June 30 is Blog about NBA Officiating Day

[Basketballogy]

Could there be a more jump shooting team than the Orlando Magic?

For example, in game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, 71% of the Magic's shots were jump shots while 58% of the Lakers' shot attempts were jumpers. Yet in game 1, the jump shooting Orlando Magic had a 29 to 18 free throw advantage over the home team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

And that isn't a fluke.

Over the course of the 2009 NBA Finals, the Magic have benefited from a free throw advantage EVERY GAME, and over the course of the first 4 games of the Finals have a 133 to 84 advantage in free throw attempts.

It would be one thing if the Lakers were thugs and hackers, but they are a finesse basketball team that has often been criticized for being too soft.

This disparity is even more curious when you look at it in context. During the course of the long regular season (2008-2009), over 82 games the Magic shot a total of 1,611 free throws. The Lakers shot a total of 1,607 free throws!

Digest that!

Over 82 games, there was only a 4 free throw difference between the two teams, yet over the 4 games (so far) of the NBA Finals, there is already a 49 free throw disparity!

And you don't have to go to the statistical records to see this; it is apparent ALL GAME LONG by just watching it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wNPi7K4CzQ

Consider the most recent officiating controversy. In game 4 of the NBA Finals, Orlando's Mickael Pietrus gave the Lakers' Pau Gasol a dirty, cheap shot in the closing seconds of overtime. It is hard to conceive of a worse flagrant foul...

o Gasol was not expecting it
o Gasol was in the air
o Gasol was struck from behind
o The contact was very hard
o The contact was clearly deliberate
o There was no chance a play was being made on the ball
o The play was over, the ball was in the hoop, Peitrus wasn't going to stop a basket from being made
o The game was pretty much over (7 point lead with 3.2 seconds remaining)
o Instead of apologizing and seeing if Gasol was okay, Peitrus trash talked Gasol (imagine trash talk in English with French and Spanish accents)
o What is the call when a player hits another player with a FIST? Gasol was hit with TWO!

With apologies to Pau Gasol and the Lakers, I am glad the NBA did not call it a flagrant two, because you could not ask for a more cut and dry, unimpeachable "Exhibit A" as evidence that the NBA has an agenda for its officiating that extends beyond calling whatever happens on the floor.

If the NBA had transparency to its process, or turned officiating over to a contractor to give it an arm's length from how games are called, it would clean up most of this, however it would also cause the NBA to lose their opportunity to control circumstances, whether they be making a superstar more marketable, or extending a playoff series.

Do you have any idea how much money is involved in extending a playoff series even by one game?

Hopefully someday fan uproar, joined by the NBA franchise owners and the NBA Players' association, will force changes to NBA officiating.

Until then, none of us should be pretending that NBA officiating is doing a good job.

The more we allow this kind of officiating to occur without calling it out, the longer we enable it to go on.

The blogging world once had a "Kobe Bryant Day" where everyone blogged on Kobe Bryant.

Now, the last day of June, the month the NBA Finals happens each year, is 'BLOG ABOUT NBA OFFICIATING DAY."

On June 30 the blogging world should buzz about how they feel about NBA officiating, good or bad, and perhaps the mainstream press will cover it and get the NBA's attention.

Maybe nothing will happen, but if we all continue to do nothing, you can guarantee nothing will happen.

[chyau.00]

simple...

centers usually draw the most fouls....yet....magic's superstar - Dwight Howard... is a center.
They dont want him out of the games, so they cut down on the fouls on Dwight.

has anyone else notice how players are reluctant to drive in on howard? this isnt because they are gonna afraid howard might block them. alonzo mourning was arguably on the same level as howard in terms of blocking shots yet players still drove in on him repeatedly (before he retired)..

players dont drive in when howard is in the lane because they know they wont get the foul calls.

Bad Officiating.

[Tekkenlaw]

Game 4 was the only game that seemed downright rigged. Lakers have gotten some beneficial calls in this series too though.