I was just wondering if I'm the only one who has noticed that the referees in the playoffs this year seem to be making a LOT of really late calls. I can think of several examples off the top of my head. Last night there was a travel call, I think it was against Luther Head, where the refs didn't even blow the whistle until a couple seconds later, after he had passed the ball. There was another great example in the Bulls-Heat Game 3 where Hinrich stepped into the backcourt and no call was made until he had dribbled all the way back to the three point line. With both of these calls it seemed like the refs weren't going to call anything until they realized the home crowd got upset about the no call. So I guess my question is, have refs always been making these kind of calls or is the officiating getting even worse now?
nba refs are getting worse everyday. people are calling fouls that are not even in their area. how heck does a official who is behind a play at half court make a call while the official under the basket doesnt? even the travel call, one official clearly saw it...yet he was overruled. why??
i dont know about in general, but dick bavetta made that call on heinrich, and dude has GOT to be at least partially senile at this point. i wouldn't trust him to go get groceries by himself much less ref an nba game. that said, basketball is real hard to ref, it has so many possessions and moves at a faster pace (barring the rockets) than any other sport besides hockey. im ok with missed calls as long as they dont result in a huge disparity at the end of the game. im not ok with refs appearing to be influenced by players or coaches or the crowd. late whistles are indicative of just that, and therefore they are the worst kind of bad calls in my opinion. i also hate when refs blow the whistle, and obviously aren't sure what to call because they kind of slowly raise their hand before figuring out wtf they blew the whistle for.
Maybe they are afraid of being suspended(Joey Crawford) if they piss off a player with a call, so they want to make sure they are right before they blow the whistle.
If it's the right call, then you have to call it. I don't care how late it is. And that clearly was a travel.
the question is why was it late. if its really the right call, they should know it when it happens and call it then. what happens in the time between the act occurs and the call is made that makes it the right call? if he saw it happen, then he needs to call it when he sees it, not wait. if he didn't see it happen, then he has no business calling it.
Of course, that guy can't even beat Charles on a runoff. If you can't beat Charles, then that officially means you are too old and you need to retire.
