The foul calls at both ends of the court need to be consistent, and they are not. When the pounding that LA, Rolo, Dame, Nick, and others are taking on offense get no calls, and the touch fouls, or even phantom fouls against the Blazers are so evident, there needs to be strong reaction from the coaching staff. In the last 5 schedule games, even at home, the Blazers were not getting the same standard applied as opponents and any complaints by the coaches were not evident. Maybe that was strategic coolness. But in the playoffs, the uneven calling of fouls and the gross aggressiveness that was evident tonight should not be tolerated. This is supposed to be basketball, not football. It is time for the coaches to stand firm and support the team when bad calls and no calls are slanting the outcome. For the Blazers to have a fair chance, let's have some Doc Rivers type of noise from the coaching staff. In this and the last games, from 30 to 50% more fouls are being called on the Blazers than on opponents. Now is the time to expect that an equal number of fouls is called against Blazers and Grizzlies.
I'm surprised there hasn't been an official complaint lodged - about the officials - by the Blazers. It's been that bad/biased this year.
The referees definitely favored Memphis last night, but the way we played wasn't going to win the game anyway. In the second quarter it looked like the GSW game, with Gasol setting clear moving picks just like Bogut.
