WWF has better officiating...

[angryguy77]

Reposted from the game thread:

Just watched the Pierce "charge" again on frame-by-frame on my TiVo - LeBron's feet not set (that was obvious live though), Pierce's right arm is on LeBron but does not extend at all - body-to-body contact and LeBron and Pierce throw themselves apart.  If Pierce's arm had come out I could understand the call, but this was ridiculous.

Ray Allen's layup attempt - as the announcers rightly called, off the board and by the rules a goaltend - not called.

Smith's inbounds catch in frame-by-frame - Smith catches the ball, lands with both feet (2 steps, or 1 if you consider it a jump stop, which it wasn't), then immediately pivots his right foot (3 steps, or 2) and then shifts his left foot forward, finally dribbling after planting his left (4 steps, or 3).

All in the last minute of a key game.

This is atrocious - I think we knew in the first quarter we'd have to beat this team by 15 to beat them by 2, and we just didn't get it done...but still, horrible to watch in slow motion.

The NBA needs to acknowledge that it is having an officiating crisis - calls are too inconsistent, and while I don't think they're always biased for or against a given team across seasons, they are ALWAYS biased against SOME team within a given game.  Evenly called games are a small minority, especially in the last few seasons, and the league needs to address this, as it is crippling their credibility as a professional sports league.  The NFL has had problems with questionable calls in recent years (ie the Patriots holding the Colts receivers in the AFC title game a few years back), but has made public efforts to clean it up.

David Stern unfortunately has a lawyer's mentality - he would much rather people not talk about the problem than actually fix it.  This is why the NBA is struggling to be taken seriously, and it seems to only be getting worse.

Right on. Ever since Jordan pushed off in game six against Utah, this league has lost its credibility with me.

[PerkinsERA43]

The Pistons win because of experience.  They know if you can stay close it will be called even down the stretch.  Then maybe you can steal one.  Boston needs to just stay close.  they don't react well when the reffing goes against them.

Ummmmm.... right. I know it was called evenly tonight. That was definitely a charge on pierce. He was "out of control" 

[ma11l]

Classic moment from Game 7..."West dribbles it off his foot out of bounds, or off of Rondo's foot."  The announcers saw it, the players saw it, the refs didn't.  I was in the 13th row of the balcony and it was clear Delonte kicked that ball out of bounds.  This truly was a joke of a call.  The best part was the crowd reaction when they saw it on CelticsVision, "I think the crowd just saw the replay of that play."


I honestly believe we need to get rid of all the refs and start over.  I believe that there are still a few corrupt ones out there.  Donaghy wasn't the only one.  The rest are brainwashed after living through the MJ era, LeBron and Kobe have their own rules.  LeBron can take 5 steps, tug on jerseys, step out of bounds while driving baseline, it really is absurd.  I know we've all harped on this point, probably excessively, however this moment with the ABC announcers was too much to pass up. 

[BASSTHUMPER]

i wish the nba had wwf ref....if they made a call u didnt like it you could knock em out jus like in the wwf..and keep playin..

[dark_lord]

i wish the nba had wwf ref....if they made a call u didnt like it you could knock em out jus like in the wwf..and keep playin..

thats pay per view material, bass

[jr_3421]

My biggest beef is the lack of consistency in the refs throughout the game. I understand basketball is hard sport to ref so i don't expect the same calls to made every single game. I do however expect the calls to be consistent throughout the game. I absolutely HATE IT when refs let the players play (not calling many fouls) and after a while decide to call touch fouls in they didn't call before. It is sooooo frustrating to see players get called for a foul in the fourth quarter for something they've been doing the whole game.