Can Raps win 5 vs 8 since Silver doesn't like us

[Raps1103]

They can, the Raptors most of the time, do. They just need to focus on making shots and not letting the Refs get to them.

Referees cant take away 50 made baskets, at some point, the better Basketball team will always prevail.

Outsiders think that Raptors fans moan for no reason, but we got personnel on this team that used to be on other teams, blatantly agree that the Raptors seem to be getting a different treatment by the Referees, different then what they were used to. Its no longer a secret. The Raptors lead the NBA for years in Official Botched Calls and NBA apologies for a reason.

I’m not disagreeing with you AT ALL!! Nor am I calling you out.. I’m just genuinely curious if you have a link, a quote or something ... and which players have admitted to this?

[vincecarter55]

Every team complains about refs... It's not an easy job. There's bad calls both ways.

[CoachJReturns]

Too bad Raps didn't pull out game 1. Would make it a lot easier to get a few technical calls on Nurse and a couple players if losing 1 game wasn't such a major concern. Nurse needs to take a tech this series if this doesn't stop.

[CoachJReturns]

Clearly the next logical step in basketball analytics is Refs tendencies. What Ref calls what, misses what, how physical are you allowed to be on offense/defense, how they react to whining, crowd chants etc etc. Because they influence games just as much as a non all star starter.

Maybe Morey's analytics team is already doing it.

This is interesting and surprisingly it's the first time I've heard it suggested, at least on this board. Somebody has to be analyzing ref tendencies deeply. After all, in baseball ump tendencies are well documented and the numbers are readily available.
As someone stated above, there is a tendency to let teams back into games to avoid blowouts. Coaches and players can't be oblivious to it. It's when phantom calls start happening, or no calls. Physical, aggressive play may be punished. So the answer could be to back off and focus on ball movement and more jump shots, less attacking the paint. I can't believe nobody has counters for ref tendencies. I mean some refs are so predictable that anyone can see crap coming.

[pkiskool]

Someone needs to call out the refs on the lack of fouls called on Kawhi.

All it takes is Kawhi to come out on one of the post game interviews and say "I don't get calls I used to get when I was in SA".
This is enough to catch attention - sure, he will be fined but Masai can pay that for him.

[Chandan]

They can, the Raptors most of the time, do. They just need to focus on making shots and not letting the Refs get to them.

Referees cant take away 50 made baskets, at some point, the better Basketball team will always prevail.

Outsiders think that Raptors fans moan for no reason, but we got personnel on this team that used to be on other teams, blatantly agree that the Raptors seem to be getting a different treatment by the Referees, different then what they were used to. Its no longer a secret. The Raptors lead the NBA for years in Official Botched Calls and NBA apologies for a reason.

I’m not disagreeing with you AT ALL!! Nor am I calling you out.. I’m just genuinely curious if you have a link, a quote or something ... and which players have admitted to this?

We don't need current raptors saying that don't get any calls they used to get. We need ex raptors saying how much easier it is to get calls now that they are not a Raptor.

[ontnut]

There are definitely bad calls on both sides, but Game 2 seemed pretty ridiculous. SO many ticky tack fouls on the Raptors. A few 50/50 calls like Lowry trying to fight through screens, and I think Danny got hit with one or two too. But then when Kawhi goes in on the break, and 2 guys are hanging on to him as he makes the layup, the refs swallow their whistles. We touch them slightly, and get called, but Kawhi got mauled by 2 guys, and nothing.

[OakleyDokely]

FT differential after 2 games (home teams in bold):

1. PHI: +9.5
2. MIL: +8.5
3. ORL: +6.5
4. GS: +6.0
5. DEN: +2.5
6. OKC: +1.5
6. UTA: +1.5
8. BOS: 0.0
8. IND: 0.0
10. HOU: -1.5
10: POR: -1.5
12. SA: -2.5
13. LAC: -6.0
14. TOR: -6.5
15. DET: -8.5
16. BRK: -9.5

[dacrusha]

Someone needs to call out the refs on the lack of fouls called on Kawhi.

i was thinking that after that insane first half that masai must have gone off on the league behind closed doors because things calmed down after that.

but yeah i don't know why there is such a curtain of silence over the obvious bs reffing. (not just against us but whenever it happens. Did you see that Philly game the other night ffs?) the only logical reason there can be is that going public with beef against the refs means they will pay you back, which is even more bs. the only other reason i can think of is that it is well known among players that the league does in fact play favourites and that it is a) a fact of life and b) a sort of abusive relationship where if you speak up in public you are just asking for harsher trouble later

I still believe that the refs are told to call or focus on specific plays by the NBA before games and those plays can be ones that influence an outcome. E.g. pushing off even mildly, have no tolerance.

Yes they’re all sitting in a dark smokey room playing cards and waiting for a red phone to ring giving them their instructions for the night.

I’ll guarantee if Raptors fans watched games from the other teams’ perspective and dialed down their built-in confirmation biases, they would find 8-10 calls a night that favoured the Raptors.

The reality is the Raptors aren't some special case and aren’t being targeted any more or any less than the other 29 teams in the league. Poor reffing is poor reffing and it’s evenly distributed to all the teams in the league.

[Gold Dragon]

Playoff Silver Activated

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/253418/2019-NBA-Playoffs-Receiving-Increase-Demand-For-TV-Ad-Slots

[lobosloboslobos]

i was thinking that after that insane first half that masai must have gone off on the league behind closed doors because things calmed down after that.

but yeah i don't know why there is such a curtain of silence over the obvious bs reffing. (not just against us but whenever it happens. Did you see that Philly game the other night ffs?) the only logical reason there can be is that going public with beef against the refs means they will pay you back, which is even more bs. the only other reason i can think of is that it is well known among players that the league does in fact play favourites and that it is a) a fact of life and b) a sort of abusive relationship where if you speak up in public you are just asking for harsher trouble later

I still believe that the refs are told to call or focus on specific plays by the NBA before games and those plays can be ones that influence an outcome. E.g. pushing off even mildly, have no tolerance.

Yes they’re all sitting in a dark smokey room playing cards and waiting for a red phone to ring giving them their instructions for the night.

I’ll guarantee if Raptors fans watched games from the other teams’ perspective and dialed down their built-in confirmation biases, they would find 8-10 calls a night that favoured the Raptors.

The reality is the Raptors aren't some special case and aren’t being targeted any more or any less than the other 29 teams in the league. Poor reffing is poor reffing and it’s evenly distributed to all the teams in the league.

yep. just blame it on incompetence. accept that this multi-billion dollar league is perfectly content with incompetent refs reffing the playoffs year after year. sure. that's much easier to accept than looking at it as the league having business interests that they are looking to advance. why do you think the stars get star calls? out of incompetence? or does the league have an agenda to see their stars dominate? answer me that one. and if they do have that agenda (please, go ahead and argue they don't) why do they have it? again, let's see you argue that it is something other than business interests. please. so unless you are trying to make those impossible arguments then you already admit that the league affects games by telling the refs to favor certain players to advance its business interests. now if you admit that, is it such a jump to imagine that that influence could be the reason for certain outrageous reffing decisions rather than arguing that the league is perfectly willing to tolerate constant incompetence by its refs?

[Double Bubble]

Kawhi and Siakam have a total of 9 freethrows in game 1 and 2........Embiid alone had 18 freethrows in game 1 against the Nets. Giannis alone 12 freethrows in his game 1.

Refs choking on their whistle when it comes to Kawhi...it has to be a blatant hack or else they won't call anything, even then they'll sometimes ignore the contact, it's ridiculous.

I hope you are aware that kawhi averages 7.2 free throw attempted with the raptors which is tied for his career most so your point is invalid

And he averages 3 freethrows attempted in the first 2 playoff games...so my point is actually more valid. He should've had at least 7 FTs last night, which would've given him a 40 point game.

To be fair to the refs (never thought ide say that) they do allow more contact in playoff games vs reg season

Remember derozan? His fta went down as well and instead of people cussing out the refs they cussed out demar. Refs gonna ref, of course they're awful but we still won by 30. Save the whining for when it actually matters

[SaveTheHens]

Like with other times in life when odds are stacked against you and the situation can't really be changed, just focus in on your game and be ready. Refs can try and shift the direction, but if we don't get down on ourselves and our one and only goal is focusing on each moment, focusing on the play at hand, then that attitude will bring us there.

We've got Kawhi's leadership to take us there. I think he's got great focus and will just keep putting pressure on the refs, or just keep scoring, regardless. Even though we could win games with grind-it-out defence, if the refs actually were against us at some point (ECF or Finals, not first round tbh..), the 3's need to go down to make it easier on us.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Why would he hate one of his largest markets. That's ESPN fantasy, don't buy it.

Just keep winning by 30 and the refs wont matter.

[Patman]

FT differential after 2 games (home teams in bold):

1. PHI: +9.5
2. MIL: +8.5
3. ORL: +6.5
4. GS: +6.0
5. DEN: +2.5
6. OKC: +1.5
6. UTA: +1.5
8. BOS: 0.0
8. IND: 0.0
10. HOU: -1.5
10: POR: -1.5
12. SA: -2.5
13. LAC: -6.0
14. TOR: -6.5
15. DET: -8.5
16. BRK: -9.5

Disgusting. Pretty sure we're also in the top half of playoff teams for points in the paint. So it's not like we're just chucking jumpers.

[Patman]

Why would he hate one of his largest markets. That's ESPN fantasy, don't buy it.

Just keep winning by 30 and the refs wont matter.

NBA's partners mostly just care about American ratings.

[Whole Truth]

Last year if anyone watched the Pacers, Cavs series they would have seen the leg up for the Cavs to get them out the first round.

With Lebrons move out West, ratings are down in the East.

People have argued over the years that favoritism in the whistle was earned by star players, now Raptors have 2 big names & they are still playing 8 on 5.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Why would he hate one of his largest markets. That's ESPN fantasy, don't buy it.

Just keep winning by 30 and the refs wont matter.

NBA's partners mostly just care about American ratings.

The leagues owns league pass. How long till they start running adds?

[firekil]

Refs have a mandate from the league to get Kawhi to the Clippers.

[Patman]

The first 3 rounds is when we'd have to overcome officiating. If you get to the Finals, there's nothing the refs can do to affect ratings. The Finals are mostly reffed fairly. The league cares about who makes it to the Finals.

Refs hosed the Blazers and Kings in consecutive years against the Shaq and Kobe Lakers. But they didn't bother saving the Lakers against the Pistons in the Finals.

The Spurs got the opposite treatment. The refs don't respect them in the first 3 rounds. But they get a fair whistle whenever they get to the Finals.