They should, but they don’t. I recall a game semi-recently where a ref got injured during the game and they continued with the 2 refs.
No kidding. As much revenue the fans, us, in other words, bring into the league, you would think that the freakin' league could insure a well officiated game. I don't blame Harden for being pissed off. I've had to say that a couple of times, recently. This is getting ****ing ridiculous.
Makes me question how the NBA ref system works at all for the first time ever. Do they randomly travel city to city? Do certain refs referee more games in certain cities more than others? Why? Are there teams of refs? Interesting.
The NBA already needs a 4th ref. Apparently they're broke if they can't even afford to send out a backup ref to a national TV game.
The Rockets benefited in the 1st half with only 2 refs because a lot of fouls were missed. It appeared to me the Celtics deliberately adjusted their style of play in the 2nd half to capitalize. It cut both ways.
I mean, its whatever for a regular season game. I can understand how this happens with so many games and so many cities. If this is a playoff game though, it would be flatly unacceptable.
It cut the collective throats of the Rockets, in my opinion. If it went both ways, it was the knife grinding back and forth.
Refs or not, Rockets are definitely in a slump, but it was bound to happen at some point. Funny thing is that a lot of people blame MDA, but there have been people that noted the lack of attention to detail was always MDA's Achilles heel. As A_3P0 stated above, the Celtics adjusted their play and won the game. Makes me wonder why if MDA can make adjustments to when the game is on the line.
Rockets would have never gained a 26-point lead without the refs swallowing their whistles in the 1st half. Honestly, I laughed several times. It was hilarious when someone got called for fouling Tatum in the 2nd quarter and it seemed like the whole crowd stood and gave the refs a sarcastic standing ovation. Brad Stevens decided at halftime, "We can do this too". D'Antoni probably didn't even connect the dots. I bet Stevens also told Keith Smart to bait Harden at the end because he knew what happened against the Clippers. I watch the Celtics a lot because of Stevens. The man is truly a genius.
Meh Morey just needs to add Tony Allen, Mario Chalmers and Andrew Bogut (all 3 are on low 1year deals and obtainable) and the Rockets won’t need to worry about the other team being too physical or dirty. Chalmers would have taken out Smart’s knee.... Bogut would have elbowed him on the temple and Allen would have pissed on Smart for complaining.
Lets not ignore Rockets have been 0-4 since @J.R. bumped the no contenders thread and @OTMax left Clutchfans.
Didn't seem to be a problem in the 1st half... Even if they had a 3rd ref, we still would have lost. All three refs would have swallowed their whistles. It's coming from up top.
