs.. There was plenty in the Spurs-Thunder series for example.

We also have the benefit of replays which refs don’t (e.g I didn’t see Rondo get clocked in the head until a 2nd look) but I agree the refs definitely should be better.

Most of the way through the playoffs it’s been the home team getting the questionable calls.

What you gonna do though? I don’t see any redemption for Sactowns series against the Lakers.

[HaleParticipant]

You seriously need to get over it. You’re just coming off as a super biased and pissed off Celtic fan.  

[Jlv2012]

this year is that if its looks, smells, or feels like the Miami Heat then it’s a foul on the opposing team.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

The NBA is one of the toughest to officiate, but I’ve been sick of the officiating the entire playoffs. I’m tired of the inconsistency… I called it out early in the playoffs and was called a Heat hater, conspiracist, blah, blah, blah… When really I was talking about the playoffs in general, not just the Heat. I just like the games being called fair/equal.

I’m not a conspiracist, but I just don’t like the officiating. The officiating hasn’t been *too* bad in the Finals, but things like Durant and Westbrook getting fouled with the game on the line with no call and then awarding that same foul call to LeBron during game three just annoys me.

 

[joecheck88Participant]

I just wish they would let guys be a little more physical. I thought Lebron fouled Durant on the shot at the end of game 2. It wasn’t called but then you will se a play where a guy backs off and doesn’t or barely touches a guy on a layup and gets an and 1. Like was said its not consistent and most calls are too soft to call in my book. Let’s them bump each other a bit!!

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

That’s exactly what I can’t stand… Games called differently from game to game… Sh*t, even quarter to quarter. First three quarters will be physical, then they call every touch foul in the fourth quarter.

It’s just annoying.

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