NBA Referees

[Jackattaq]

This may be only the 4-5th topic I've ever created on RealGM.com since I joined almost 10 years ago. So my question to NBA watchers is this: Is it just me or has NBA officiating gotten considerably worse over the years? I've seen more and more stories of players, coaches and fans complaining about the officials. Refs outright turn me off from watching games, I've literally turned off games when everything is so one sided it's not even worth watching anymore. I see more and more players and coaches willing to accept and pay fines just to vent their frustrations over how poor the NBA officials are. Is it worth it to a rational person to pay 10-50K just to let know others how bad the officials are? Will the NBA ever address this problem? Obviously a strike of the "real officials" didn't make any difference. (Honestly, I like the unbiased approach of the replacements better than the "regular officials)

Will this ever get better?

[MotownMadness]

They are getting pretty bad

[ImHeisenberg]

If you believe the refs are truly biased, then you should stop watching the NBA; as you believe the entire game has been compromised.

[Jackattaq]

If you believe the refs are truly biased, then you should stop watching the NBA; as you believe the entire game has been compromised.

Let me ask you: did you watch the NBA FINALS the year that Dallas went up 2-0 against the Miami CHeat?

If you did, you will understand where fans are coming from. Dallas up 2-0 then Dwayne Wade goes to the FT line an average of over 25 times a game for the next 4 games. SUCH A JOKE !!!!

[ImHeisenberg]

If you believe the refs are truly biased, then you should stop watching the NBA; as you believe the entire game has been compromised.

Let me ask you: did you watch the NBA FINALS the year that Dallas went up 2-0 against the Miami CHeat?

If you did, you will understand where fans are coming from. Dallas up 2-0 then Dwayne Wade goes to the FT line an average of over 25 times a game for the next 4 games. SUCH A JOKE !!!!

I did watch it. Anyone who as much as breathed on Wade got the whistle.

I guess my opinion of the refs has been rather lax, as the Pistons haven't played a meaningful game in half a decade and counting.

[Jackattaq]

If you believe the refs are truly biased, then you should stop watching the NBA; as you believe the entire game has been compromised.

Let me ask you: did you watch the NBA FINALS the year that Dallas went up 2-0 against the Miami CHeat?

If you did, you will understand where fans are coming from. Dallas up 2-0 then Dwayne Wade goes to the FT line an average of over 25 times a game for the next 4 games. SUCH A JOKE !!!!

I did watch it. Anyone who as much as breathed on Wade got the whistle.

I guess my opinion of the refs has been rather lax, as the Pistons haven't played a meaningful game in half a decade and counting.

I actually recorded one of the games and Wade tripped over his own feet, but because he fell to the floor, I saw the officials call the foul on a guy that was 3 feet away at the time of the foul. Wade literally tripped himself and he got to the FT line because NBA Refs are crooked. Such a shame how far the integrity of the game has fallen.

[ComboGuardCity]

What's the incentive of giving the heat the win in the end? Dallas is the bigger market.

[Bolek]

What's the incentive of giving the heat the win in the end? Dallas is the bigger market.

Dallas may be bigger market in US. For fans worldwide the team with Wade and Shaq is far more sexy than team with Nowitzki as the biggest star.

[ComboGuardCity]

What's the incentive of giving the heat the win in the end? Dallas is the bigger market.

Dallas may be bigger market in US. For fans worldwide the team with Wade and Shaq is far more sexy than team with Nowitzki as the biggest star.

If you're playing the Global angle, they should've been trying with all their might to get Yao into the finals. And what happened in 2011?

[Notanoob]

The game isn't rigged people. Otherwise LA and NY would be in the Finals all of the time. Refs screw up regularly, but refs screw up all of the time in every sport, since they're human.

With regards to the 06 Finals, Wade was an excellent slasher and the Mavs had no one who could stay in front of him, so he drove on them all day. Sure some of those FTs were BS, but no more than normal, really. Was it an absurd total number of FTAs? Sure, but the game was pretty one dimensional anyways. Wade drove and either scored or got fouled. Since no one else was seeing the ball much, of course Wade was going to rack up a huge volume of something.

Everyone wants to think that The Man is out to get them, but it really isn't true all the time.

[dVs33]

Officiating has gotten pretty bad IMO. it's so much softer now and the superstar calls are beyond ridiculous.

Everyone laughs at Monroes "and one" complaints, but if he was a bigger name he'd get to the line at least 4-5 times more each game.

It's frustrating because our guys never get recognition and so they don't get the ref help, but it is what it is.

[MrBigShot]

I don't think the game is rigged. Not in the sense that most people use the word "rigged" anyway. I do think that refs are not very consistent relative to certain players and certain situations though. Superstars get calls that rookies wouldn't get. A guy like DeMarcus Cousins has a shorter leash when it comes to assessing technicals. Then there's the issue of refs swallowing their whistle at the end of games. It's one thing to ignore something like an illegal screen in the final possession; it's another thing to watch a guy get smacked on the arm while shooting and call nothing.

[Clarity]

If you believe the refs are truly biased, then you should stop watching the NBA; as you believe the entire game has been compromised.

boom

[Bolek]

What's the incentive of giving the heat the win in the end? Dallas is the bigger market.

Dallas may be bigger market in US. For fans worldwide the team with Wade and Shaq is far more sexy than team with Nowitzki as the biggest star.

If you're playing the Global angle, they should've been trying with all their might to get Yao into the finals. And what happened in 2011?

I only wanted to point out why it may be recognized better to help Heat in matchup with Mavericks. But I really think that the problem with refs is that the game is simply to fast for them (basketball changed during the last 20 years incredibly) and that they still "help" stars (shaq&dwayne vs Dirk? Come on). And Yao has never been the real superstar in the league - no matter how many Chinese supported him

[Billl]

If you think NBA refs are bad, check out an international game or 2.

Yes, the refs make mistakes. Those mistakes are almost always "anticipation" calls. They see a defender swiping at the ball, and they make the call before contact even occurs. And yes, the superstars get more than their fair share of those for several reasons: a) they have the ball a lot in those positions b) they are supreme athletes and generally really are a fraction of a second faster than everyone else. c) everyone expects them to make a great play (including the refs), so any anticipation calls tend to go in the direction that everyone is anticipating.

The idea that the refs all get together with the commissioner and decide to make calls benefiting one team is not at all realistic though. If that actually happened, there would be at least 1 ref that would sell out the commissioner for a hefty book deal etc.