Yes I said it. Sure they made some bad calls, but in a playoff series as chippy as this one, they delivered an unbiased performance. No superstar preferential treatment. My biggest worry playing the Thunder over the Jazz was I felt Russ and Paul would get more calls down the stretch of close games. They did not. Russ used to be able to just attack the basket anytime he wanted, knowing that at the very least he would go to the free throw line. This did not happen. There were offensive fouls called and there were no calls (i.e their last possession) Anyways as bad as some calls were, they went both ways.
Not ready to give them props after the horrid one-sided calls in the first half of the game. At least the "block" on Leonard's hook and the out of bounds where the Blazers were pushing the ball opposite the way it went should have been easy calls. I'm not sure the game would have been as close as it was if the refs weren't either so inept or corrupt.
Which game are you referring to? Because it sure as hell isn't the game I watched last night. Did you perhaps watch the game on TNT, and they didn't show the proper camera angels or replays of "missed" impossible-to-miss calls? Or is this green font?
Yup, props to the refs. Without them, there wouldn't have been such a monumental and epic comeback. This game is one for the ages. Thank you refs for giving Dame the opportunity to shine!
James Capers is probably the best referee in the NBA. How do I know that? Before yesterday I didn’t even know who he was.
In a serious note: Our sport is hurting for quality officials. Get out and get involved. It's not hard to get started. It's easy to complain about something you've never done.
Did you see the recent article (Donaghy related, I think) about how many NBA refs are from Philly? It sounds like it really helps to have the proper connections to get into that circle. That's a separate matter from getting started, of course.
And build his legend. The officiating looked like three refs working diligently to keep the score within the spread.
Most biased officiating I've seen this year. Reminded me of the early 2000s Lakers Fixes. Those "missed" calls were beyond obvious, and there were a bunch of them.
I guess my expectations for the officials are not as high as all of you. To actually have the other teams star player in foul trouble in the 2nd quarter and have to sit (which allowed us to catch up) was a pleasant surprise to me. That was a win in my book. (Even though the fouls called on PG were legit)
Re-watching the 4th quarter, it does appear we got some favorable calls. Nothing too egregious or conspiracy raising. Just a simple case of being the home team. We got typical home team calls going down the stretch. Solid, traditional NBA referee'ing.
I wouldn't really give props to the refs. However, if we would have lost it wouldn't at all have been because of them. Stotts 4th quarter lineup was atrocious (namely, Evan Turner) and our defense was not so good most of the game, but we got stops when we needed them most (thanks Westbrick). I do feel the officiating was better than say, game 3, but still not sure I would give them props personally.
I did it for 2 and a half years. The sport is too fast for me (I come from a baseball background as far as officiating) but I know with a lot of quality time invested there can be great officials, which all the NBA officials should be. They just aren't.
