I'm sure JVG isn't please with all the fouling but he's got to take some blame for it. The Rockets were not such a physical team before he game. Riley's school coaches players to get away with whatever they can. But after the early foul calls, the players should have realized the refs weren't going to allow all the reaching and pushing off we were doing. In addition to that, we never seemed to figure out how to play Maggette. He would penetrate and then someone would foul him. Having watched the game twice, it looked to my untrained eye that most of those calls were pretty good ones. JVG should have (he may have done this last night and the players ignored him) told his guys to back off a little.
It is time for a new paradigm in refereeing. Look at my prior posts because I am suggesting that new ways need to be investigated in how games are called. The constant stops make the final score important, but the journey there excruciating.
basketball is becoming more and more of a contact sport. players are bigger and stronger than ever and the only way to change the way the refs call the games would be to just let them play- thus reducing the need for fundamentally sound-skill players, or they can call even more fouls to try and curb the overall tendency of playing physical defense. refs adjust to the style the teams are playing, not the other way around.
Come now. The answer is very simple. Considering the money basketball generates, it should be easy to purchase a Cray supercomputer for each stadium. Then, use video and other input devices to teach the computer what is a foul and what isn't and what rule is being violated and what is legal. Once that is done, mount 100 cameras so that every cubic inch of the court from hardwood to the top of the backboard is covered. The Cray can download information and analyze it within nanoseconds and relay the decisions to the referees on the court. In this way there will be no arbitrary calls, and every player will be on a level playing field (uh, court) regardless of stardom or rookiedom.
I figured there would be someone complaining too. That was possibly the WORST officiated game I've ever seen. It wasn't lopsided for either team by way of fouls, so it was fair, but it became completely absurd. I actually, for one of the only times ever, got tired of watching the game and watched Seinfeld instead. The game was to the point where one player could look at another funny and there'd be a foul. Almost every time down court there was a whistle blown. It was insane!! I've been pretty happy with a lot of officiating this season, but this game was atrocious. The overly excessive plethora of fouls was a complete joke, and made the game boring and unwatchable.
