Biggest story in the finals is the refereeing MERGE

[BRUNiNHO91]

Ehh..it's pathetic for him to sit his ass in a couch and analyze all these plays. The refs have a split second to call it...they would get all the calls right like that if they had a way to review em all in 5 different angles, 20 different times like him. 90% of the plays he calls out in this article, have always happened, and will always happen. I only have a problem with the blatant ass ones like the Rondo on Kobe AND 1, P's 5th, the Ray tangle at the end, the Odom over the back on Pierce, Perk's legal screen, Bynum's karate move on TA, the Rondo slap on Odom, Perk's offensive goaltend..those are garbage and blatant as hell...the game is ruined by these calls. The NBA rewards flopping and with that, they penalize aggressive D, and it ruins teams like the Celtics who play tough, physical basketball..this finals has been a dream for LA's soft ass players..Orlando fans must be mad that they didn't get these pussy type calls LA is getting..Howard would have averaged 80 ft's against us if they gave these **** calls to him like they do to Bynum and Gaysol.

[akaelbak]

all i know if ray had 3/13 not 0/13 we win.ray was tired is my opinion.

[KEGster]

Yeah overall the entire premise of this Donaghy segment is kinda silly for the reasons you posted but I will say he makes a great point in his opening paragraph.

Let's talk about ABC's broadcast for a second. The announcers have pledged their allegiance to The Man by glossing over blatantly missed calls by the refs. They're an accessory to the crime. They're partnering with the league in downplaying the effect those blown calls have on the series outcome. Just listen to them. They're calling the games like it's the start of the summer league, and they're all sharing a round of beers.


There's also a curious lack of replays (at least until the last two minutes of the fourth, thanks to the NBA's new rule). Fans need replays to assign their own grades on the quality of the refereeing. If we graded the broadcast according to how well it fulfilled Mr. Stern's demands, I'd give ABC an A-plus.

[Celticfan_N_FL]

Another Donaghy thread? Geez....

The only call that ticked me off, and I thought was a HUGE momentum killer, was the "foul" on Rasheed when he had a clean block on Pau. That was a killer because they were chipping away and that would have been the C's going back in transition and maybe getting it to two. Instead it's two freebies for Pau.

[Celtics_85]

Let me chime in as an official. The first thing you learn as an official is that you don't call a foul unless you see it clearly happen. There are far too many calls being made from officials who don't have a clear view of a play, not to mention calls being made from an official on the opposite side of the court. Lastly there is no consistancy to how fouls are called, where on one player it is a foul and on another it isn't called. These refs make their own bed and there will never be good refing when this is just a buisness anymore and not a sport.

[Ben-N1ce]

I'm sick of hearing about the refs. Yes they suck. That is a given in every game not just the finals. We absolutely did not lose last nights game because of the refs. They did not put a lid on the rim so Ray and Pierce could clank a bunch of good looks they had and only a few of them woud have made the difference. It's not like the C'z have played better so far in this series. If you go quarter for quarter LA has been better more consistently. The bottom line is they played like crap last night and somehow could have won the game but didn't and it had nothing to do with the refs but it could very well be the difference on who wins the series.

[MasterRyu]

I think the calls have been extremely tight on both ends, but I do think that the Lakers have been the more aggressive team. As it is with Celtic mantra, the more agreesive team tends to get more favorable calls. So yes, in Game 3, I do think that the calls were going more toward the Lakers SLIGHTLY. However, blaming on the refs is stupid. Pierce and Allen played horribly, and Rondo wasn't as aggressive as one would like either. So if you want to say that the Lakers got the benefit of the calls in Game 3 then you can surely admit how Kobe Bryant wasn't treated as a superstar in Game 2 either and was shafted too. So yes, it's been this "makeup calll" mentality that is prevalen in the series. But so far, everything just seems to have evened out. So the celtics lost because Lakers played more aggressive and rebounded and made plays and key defensive stops; celtics didn't. End of Story.

Seriously, this is nothing compared to the one-sidedness of the calls in Game 2 of the 2008 Finals.

The series is far from over; you win, you lose, you move on and play better next game.

[mavs4life123]

So all these boston fans who were saying that the officials were horrible have no more complaints. Its obvious that the celtics got the better share of the calls and still lost the game.

[KEGster]

Let me chime in as an official. The first thing you learn as an official is that you don't call a foul unless you see it clearly happen. There are far too many calls being made from officials who don't have a clear view of a play, not to mention calls being made from an official on the opposite side of the court. Lastly there is no consistancy to how fouls are called, where on one player it is a foul and on another it isn't called. These refs make their own bed and there will never be good refing when this is just a buisness anymore and not a sport.

On this subject, I can't really decide if the level of officiating has gotten worse or it's just because were watching the games today. Guy on Rome is Burning the other day made a great point before Game 3, in that this is the first finals he's seen where the refs are overwelmed by the speed and size of the players. Meaning that the game of basketball was never meant to be played by such giants or so many of them and with the speed but it evolved. So why haven't the rules evolved with the game?

The star treatment, you can't really get around that. Because at the end of the day your going to have more fans and the NBA more money if players are the focus and not teams. Sorry but this is true even in a historic Lakers/Celtics Finals.

But I think we all would agree a little more physical play would be encouraged by all. I can't stand the refs dictating the style, pace and strategies of the teams with their calls. As fans always say, I'm here to watch the stars not the refs.

So I can't decide if it's this years Finals, modern day basketball (2000+) or post MJ bball (star treatment).

[KEGster]

So all these boston fans who were saying that the officials were horrible have no more complaints. Its obvious that the celtics got the better share of the calls and still lost the game.

Let's look at this.

First Quarter
Celtics got away with 2 calls.
Lakers got away with no calls.
Celtics got the benefit of 2 calls.
Lakers got the benefit of 2 calls.

Second Quarter
Celtics got away with 2 calls.
Lakers got away with 2 calls.
Celtics got the benefit of 2 calls.
Lakers got the benefit of 0 calls.

Third Quarter
Celtics got away with 0 calls.
Lakers got away with 3 calls.
Celtics got the benefit of 1 calls.
Lakers got the benefit of 2 calls.

Fourth Quarter
Celtics got away with 2 calls.
Lakers got away with 2 calls.
Celtics got the benefit of 1 calls.
Lakers got the benefit of 4 calls.

Overall
Pro-Celtic Calls: 12.
Pro-Laker Calls: 15.

Looks like last game was slightly pro-Laker, notable in the second half.

[sully00]

We don't need 4 threads about refs, now you have one crazy one.

[mavs4life123]

So all these boston fans who were saying that the officials were horrible have no more complaints. Its obvious that the celtics got the better share of the calls and still lost the game.

Let's look at this.

First Quarter
Celtics got away with 2 calls.
Lakers got away with no calls.
Celtics got the benefit of 2 calls.
Lakers got the benefit of 2 calls.

Second Quarter
Celtics got away with 2 calls.
Lakers got away with 2 calls.
Celtics got the benefit of 2 calls.
Lakers got the benefit of 0 calls.

Third Quarter
Celtics got away with 0 calls.
Lakers got away with 3 calls.
Celtics got the benefit of 1 calls.
Lakers got the benefit of 2 calls.

Fourth Quarter
Celtics got away with 2 calls.
Lakers got away with 2 calls.
Celtics got the benefit of 1 calls.
Lakers got the benefit of 4 calls.

Overall
Pro-Celtic Calls: 12.
Pro-Laker Calls: 15.

Looks like last game was slightly pro-Laker, notable in the second half.

Its not about total number of calls but when they were made. Calls can make or break momentum. Lots of calls in favor of the lakers were traveling, offensive fouls, etc which did not really affect the outcome but on the other hand all celtic pro calls helped boston get back in the game and kept them in it...

[meatball sub]

It's sad that all either team's fans can talk about is the officiating. This **** has got to change. Let 'em play, you stupid bastards!

[jsimon]

The NBA is becoming unwatchable because of how the game is being called. The refs have sucked for both sides. The only reason I am watching this series is because it is the Celtics. If any other team was playing I would not even be watching. Basketball used to be my favorite sport to watch but now it is football.

It would be impossible for me to agree with this post any more than I do. The NBA, and this series in particular (strangely the path to the Finals for both of these teams was not impeded by horrible officiating. In fact I thought the officiating was surprisingly good throughout the playoffs, except game 5 in Orlando...), has been absolutely destroyed by the way the games are being called. Not only do I believe most refs are bad at their jobs, with some of them clearly having agendas/grudges (Bill Kennedy, Joey Crawford), but the way the league is making them over-officiate isn't helping either.

This article over on SI makes some good points...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/w ... index.html

The main problem though beyond the technical problems of the way the league wants games called and the bad refs, is the total inconsistency of the calls that are actually made. One case in point:

On the play where Tony Allen got hurt, Bynum set a moving screen and stuck his foot out so far he practically did the splits. Perkins would have been whistled on that play 100 times out of 100. No call.

Stars get preferential calls, floppers like Fisher and Gasol are rewarded, and worst of all the "scream call." If a player screams while shooting he is much more likely to get a whistle. Throw your head back when someone comes near you like Gasol does, and you'll get a whistle. Wave your arms like someone just threw you off a building, you'll get a whistle...

There might be blown calls in football or baseball, but I never get the feeling the refs are favoring one player over another, or one team over another. In the NBA I get that feeling all the time. Plus there is no flopping in the other sports.

As the OP said, if this weren't the Celtics I wouldn't be watching. Hell I can barely watch now. This isn't the game I grew up on in the 80's. A foul just isn't what it used to be.

Oh and by the way, anyone who glibly posts that the reason we lost is this or that, and just obtusely ignores the role officials play in every NBA game, is being purposely and willfully ignorant. Of course there are multiple reason why teams lose games, that's obvious. But to ignore how badly our rotations and minutes have been destroyed by the refs is disingenuous.

[jsimon]

Nah--the game was called pretty loosely in those first 6 minutes. After the timeout, the Lakers got 4 straight questionable calls:

1. a Perk 'moving screen' where he was actually set.
2. a play where Pau basically slipped and they called a foul on Rondo and gave two shots to Pau even though he wasn't shooting
3. a questionable ticky-tack And-1 foul where Rondo may or may not have hit Kobe's elbow, giving Rondo his 2nd foul
4. and then Paul's bogus 2nd foul which set him to the bench early;

and turned a 7 point deficit into a 1 point lead in about 2 minutes, the first of a long string of timely questionable calls that seemed to sap almost every Celtic run from there on out. Celtics missed a LOT of shots, makeable and easy shots, but they also got stung with timely questionable calls every time there were about to put together a run. It was seemingly orchestrated, right down to the eminently predictable call early in the 4th where Paul gets into the game for about 30 seconds, gets caught upside his head with an Artest elbow, retaliates by grabbing Artest to regain position, and gets his 5th personal foul. All that while, Bill Kennedy was staring at the play and just happened to miss the first clear foul only to catch the 2nd.

This ish was happening all night and maybe I'm just looking for it and seeing what I'm looking for, but the subjective nature of officiating basketball makes it quite easy to subtly influence a game if you know what you're doing. And give credit to the officials--they sapped every one of our potential runs, got our best scorer in early foul trouble that ruined his rhythm, and did that all while keeping the FTAs even at the end of the game. That, my friend, is that the art of the influence in today's NBA and Game 3 was probably the best example yet of how you can influence a game without leaving tell-tale clues behind that it happened.

The most interesting part of it all was that Bennett Salvatore, one of the worst refs in the league, basically was invisible (as they all should be) for most of the night. It was Bill Kennedy and Danny Crawford doing most of the 'influencing' out there.

Absolutely spot on.

[jsimon]

I am going to disagree with you.
I think, not unlike the NFL, when rule changes are made they effect various aspects of the game. When they change the bump rules on DBs, it allows for the passing game to flourish. This causes teams to look for bigger wideouts who can "go get the ball" and OL who can pass block. These are changes which are known by all teams ahead of time and they can adjust the way they play to the rules and how they will be enforced.

In the NBA, it seems that rule changes can be made on the fly, from series to series and game to game. Teams that have played a certain style of ball all year now have to adjust mid-series to the way the game will be called. This impacts some teams in a positive manner and others in a negative one. This is the main problem everyone has with NBA referring, its completely inconsistent. You can't change the makeup or style of play of your team after an entire regular season a 3 rounds of playoffs. Its absurd.

Absolutely spot on part 2.

[Kefa461]

I'm glad Doc is speaking out.......
Rivers also commented on the general state of officiating in the NBA and how it differs from when he was a player. Although it did not appear as though he had said anything egregious enough to merit a fine from the league office, commissioner David Stern will have the final say on that matter -- and Stern has shown less tolerance than in past years for coaches working the refs in between games.

Rivers also continued to sound incredulous that Lakers coach Phil Jackson had complained about the foul calls against Kobe Bryant in Game 2 (Jackson called them "unusual fouls") when Bryant racked up five personals, noting that foul trouble had impacted his own team much more than it had the Lakers.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/ ... id=5268744

.....and about Fisher the Flopper.....

When asked how Fisher was able to be so successful drawing fouls while being screened, Rivers replied: "What? Besides flopping? He doesn't do a lot extra.

"He plays hard. He's been in the game long enough to understand. I thought he got away with a lot last night. I thought there was a lot of holding going on and a lot of flopping going on and he finally showed that last one."

Fisher was able to draw three offensive fouls in Game 3, one on Kendrick Perkins in the first quarter and two more on Ray Allen in the second and fourth quarters.

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/n ... id=5268743


It's about time......


ps......Danny should speak up too.

[jsimon]

Plain and simple it's been bad both ways. It's always worse when you lose you Boston Cry Babies. It's not one sided as most of you think. How many times does KG set illegal picks? Jesus Shuttleworth always pushes off when running through screens and how many times have he been called for a foul? Lakers are a way better team and you guys are just blind to see it. Lakers should be up 3-0 right now, if it wasn't for the terrible calls on Kobe in game 2. Players win games not refs!!! If the C's can't make the adjustments to how da game is being called it's their fault.

Rondo > D Fish
Kobe > Jesus Shuttleworth
Pierce = Ronron. Pierce is on lockdown and please dont say its cause the refs
Gasol > KG
Bynum (50% health) > Perk

Bench, may be you have the slight edge but not by much.

NOW THATS THE TRUTH!!!

So let me see if I have this straight. We are cry babies for complaining about the bad officiating and saying that it has affected us in all three games (not just the losses, for the record), but you come back with "Lakers should be up 3-0 right now, if it wasn't for the terrible calls on Kobe in game 2."

Am I drunk or did you just contradict your own argument?

[Fencer reregistered]

The Celtics have no realistic chance to win this series unless Rivers racks up some fines for himself.

Otherwise, if they do start coming back, Jackson will nip it in the bud by one of his own fine-inducing rants.

It's just part of the cost of having his high coaching salary.

[PPAW4Life]

What I want to know is if the Lakers have been getting a negative FT differential all post season, why are they getting the benefit of the whistle in the Finals?