Cleveland vs Atlanta

[Cs09Champs]

How come we never get a female official? 

[adam8]

How come we never get a female official? 

Now thats a question I have never seen I would assume you do not actually want Violet Palmer who may be the worst ref in the league.

[ToppersBsktball10]

How come we never get a female official? 

Cuz Cedric Maxwell most likely. She made a bad call and Max yelled "Get back in the kitchen and make me some bacon and eggs!" which i find funny, in a non-sexist way.

[Dissent]

You guys are doing a good job of answering the age-old question:

"If Boston isn't playing, can Celtics fans still complain about not getting any calls?"

[star18]

"Anyway, the point is that in game 1 of this series, I can't see blatant non-calls. Can you? There's video; people who claim that LeBron gets away with fouls, should be able to say "hey, look at the play, minute XX, LeBron James fouled and the refs didn't call it". Otherwise, I don't think those claims have any kind of credibility"

Dude, what are you talking about. They just made a whole video of fouls by Lebron in Game 1. He goes over the back on Pechula, knocks Josh Smith in the head, and plows over Mike Bibby, those are all defenite fouls so that is 3 right there, and then there is another 3 questionable calls that could have been fouls. Point is, he got called for 0!! That is impossible.  And we Celtics fans aren't even complaining about getting calls. The numbers speak for themselves. 39,38,37 to 22 fouls on Lebron in 20 game stretches this year.  That is completely impossible, there should be an investigation into that. In the history of sports nobody's numbers change that drastically like that I don't think it has ever happened before. And it is not in PPG Rebounds or Assits it is strictly fouls so you know there is cheating going on. How do you explain 22 fouls in 20 games when he averages 38 fouls per 20 games, and never even had a 20 game stretch in his career where he didn't have at least 30 fouls and that is with him getting calls his entire career. Even MJ doesn't have numbers like that it is cheating plain and simple. The numbers speak for themselves it is not anybody's judgement call.

[Atzar]

Haha, it's not cheating.  It's called 'superstar' treatment.  Kobe gets the benefit of the doubt on close calls.  So does CP3.  So does Dwight.  So does KG.  So does Wade.  It's almost fact that players who sell lots of jerseys get favorable treatment from the refs.  As for the difference that you're talking about... it couldn't possibly be that LeBron was coasting down the stretch.

It sucks when we get the soggy end of the deal, but otherwise it's just part of the game.

[Edgar]

hey if they magically trade for tmac and he can play on one leg maybe they can come back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_CGxj3dHGA

wow i totally forgot about this one..

how overrated players are made

[star18]

The numbers speak for themselves 39,38,37, to 22 in the same amount of minutes played. That is cheating, coasting down the stretch is a joke they were going for homecourt and the best home record, they only played easy in the last 2 or 3 games.   Its not superstar treatment, because other players don't have numbers that change that drastically.   And superstar treatment usually means you get a lot of fouls called on you, it doesn't necessarily mean the other way around that you never foul anyone. You say KG gets star treatment but what about fouling out in the 2nd game against LA this year, that last call was star treatment? I don't think so. Lebron would never get a call like that against him and most likely never had. It ruins the game, because this guy can basically do anything and never get a foul call, and many of those plays lead to a fast break dunk or a big play. There is no sense watching games like that. Tonight he hit Josh Smith in the head twice with no call. That's not a foul I'm talking about that is hitting someone in the head and still no foul calls on those plays. 

[star18]

I just do not agree. Superstar treatment is getting questionable calls go your way more than 50% of the time, not getting blatant non calls and blatant fouls totally ignored. These aren't close calls we are talking about, these are blows to the head and face, knocking people down calls, not silly touch fouls that could go either way. And yes other superstars get star treatment like Wade & Kobe, but their numbers don't change drastically like that.  The numbers speak for themselves it is cheating.

[guava_wrench]

We have video from LeBron alleged non-calls now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY2mWPClXgo

People who sustain refs aren't calling fouls on him, can try to point out which plays were those.

How is it he didn't foul out of one game this year? and had so many games with 1 foul?

Well, I'm not going to watch every single game. His "personal fouls per 36 minutes" numbers aren't exactly special - similar to Iguodala's, who's also a good defender, for example. The Cavs had lots of blowouts, I don't think it's odd he never fouled out. Plus, he plays defence very under control.

Anyway, the point is that in game 1 of this series, I can't see blatant non-calls. Can you? There's video; people who claim that LeBron gets away with fouls, should be able to say "hey, look at the play, minute XX, LeBron James fouled and the refs didn't call it". Otherwise, I don't think those claims have any kind of credibility.

But he's a physical 6' 9" 275 pound forward who played alotta power forward this year too. Ray Allen fouled out of a game in these playoffs how does that happen? haha I just think the refs are on LeBrons junk a little too much while pierce gets screwed on alot of calls

Maybe you think that because you are a Celtics fan?

[guava_wrench]

The numbers speak for themselves 39,38,37, to 22 in the same amount of minutes played. That is cheating, coasting down the stretch is a joke they were going for homecourt and the best home record, they only played easy in the last 2 or 3 games.   Its not superstar treatment, because other players don't have numbers that change that drastically.   And superstar treatment usually means you get a lot of fouls called on you, it doesn't necessarily mean the other way around that you never foul anyone. You say KG gets star treatment but what about fouling out in the 2nd game against LA this year, that last call was star treatment? I don't think so. Lebron would never get a call like that against him and most likely never had. It ruins the game, because this guy can basically do anything and never get a foul call, and many of those plays lead to a fast break dunk or a big play. There is no sense watching games like that. Tonight he hit Josh Smith in the head twice with no call. That's not a foul I'm talking about that is hitting someone in the head and still no foul calls on those plays. 

Numbers don't speak for themselves. Numbers are just numbers. If takes people to interpret them. That is the part that is heavily probe to confirmation bias -- people see only the things that agree with what they want to see or believe, and they don't see the things that conflict with what they want to believe.

Tommy Heinson is a great example of this.

[guava_wrench]

How come we never get a female official? 

Now thats a question I have never seen I would assume you do not actually want Violet Palmer who may be the worst ref in the league.

What do people base such evaluations on?

I will say that Palmer is one of the most recognizable refs.

[Atzar]

The numbers speak for themselves 39,38,37, to 22 in the same amount of minutes played. That is cheating, coasting down the stretch is a joke they were going for homecourt and the best home record, they only played easy in the last 2 or 3 games.   Its not superstar treatment, because other players don't have numbers that change that drastically.   And superstar treatment usually means you get a lot of fouls called on you, it doesn't necessarily mean the other way around that you never foul anyone. You say KG gets star treatment but what about fouling out in the 2nd game against LA this year, that last call was star treatment? I don't think so. Lebron would never get a call like that against him and most likely never had. It ruins the game, because this guy can basically do anything and never get a foul call, and many of those plays lead to a fast break dunk or a big play. There is no sense watching games like that. Tonight he hit Josh Smith in the head twice with no call. That's not a foul I'm talking about that is hitting someone in the head and still no foul calls on those plays. 

Superstar treatment means you get favorable treatment from the refs.  That can be on offense or defense.  As for KG fouling out, that's one instance - all players get screwed every now and then.  How about all of the moving screens he sets when Perk gets called almost every time for the same offense?  

And yes, superstar treatment can be blatant fouls that are ignored.  How about Kobe stripping Pierce in Game 5 last year down the stretch?  That was pretty blatant, he basically hugged him from behind yet there was no call.  Whether you like it or not, this is just part of the game.  

The change is inconsequential and means nothing unless it's the beginning of a new trend.  As of now, it can only be viewed as an outlier until there is more data to go on.

[star18]

Numbers do speak for themselves.  Give me another example where an NBA superstar's numbers changed that drastically, basically doubling, or being cut in half over a quarter of the season like that.  Until you can find another statistical example you theory has no basis.   This is a clear cut example of cheating. And I'm not talking about touch fouls, or did he get his arm or didn't he. Lebron is hitting people in the head and face repeatedly and knocking people down with no calls.  They are not touch fouls.  Look at what Fisher did to Scola yesterday, Fisher got ejected and suspended. Then look at what Lebron did to Bibby in Game 1 on the video there, it is not as blatant, but he didn't even get a foul called on him.  Touching a player is one thing, going for the face, head and knocking people down is cheating.

[star18]

In the two Atlanta games so far, Lebron has 3 blows to the head or face, and he knocked down 3 players on blatant fouls. He has 1 foul call the entire series, and on that one call he hopped around half the court in complete disbelief.   Again not touch fouls, blows to the head and knocking people down. That along with the stats of his fouls in the last 27 or so games is proof of cheating and changing the way the refs are calling games.  Even MJ didn't get away with blows to the head or knocking people down. He got all the touch calls his way, but nothing like this. This is 10 times worse.