Is there anything we can do?

Because everywhere I check, every NBA board, blog, forum, etc, is lit up with complaints about not just that call, but that whole game’s officiating. Even ESPN writers are commenting on it.

Whether that means the NBA will do something about it, or we can force them to do something about it, I don’t know.

Here’s a link to a 25 page thread on the RealGM Milwaukee Bucks board discussing the call. You can read through it, but it won’t make you any less angry; I already tried.

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=968378

Time to hop into the WABAC machine, Mr. Peabody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTKxxsDuDas

Kobe to admit that he wasn’t actually fouled? probably not thow. the NBA, where Truth doesn’t happen.

Bogut is still moving at the last second into Kobe. He sets up for the charge and then moves his left foot and shifts towards Kobe to better be able to take a charge. He wasn’t just standing there like a wall; he moved enough for me to see how the refs may be confused. That being said, I still think that call was too favorable to Kobe and I’d be more inclined to give it to Bogut for being there just long enough.

but I’ve seen that happen too many times to pick this one as an egregious example. LeBron, Wade, Iverson and all the superstars who initiate tons of contact get these calls sometimes when it’s obviously a charge. From the looks of last night’s game here, Eric Gordon will enter that club in due time. (Though he might want to work on his FT’s)

I don’t think it’s based as much on the team/market as the type of player. If we had a guy who consistently put pressure on defenses the way Kobe does, we’d probably get more of these breaks. It’s just a really lucky break and unfortunate for the Bucks.

on traveling calls when blocking/Charging is probably the biggest area in need of improvement. I just find it funny how the replacement refs where more fair and consistent than the real refs are. But of BS. No wonder I watch more college ball and pro ball.

Here’s another good one. This game was memorable for 4 things: 1) the 2nd game of The Reason T-Hud Got That Ridiculous Contract; 2) that foul, which sent the game to OT; 3) KG (wait, isn’t he a superstar) fouling out because Robert Horry flopped while setting a screen; 4) Gary Trent and Marc Jackson winning the game in OT by going 5/6 from the foul line in the final minute. One of the 5 best Wolves games ever that rarely gets talked about, despite the refs doing everything they could to hand the Lakers the game.

It’s annoying, and sure if drivers complain enough, the DOT might add a lane that will ease the congestion a little bit. But even after changes have been made, traffic will always be a problem and there’s really nothing that people can do other than to plan for it and adjust accordingly.

They have bad calls as well, but fans in any market know the system gives their team a chance to be competitive, if not now then in a few years (except in Oakland perhaps).

It’s also something that is amazing about watching golf, these guys police themselves and will actually sacrifice a tournament for the good of the game.

Insert your jokes here about how they need to police themselves better off the course.

of the Donaghy thing that might have gone over the NBA’s head is how bad the less-angry-than-expected reaction was for them. I feel like they think they got away relatively unscathed, but it’s been a sad commentary about how resigned fans of the NBA are to the awful refereeing and how not shocked sports fans in general were to the situation. People weren’t saying “no big deal” so much as a sarcastic “well, you don’t say,” and it’s not good that the dominant reaction seemed to be indifference. They really, really need to get a handle on this, I think it’s one of the biggest obstacles to the NBA’s relevance increasing in this country, if not the biggest obstacle.

The biggest problem the NBA has is that their rules stop the flow of the game. There is way too much emphasis on calls that don’t affect the play, then the refs swallow the whistle when someone gets mugged under the rim. My other big complaint is you frequently see them wait to see if a basket is made before blowing the whistle. If it goes in, no call, if missed, they call it. A foul is a foul regardless of the shot outcome.

I would like to see them abolish two rules.

1. Defensive three seconds just stops play. Most fans never see it and it is not needed. If you are going to allow zone, allow zone. After all, it works at the college level and doesn’t make it boring to watch.

2. The touch fouls on the perimeter. Again, these just stop play and very rarely affect the play. I would continue to call “reaching in” because that can affect the play.

If the NBA took out these, the flow of the game would be better and would make for a more entertaining product for the fans. Every game that I attend, I note that many high school games are officiated more competently.

This has been reported elsewhere, but according to the FBI, Donaghy was 80% accurate in picking games. I’ve never bet on NBA games but can’t imagine being that good considering how much variability there is from night to night. His secret? He knew which refs had things for/against players and used that information to bet. Not that these refs had overt biases, just that they subconsciously called games a certain way due to more subtle likes/dislikes of players.

I was hoping I could rally some sort of cohesive community effort to singlehandedly rid the NBA of biased officiating. This problem could have been fixed by now!

Anyway, here’s the results of one guy’s effort. He set up a comprehensive database of every Milwaukee Bucks game, including who the referees were, and then created a bunch of referee statistics based on them. It’s a work in progress and doesn’t yet include the full NBA, but it has potential to be a fantastic resource for monitoring which teams and referees are most often associated with fishy officiating. Ofishyating. Just thought I’d pass it along.

http://www.nbarefstats.com/