<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- While saying he was happy with the way the officials are handling the playoffs, commissioner David Stern acknowledged on Tuesday that NBA referees are missing about 5 percent of the calls. "Is the question do I think the officials miss a play? Absolutely!" Stern said during an impromptu news conference before the New Jersey Nets and Indiana Pacers met in Game 5 of their first-round series. "It happens at least probably 5 percent of the time," Stern added. There have been increasing complaints about the officials in the playoffs this season. Jermaine O'Neal of the Pacers was fined $15,000 for comments about them after Game 2, and Miami's Shaquille O'Neal was fined $25,000 for his public criticisms. The Heat complained after Chicago had a 31-5 advantage on free throws in Game 4 of that series. The Suns groused after MVP Steve Nash could not get a call late in a loss to the Lakers on Sunday. And it looked like LeBron James of Cleveland may have traveled before a game-winning shot against Washington on Friday night. "Our goal is to make the officiating perfect, at 100 percent," Stern said. "We have not and we never will achieve that result. But I think we have the best officials, the best-monitored officials, the best-developed officials in all of sports." Stern would not say whether the officials had been instructed to call tighter games in the playoffs, but he said they have always clamped down when teams get more physical. "We think that our players are the most talented athletes in the world and people come to watch them play, not to fight, bump and knock each other down," Stern said. Stern had no sympathy for anyone fined for complaining about the officials. "I don't think we are tough enough. Play the game, stop complaining, and if you don't like it, get a job someplace else," Stern said. "That's my rule. OK. That's the system and if they don't like [it], go to some other system. We have a great league here." The escalating noise level in arenas and the excessive time it takes to play the final minutes of a game are a growing concern for Stern. He said the league is monitoring noise levels and fining teams for exceeding it. "It makes us the big regulators in the sky, you know, what you wear and how you play and what you do. It's got to be the worst part of the job. But we will continue to do it," Stern said.</div> Source
hating on stern is passe I think the officials are good, they just need more than 3 per game. it's got to be hard to watch EVERYTHING that goes on. The LeBron walk was obvious, but for example when Kobe got hit in the face in game 1, I don't think they caught that they should have. 1 more person would be good.
are you kidding me?!!!?!??!??!!!?? They cant even get it right the next day when its on tape... I dont even buy 30%... Id put it more like 40%+ the last 4 or 5 years officiating has just been in a death spiral and it keeps getting worse.
I don't know how but the NBA should have a replay thing where if players complain they look at the replay before the officials make the call...sorta like football, then the number of missed calls would decrease tremendously.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheTruth5:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't know how but the NBA should have a replay thing where if players complain they look at the replay before the officials make the call...sorta like football, then the number of missed calls would decrease tremendously.</div> The length of the game would be horrible.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheTruth5:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't know how but the NBA should have a replay thing where if players complain they look at the replay before the officials make the call...sorta like football, then the number of missed calls would decrease tremendously.</div> The game would be so long, and then it would be boring waiting for replay after replay.
If there is replay it should just be for the final minutes of a game where the call would cause a team to lose or decide a game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TimmyDMVP:</div><div class="quote_post">If there is replay it should just be for the final minutes of a game where the call would cause a team to lose or decide a game.</div> I think this is a great idea in theory, but a lot of times these NBA officials still don't get the call right even after they've reviewed the footage. If you have an extra official on the floor, it's just going to slow the game down and result in more calls being made. My main gripe is the inconsistency of the officials through the course of a game. Players are able to adjust to officiating, but what happens is something not called a foul in the 1st half, is now being called a foul in the 2nd half. This disrupts the flow of the game and gets players confused, gets the crowd rowdy, and leads to everyone getting pissed off.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting harbingerofdoom:</div><div class="quote_post">are you kidding me?!!!?!??!??!!!?? They cant even get it right the next day when its on tape... I dont even buy 30%... Id put it more like 40%+ the last 4 or 5 years officiating has just been in a death spiral and it keeps getting worse.</div> I think it stems from too much control. The more they try and tighten it the worse they make it. The game's too soft now, whereas ten years ago it was very physical. I very much miss the old style. I've disagreed with every rule change I can think of over that time period -- even in cases where they loosened the rules (i.e. legalizing zone) I found the specifics to be detrimental. Worst of all, the NBA is making itself look worse through its gestapo tactics; suspensions being handed down for merely complaining about refs, or even threats of lifetime bans for the same, are ridiculous. As is the 16 technical rule that's been added. All in the service of protecting the officials and thus the NBA's image -- though for those of us paying attention it's having a negative rather than positive effect. In last year's playoffs they went so far as to hand out memos for the commentary crew to read through on how "great" the NBA's officials were -- how they were "the best in the world." Over and over again these lines were repeated in perfunctory fashion during nationally broadcast games, regardless of crew. So transparent.
Considering it's humans, the percent error obviously will be high. If they switched all the refs in the league with everyone who loves to complain about the reffing, and then train them for the exact same amount of time, we would still have the exact same problems.
