Do you think the NBA is a fair game?

Simple question - is the NBA a fair game?

Watching the game last night, I'm once again reminded why my love for the NBA has been slowly diminishing every year since the late 90's.

When I watch the NBA, I don't see a fair game. I don't see two teams with an equal opportunity to win. Sure, some teams are simply more talented, and that's part of any sport, but when I watch the Blazers play the Clippers, I don't see a game that's being reffed equally for both sides. I see one team that is obviously getting the benefit of the calls, while the other team is not getting the same calls from the refs.

What other sport is like that? Sure, bad calls happen in every sport, but I don't feel like the refs have an agenda when I watch MLB. I don't feel like there is a clear favorite that the league wants to see advance when I watch the NFL.

I believe in my heart that we were not supposed to win that series against Houston. If Dame doesn't hit that miracle shot to end the series, we go back to Houston and we lose in 7. The refs had just jobbed us and given Houston the lead, and Dame was able to overcome the refs and end the series. We shouldn't have to overcome the refs in every series. That's not how sports are supposed to be played.

The NBA wants to see Golden State vs LAC.

The NBA wants to see OKC vs San Antonio.

They're going to make serious bank off those series. Nobody outside of Portland gives a shit about the Blazers. We have Dame and that's it. Dame is not a superstar like CP3 or Griffin (maybe one day).

Do you feel the same way? Why do you continue to watch if you agree?

 

I don't think it's fair or unbiased. But I also don't think officiating had anything to do with last night's result. There were a lot of cases where we COULD have been called for fouls and we weren't.

 

I believe over the long haul, the team with more talent will win. I also believe peoples allegiance and "fanship" sometimes clouds their common sense.

 

I think the superstar factor plays into the decision of the refs to call fouls big time. I am not sure they have an 'agenda' per say, but again, definitely players with more prestige get the benefit of the doubt or more 'leeway'.

Case in point, DJ's 5 second in the key, and his constant moving screens....obvious fouls but never (or rarely) called.

The grabbing, and physical stuff I don't mind because I think NBA today is too weak overall, in terms of physicality.

 

You forgot option #4: Nate is the most perpetually butt hurt fan ever.

 

Sacramento versus Los Angeles.

 

It's fairer now than it used to be.

You need talent to win in the playoffs. We don't have that talent right now. To mitigate that even a little bit, we need to play harder and smarter than our opponent. Last night, we did neither.

 

The NBA is a business and they get more ratings from Big Market teams or teams with Superstars....end of story. That doesn't mean a team as good as San Antonio can't be successful but show me the last example of a small market team without a superstar getting the same types of calls that a bigger market team or one with a superstar gets.

PHX vs SEA in the mid 90's. In game 7, the Suns shot something like 55 FT's as the league wanted the Bulls/Suns....Jordan/Barkley. Check out the FTs for the preceding 6 games....very different.

Same with LAL vs SAC. All of a sudden, the Lakers are shooting 20 FTs in a quarter to make sure they get to the Finals. Think the league wanted the Kings? No way.

Jake O'Donnell had an obvious bias against the Blazers but the NBA continued to let him do Blazer games for years. Think that would have happened against the Lakers, Celtics? Again, no way.

The Clippers were the better team last night, no question. What I don't need to see is Blake Griffin making calls that are dead wrong and the refs buying it and CP3 flopping and complaining on every possession when the exact same type of contact is rarely a foul for Lillard. LeBron thinks he is fouled on every possession as well but throws a fit if any ref dare call one on him. It's laughable.

Such is the NBA. It is a business first and not about fair or equitable in any way.

 

I love physical defense.... what I don't love is when one team is allowed to be physical on defense and the other is not.

 

I agree to a certain extent, and it's obvious that when teams shut down Dame/CJ, our team flounders. We simply don't have the talent in the frontcourt that we need to win. If we had LMA, as much as I hate that guy, this series would be completely different. As it is, the Clips can trap Dame and force him to give it up to someone that is a much much worse option on offense. If you're LAC, you'll take Aminu or Plumlee taking the shot over Dame or CJ every day of the week.

The beef that I have is that the refs are allowing the Clips to body and trip and slap at Dame/CJ and they're not calling it.Meanwhile, if we even breath on Griffin we get a foul. Last night he was posting up CJ, he spun and CJ pulled the chair. Griffin lost his balance and fell to the ground. There was no contact. CJ didn't foul him. The loss of balance was completely on Griffin, but they called the foul on CJ. At the other end I saw Dame nearly get his shoulder ripped out by Jordan with no foul.

 

I think nowhere was the biased nature of the NBA more evident than in the Cleveland/Detroit game yesterday. There were two extremely obvious offensive fouls by Lebron early in that game, that both went against Detroit and put one of their best players in foul trouble. The announcers even pointed out the bad calls. Standard rules just don't apply to Lebron, as the Detroit coach pointed out during his between quarter interview.

The officials are either incredible incompetent and their incompetence just coincidently always benefits stars and marketable teams, or they're simply biased. I think the latter is the more likely option. Last night though, they didn't need to do anything, the Blazers were able to lose all by themselves.

 

Did you watch the Clips-GSW series in 2014 that went 7 games?

CP might have fouled Steph at least 15 times each game. This isn't exactly a large market/star call thing. It's a CP thing. And to an extent, this happens with most physical dudes who develop a reputation. How much contact did Kobe used to get away with while guarding BRoy? How much leeway does Draymond have now? It's all the same. Until we get a guy who has that kinda rep, we'll be stuck in this mess.

 

Can we please not be one of those fanbases.

The better team won last night.

 

Seriously, this thread reads like Clutchfans.

 

But LA IS a large market, and CP IS a star.

I'm of the opinion that you send in Kaman and lay that little bastard out a couple times.

 

How do you explain Bowen in San Antonio?
What about Tony Allen in Memphis?
Artest in Indy?
Ben Wallace in Detroit?

etc etc.

 

Clutchfans..... they complain about the refs while harden is shooting 25 free throws in a game. They bitch about their team while they're making a run to the WCF. How is this the same thing? When was the last time that you saw the Blazers on the receiving end of a game where the refs just completely job the other team all night? Can you even think of one game?

 

This is what I've always believed too. There isn't a league-wide conspiracy to favor specific teams but officials, in all sports, subconsciously (or maybe even consciously in some cases) give superstars "a wider strike zone" so to speak.

Not too helpful for a franchise like Portland that has often lacked the superstar power.