https://www.nba.com/amp/league/arti...rt-james-harden-offensive-fouls-correct-calls But the also admit refs blew 5 travel calls, all on the Celtics, all in the last 52 seconds. Also, they fail to mention that Smart had both arms around Harden before the first pushoff. Hell that's a good start because I was only aware of the Marcus Smart travel on pass to Tatum before his infamous flops. But it turns out that 4 others were missed. One on Terry Rozier at 00:52.2 mark. One on Jason Tatum at the 00:25.7 mark. One on Kyrie Irving at the 00:23.7 mark. One on Marcus Smart at the 00:10.4 mark on assist to Tatum that brought them to 1. Last one on AL Horford on the go ahead basket at 00:6.8 mark. The most egregious one was Smart because he did the Cupid shuffle to get that pass off right on from of Tony Brothers. I disagree that the Smart flops were correct call, not because I think it's not a foul to push off. But because Smart initiated the contact by getting his feet underneath Harden and wrapping both arms around him, at least on the first one. The whole Last 2 minute report http://official.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/12/L2M-HOU-BOS-12-28-2017.pdf Edit: There was also an incorrect no call that should've been a foul on Irving against Ariza. Instead PJ Tucker recovers ball and misses 1 FT.
imo, it's rare to see so many missed travel calls in an L2R. It's almost as if the NBA wanted to confirm Harden pushed (vs No Calls or actual Flops), but needed to at least point out the refs were wrong somewhere, so they replaced with travel calls, or the conspiracy would be too obvious. btw: did Evans (?) ever get fined for his flop last week?
So what they're saying is that it's ok to grab the guy you're guarding with BOTH hands, lock his arms and hold him so he can't move before a ball is inbounded. OKAY NBA GOTCHA.
I assert all these "crap officiating games" are created just for drama and create "News." They gotta balance out the viewership so as to make more cash and people.
I recall at least one similar hold being called against the Celtics earlier in the game. Having only 2 refs would presumably result in other holds being missed. But the league has to decide whether it's going to call them systematically or not. And of course, if that game is in Houston, in the last 10 seconds, it's a no-call, or Smart gets called for the hold. Either way, Harden shouldn't have pushed off. He's way too experienced to fall for the "Go ahead, retaliate" trick. And he didn't need it to show for the ball.
with this and the Giannis out of bounds game winner, it hasn’t been a good look for the NBA this week
I don't disagree with that Harden shouldn't push off. What he should do next time a defender wraps their arms around him is hook their arm and run away from the defender not towards and sell a hold.
tbh of the 5 travels I really only seen 2 and the one by horford doesn't ever really get called and is kinda unnoticeable.... the smart travel was hilariously egregious...... I mean it' so bad that its funny.... now as for the fouls smh..... smart was doing it on the other inbounds plays where we had to burn 2 timeouts.... the team got mad at hardens because he didn't come to the ball but he was being held those times too.... but didn't push off to get loose and was reprimanded for it.... now on the 2 fouls he decided to shake smart loose and get hit with fouls. the problem is that missed travel cost us 2 points in a 3 point game.... had that travel been called we have the ball and Boston has to foul which have led to a 5 point lead... totally different....
lmao typical NBA... makes up missed travel calls to redirect the attention away from the flops. This just goes to show the league is fine with flopping these days. Harden should abuse it as much as possible.
Does it matter guys. Push off is a push off and a hold is a hold. The ref choose to call the push off and you lose by 1 point after leading as much as 26 points. They let it get that close and it's on them. They know that. Should have never depended on the short handed refs not making your call. So 5 lost in roll and the saga continues. Now it's the end of the world much like during the 14 game streak they are already world champs, bring on the Warriors, we not scared. Relax and see what happens by playoff time. Maybe the jugganat that is OKC catch up make it interesting. Meanwhile, best team in the lead with Curry out keeps winning. Sorry and deepest too.
I am sort of OK with them saying the second one was correct. Harden was clearly frustrated and didn't think they would call it again. The first one was horrible. Smart hugged him, grabbed his arm when he tried to get away, and then fell on the ground. Brothers never even looked at them until Smart was laying on the ground. It was the wrong call.
harden absolutely shredded BOS defense in the first 28min of this game. then stevens went with what many teams have been trying when down big and desperate: fouling harden 17 times per possession while he brings the ball upcourt and hoping the refs just ignore it. with tony brothers in the house and the only other official there a giant beta, stevens' strategy paid off.
More importantly to me did the refs ever acknowledge he should have fouled out with a lot of minutes remaining on a foul that he clearly committed but that they gave to Lou Williams who wasn't even near a Rocket? That call (when Evans should have fouled out and any instant replay would confirm that) allowed Evans to have massive impact on the rest of the game, including both 'offensive fouls' on Harden. To me it was the first call I've seen that had a result that I found delegitimized the result. Has there been ANY owning up to this on the part of the NBA or refs? Of course it's true we should just never be in a position to let refs decide games but when a call is that bad and that plainly wrong to everyone watching, I have to say that games will be close sometimes and I don't watch to see the refs. I honestly believe that that game ought to have been played over. It shouldn't have counted. And if we have Instant Replay at all why do we not use it for blatantly wrong calls like that that wind up deciding the game. It seems to me that Secaucus should have been able to "call" the refs and say, "Hold up! You blew that and that was very wrong!" and overturn it. Related topic but not the same one: On a macro level I think the NBA went too far with the rule change, the "Harden" rule of course, which means that continuation, free throws, etc. are utterly random because the refs don't know yet what constitutes a shooting foul. So we get incredibly uneven refereeing. We get constant no-calls on hard fouls (I don't think we're being targeted here - I think the refs have not agreed upon the new rules and they don't know how to call a game anymore because the change was too radical, an adjustment way too far to make work in one year, and one that's made the refereeing totally random. All while they're deciding games in final minutes with bad calls or bad no-calls. I've never seen such bad officiating or such random officiating. I can live with bad calls. They're part of the game like injuries are. But they've been TOO bad. And I have to believe that's because the refs don't really agree upon what constitutes a foul, etc, anymore. It was a leap too far. And the Rockets, who yes never should have been in a position to let refs decided games, have really suffered from the officiating over and over. I don't think anyone set out to "get" Harden but it is so very much "a Harden rule" that we aren't just not seeing him get the same fouls he created by actively seeking them, by catching a guy with his hands out and just creating the foul... (a rule change which is fine with me and I'm for that rule change) It seems to go farther than that. The refs do seem to be under-calling fouls on Harden and over-calling fouls against him. I don't think this is a conscious, malicious thing. I think the refs are thinking, "It's important that we call Harden differently than we have been" and I think that's really harming us in close games. It has made it so hard to watch when they mount a comeback, knowing that in the end no matter how close it is, the refs are likely to miss a foul on Harden right before calling an offensive one on him on the other side (typically something much less than the foul that was committed against him on the other end since he gets fouled on almost every possession). And knowing that can happen and seeing it happen in back-to-back games (I think it was - maybe there was one in between) makes me just want to turn off my TV until the referees figure out what they're doing. Sorry for the tl;dr. My main question is about that dang 6th foul on Evans that they gave to Williams instead. I think that one play had a lot to do with our losing streak.
I would literally prefer getting rid of the refs and letting EVERY call be made by the people watching and reviewing each play in Secaucus. The refs are SO fallible, more so this year than ever IMO, and a replay center could get those calls right by watching replays on controversial calls and much more quickly than blowing a whistle then congregating around the Instant Replay center and getting input from Secaucus. And it would rid us of the maddeningly random rules about which plays can be reviewed and which can't. It would make every call more reliable and that would make the game a lot more fun to watch.
Every sport is now relying on video technology more than ever, so why does the NBA not follow suit. Its about getting the call right. The NBA is the MOST sport by a mile when it comes down to the impact referees can have on a game. Even soccer now uses video technology to review goal/no goal, and if a challenge is deemed to be given a red card. It just reeks of BS and shows that the NBA still wants its officials to "control" the game. How on earth cant you review Giannis stepping OUT on the game winning basket?? why is there video technology at all? I agree with Bat, let the ppl in saucacus be the real refs. Everyone says it slows the game down, but thats because they only review clear path fouls and if his foot was behind the 3 pt line. These things can be seen in 1 second, you dont need to waste 3 minutes and give a team an extra TO for these easy calls. But the BIG calls have no video review? NBA is rigged man P.S.: every media member and nba analyst has said JH shouldnt have been called for the first foul except the NBA itself.
It looks like the NBA is branching out, Dancing with the Stars (and Scrubs). James needs to work on his hand holding and footwork. No wonder, Marcus fell over twice.
