Anyone watch the Spurs vs. Nuggets last night? Tim Duncan was getting butchered by Nene all game long without any foul calls. Duncan only managed to get to the free throw line 6 times last night, despite having several touches in traffic. In Game 1 Duncan only went to the line twice. One particular play, Nene had his arm wrapped around Duncan's waist in plain site of the official and no foul was called. I can't help, but think the officials are trying to make their own statement against Duncan and the Spurs, after "Laugh-Gate" with Joey Crawford. By his own admission Crawford said the officials in the NBA are divided into two factions. I'd assume the officials in last night's game are Pro-Joey. Game 2 Refs: Dan Crawford, Derrick Collins, Monty Mccutchen Game 1 Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Jack Nies, Ron Garretson
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Anyone watch the Spurs vs. Nuggets last night? Tim Duncan was getting butchered by Nene all game long without any foul calls. Duncan only managed to get to the free throw line 6 times last night, despite having several touches in traffic. In Game 1 Duncan only went to the line twice. One particular play, Nene had his arm wrapped around Duncan's waist in plain site of the official and no foul was called. I can't help, but think the officials are trying to make their own statement against Duncan and the Spurs, after "Laugh-Gate" with Joey Crawford. By his own admission Crawford said the officials in the NBA are divided into two factions. I'd assume the officials in last night's game are Pro-Joey. Game 2 Refs: Dan Crawford, Derrick Collins, Monty Mccutchen Game 1 Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Jack Nies, Ron Garretson </div> In general the stars aren't getting the calls this year. Maybe Stern finally realized that the public don't really want to see Dwayne Wade go to the line 20 times, they'd rather see Antoine Walker brick a 3 even than that, so he told them to not give the stars calls. It's not just Tim - AI, Baron Davis have all been not getting the "star" calls. Most people who don't like NBA, you ask them why, they usually say "free throw contest for the stars". Stern has to be aware of this.
Well certainly no one likes watching players get the "superstar treatment" from the refs, but some of those fouls were obvious. The one with Nene grabbing Tim around the waist, actually looked intentional. Nene was trying to prevent Duncan from scoring, and wanted to send him to the line instead. You could even hear some of the hacks on Tim, and no call. If I could hear it on TV, the ref 2 feet away certainly did and was in position to see Tim get slapped across the arms.
What are the factions of the refs? If that's true, Stern better do something about it, cause it could lead the refs to do bad decisions in deciding games.
I was at both games and you can hear the slaps when duncan drove in, i just find it hard to believe that the refs are deaf
Looks like the officials have balanced the calls out. Denver was getting shafted last night on their own homecourt down the stretch of the game.
You know I really doubt the refs actually go into a game trying to balance calls out, or make calls a certain way.
<div class="quote_poster">og15 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">You know I really doubt the refs actually go into a game trying to balance calls out, or make calls a certain way.</div> I'd argue against your statement, because the officials are evaluated after each game. Then you have the coaches and teams sending in video montages of calls they missed. I don't think they come in with an exact number in mind, but they definitely adjust to the way they officiate games. Denver was allowed to play very physical in the first two games, last night they were called for a lot of ticky tack calls, especially down the stretch. The one that I really couldn't believe was the blocking foul on Iverson after he missed a layup. He landed, and had his back turned, the rebound went his direction, Duncan jumped for it and made incidental contact with AI on his way down. They called AI for the foul. It should have just been a non-call. Another play was when Melo took it strong to the basket and got hacked by 3 players without a whistle. That play really cameback to hurt Denver.
This writer actually noticed the same thing you did shape, and suggested that Bob Delaney may have been shoving the whole Joey Crawford suspension in David Stern's face (who was in attendance). The Nuggets got called on every little touch (and a coaching box violation of all things) and Tim Duncan didn't commit a single foul, and it seems like they were going overboard protecting Duncan as a underhanded jab at Stern. Link
Thanks for the article Chutney. There does seem to be some merit to it, especially when Joey Crawford flat out said there's a divide amongst the officials in the NBA after he was suspended. Hopefully it's hashed out during the offseason. I still think Stern needs to weed out some other overzealous officials and take away some of the power the officials obviously have in determining the outcome of games.
