The ABC announcers and the Refs

[gpap]

I HATE Jeff Van Gundy with a passion and find him unbearable

After Lebron got away with a foul on Zeller, anyone else catch his comment about how "so what, I'd rather Lebron be playing on the floor than sitting on the bench"?

[Celtics4ever]

After Lebron got away with a foul on Zeller, anyone else catch his comment about how "so what, I'd rather Lebron be playing on the floor than sitting on the bench"?

I thought when he said that it was a subtle jab at the refs not calling it.

[jeezem]

I HATE Jeff Van Gundy with a passion and find him unbearable?

After Lebron got away with a foul on Zeller, anyone else catch his comment about how "so what, I'd rather Lebron be playing on the floor than sitting on the bench"?

yea, that - and the refs called a ticky tack 4th foul on Kelly sending him back to the bench with his 4th foul.  and no mention of it from the announcers.  and he is our best plus minus guy by far.   he comes back in with 2.5 minutes left in the 4th, Mozgov tackles him during a shot, no call.  next posession KO passes out, since he did not get the call the previous play.  and the game is basically over at this point.  thanks for preventing our best plus minus guy on the bench the whole 2nd half basically.  Thanks announcers for not even mentioning how this affected the game.  Silver probably called them at half time and told them to cut the #@$ and shut their mouths.   

[footey]

I thought the ABC guys were pretty complimentary of the Celtics for the most part. Jackson and Breen disagreed with VAn Gundy on the LeBron comment.  I had no problem on how they called the game.

I don't think the refs had an impact on the game. The Cavs killed us on the boards, were gennerlly better on defensive intensity, and had Lebron and Kyrie Irving, the two best players on the court.

[SHAQATTACK]

I was laughing at the comment about giving James all the calls ...watching him complain is soooooo lame .....he has all the advantages , the best players ......yet he whines because a calls goes against him......whine ...whine ..cry ..cry ....every call that doesn't go his way......he is allowed to complain on every call ......never gets a technical.

Somebody like that.....such a selfish woman ....I can only wish ...much bad luck to ya fellow,

[tarheelsxxiii]

But, if you really want to look at it, just one example, the bolded goaltend above: The ball was blocked out of bounds. The Celtics retained possession and scored (the Isiah Thomas high off the glass, wild body control drive, right?), so there would be no swing there as The Celtics scored on that possession. So, if you are going to play this game at least get it right.

 
Lemme get this straight.  You've read the thread & now taken the time to login & chastise a 2 pt mistake made in a post by some random dude on internet...yet...you have no comment on the effect the refs had on a game that the NBA's own telecast crew couldn't ignore commenting on?

TP

[ACF]

https://youtu.be/GHgr_JuZmRY

A good example of how NBA refs see things differently than the rest of us. Shady? Maybe not. Makes you think? Very much.

That said, I've seen much worse officiated games than Game 1.

[Beat LA]

That said, I've seen much worse officiated games than Game 1.

Me too, and that's what scares me, lol. We didn't even have the brand name officials like the Crawford brothers, Bill Kennedy, or Bennett Salvatore, and the calls were ridiculous, as usual.  Does anyone know who tomorrow's three horsemen are, haha?

[tarheelsxxiii]

https://youtu.be/GHgr_JuZmRY

A good example of how NBA refs see things differently than the rest of us. Shady? Maybe not. Makes you think? Very much.

That said, I've seen much worse officiated games than Game 1.

Lol. Wow, there are no words. If we performed like that at work, we'd be given a huge bonus or canned on the spot (depending on instructions).

[slamtheking]

Halfway into the 2nd quarter the announcers had an interesting back and fourth.

Basically, about 3 replays indicated Lebron getting away with blatant fouls.. which prompted this discussion..

I think it was Mike Breen: "Lebron could easily have 3-4 fouls at this point"  instead he only had 1 or maybe 2.

Van Gundy responds with something like "Arent you associated with the NBA? I dont want to see Lebron sitting!"

Does anyone else have a problem with this?  Van Gundy is a very candid person, and he is right.. him, and the ABC crew, are 100% in bed with the NBA, and they all benefit from Lebron staying on the court.  He is literally confirming the conspiracy is 100% real.. He said it himself when he questioned Breen who dared to openly say Lebron should have more fouls called on him.

I heard the same thing and mentioned it in the game thread.  I was completely appalled.  I couldn't stand that announcing crew based on previous games.  Now I have nothing but utter comtempt for them (although Breen did score some points with me on his comments).

Did we all think Lebron wouldnt get fouls called on him, yes.. we all did. But it sucks to see it actually happening.  He's getting away with blatant hacks and goal tends. We are conditioned by the NBA to believe its OK that superstars get all the calls. 

The NBA is trying to accomplish that but I can only hope true basketball fans will never go for this.  Fans should be calling out the league for having refs that are considered worse than the ones in the WWE.

Just so happens our team has zero all-stars and will not benefit from this unwritten rule.

I really hope to see a more fairly officiated game. The Cavs have some amazing all-star talent.... they simply do not need the refs help. Lets see some fair games, if we get beat by the Cavs thats fine, but I dont want to get destroyed by them because the refs are helping them as much as they did today.

And I would like to see some more attention being put on the refs to call the game more fairly.

won't happen.  NBA needs Lebron in the finals to create the drama of him 'returning' home to win a title for his hometeam.  it's garbage but I have little doubt this is how you'll see the Eastern conference playoffs unfold.

[slamtheking]

Van Gundy is not literally confirming the conspiracy.
Van Gundy is running at about 50% sarcasm at all times. His schtick is analysis mixed with irony and sarcasm, i.e. the Marv Albert school (Jackson is just unfunny catch-phrases and outdated basketball thinking). To take his comments at face value is misguided. To take them as proving a conspiracy is the hallmark of conspiratorial thinking where every comment proves that the conspiracy is real.

Agree, Van Gundy's said a bunch of times that he hates foul trouble keeping stars on the bench, because he wants to see the best players play.  He's even argued (semi-sarcastically) against fouling out at all.  That's all he was doing here. 

which really emphasizes the stupidity of that viewpoint.  if the 'best' players are commiting more fouls than they're called for, how are they really the 'best' players? 

Celtic, Sixer and Laker teams of the early to mid-80's didn't enjoy this level of officiating protection.

[Moranis]

So the team with the better players, players that drive to the hole and post up much better, has 6 less fouls called and there is some conspiracy.  It is threads like this that give Boston fans bad reputations around the league.  The game was fairly evenly reffed.  Sure a few calls were missed here and there, but that is always going to happen when you let humans decide things. 

[fairweatherfan]

Van Gundy is not literally confirming the conspiracy.
Van Gundy is running at about 50% sarcasm at all times. His schtick is analysis mixed with irony and sarcasm, i.e. the Marv Albert school (Jackson is just unfunny catch-phrases and outdated basketball thinking). To take his comments at face value is misguided. To take them as proving a conspiracy is the hallmark of conspiratorial thinking where every comment proves that the conspiracy is real.

Agree, Van Gundy's said a bunch of times that he hates foul trouble keeping stars on the bench, because he wants to see the best players play.  He's even argued (semi-sarcastically) against fouling out at all.  That's all he was doing here. 

which really emphasizes the stupidity of that viewpoint.  if the 'best' players are commiting more fouls than they're called for, how are they really the 'best' players? 

I can't figure out if this is a joke or not, but the answer around here tends to be no, so: LeBron is a better player than James Jones or whoever would come in for him if he got in foul trouble, no matter how many fouls he does or doesn't commit.  He's also a top 5 player in the league, no matter how many fouls he does or doesn't commit.  This wouldn't be a controversial idea if there wasn't a persecution narrative getting woven to rationalize losing to a better team with better players.

Celtic, Sixer and Laker teams of the early to mid-80's didn't enjoy this level of officiating protection

I suspect fans of the teams they beat would disagree.

[SHAQATTACK]

https://youtu.be/GHgr_JuZmRY

A good example of how NBA refs see things differently than the rest of us. Shady? Maybe not. Makes you think? Very much.

That said, I've seen much worse officiated games than Game 1.

Wow ....my 95 year old blind grandmother could have called that shot  correct.  .....smh

[PhoSita]

Star players make it tough for the refs.

The NBA wants the star players to play, not sit, so there's pressure on the refs to look the other way sometimes when the star commits a foul.  The refs can't call a foul every single time Wade uses his arms to clear space, which is technically an offensive foul.  Wade does this on every possession he touches the ball. 

The NBA wants its stars to get away with their technically-illegal stuff (e.g. LeBron's crab dribble, Rondo palming the ball constantly, KG doing all kinds of crazy stuff with his elbows and hands in the post) because it allows the stars to be more exciting.

Star players also tend to get hacked and bumped and pushed around and hard-fouled quite a lot, especially when they are physically dominant, like Dwight Howard or Blake Griffin.  The refs can't call a foul every time this happens, but they surely know it happens.  So there's pressure on them to give the star players a break now and then by not calling a foul when it goes the other way, or calling a foul that might seem ticky tack on its own.