This deserves it's own thread.... The NBA refs don't know the rules. I have suspected this for a long time, and it was finally confirmed. The commentators, press, and NBA execs need to be educated about it as well, because they don't know the rules either and therefore don't call them on these ridiculous situations. On the first play of the game, Yao stood still with his arms straight up in the air and was called for a foul after O'neal initiated contact. THE REFS DON'T UNDERSTAND THE RULES!!!!! Another thing that is equally infuriating is the concept of the "make-up" call. Somehow the refs think that a "make-up" call will correct a bad call. This is NOT TRUE. Yao will always lose with the make up call because all the Rockets truly care about is how many fouls YAO HAS. Yao has poor lateral quickness and therefore will have a disadvantage against faster opponents... which means pretty much every player he plays against. When he gets bad calls it reduces his minutes. It doesn't matter if his opponent has 1 or 6 fouls. Yao - 0 fouls O'neal - 0 fouls ROCKETS ADVANTAGE Yao - 1 foul O'neal - 1 foul PACERS ADVANTAGE The incompetance of the NBA refs and the NBA is infuriating. Stern! TEACH YOUR EMPLOYEES THE RULES!
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the refs really don't understand the rules. the sad part is the nba won't ever admit the refs are wrong. it's like when your friend is dating a really dumb girl and they are watching the McDonalds H.S All-American game, and she says "wait...there's a McDonalds High School?!" and he avoids admitting her mistake with a cover up like "well i'm sure there is one some where."
Doctor Robert, great observation and go thru the trouble of digging up the rule book. I don't need a rule book to know that Yao got the worse calls in the entire NBA, because a lot of them just common sense that even someone plays little basketball knows. It's amazing how Yao can take all these abuse he got from the refs, some fans, especially the physical punishment dished out to him by guys beating him up when he try to establish inside, or when guys just simply run right up onto him and try to initiate contact. The only thing that's holding Yao back this year is the way he's been refereed. He is clearly in the best shape so far in his career; he's also clearly becoming a lot more aggressive, working his butts off in both ends of the floor. I used to say if the Rockets want to go places, Yao needs to step up. So far Yao has answered the challenge and the refs are beating him back to the Yao of old. Becoming tentative, less sure of himself because he sometimes doesn't know how to play this game when Yao simply can do no right in ref's eyes. I begin to wonder if the refs has some secret agenda against Yao because I clearly saw how the ref can see guys shoving, pushing, slapping Yao inside with both eyes watching and do nothing. As soon as Yao turns and just sort of push the guy off a little bit (not even a big push), the same ref IMMEDIATELY called an offensive foul on Yao. So Yao has to sit out with 4 fouls even though he was dominating the game and there's nothing the opposing team can do about it.
We can rest assured that 90% of the blame in this situation goes to the incompetance of the refs. It isn't an NBA conspiracy, star treatment, trouble calling the post players, or anything else (lack of fouls on the offensive end is a different story). It is plain incompetance and it isn't going to get any better until the refs learn the rules.
The rule says the refs have discretion to call a defensive foul though, hence alot of the calls on Yao. The rule says nothing about not calling a blocking foul when in the restricted area. "The mere fact that contact occurs on these type of plays, or any other similar play, does not necessarily mean that a personal foul has been committed. The offi-cials must decide whether the contact is negligible and/or incidental, judging each situation separately. "
According to Worrell, the ref cited Yao being in the restricted zone as why he called a foul on Yao. As you state, the rule states nothing about calling fouls on the defender in that situation. The rules about defense, and positioning apply inside the restricted zone just like they do outside the restricted zone, and as we see over and over again, the refs think there is a difference between the two.
It baffles me how can any basketball fan, let along a Rockets fan, to try to find excuse for the refs. They're imcompetent, they're biased against Yao, both of them are facts. It might not be racially motivated, whether or not it is, that's almost impossible to prove, so I don't even bother.
Well, I would assume that was more applicable to why an offensive foul WASN'T called as to why a defensive foul WAS called. The rule states that the ref has discretion to call a foul on the defender in that situation. It doesn't say he can't or shouldn't. So I would guess that in that situation, the ref called Yao for a contact foul regardless of whether he was in the restricted zone or not and that he couldn't call offensive on O'Neal because Yao was in the restricted zone. Yes it does. The rule states that the ref has discretion to call a defensive foul based on contact, regardless of the restricted zone.
Apparently it's also an offensive foul if you lean forward, with both hands on the ball, and hit your arms against the defender's arms while shooting. Yeeeeeahh, never knew that.
Tonight's offensive foul on Yao was classic. Yao fouled the defender with both his wrists while going up to shoot the ball. That Yao is one outta control mofo!
1) No. Worrell said JVG protested the foul on Yao, and the ref stated Yao was inside the restricted zone. Worrell was brief, but clear about the exchange. JVG was not, and would not complain about O'neal NOT being called on a play with essentially no contact whatsoever. There was clearly no offensive foul on the play in question. 2) I think we agree. All the normal rules apply which give the ref discretion in all situations. There are NO rules that differentiate the play defensively inside the restricted zone. It is quite possible to call a defensive foul inside the restricted zone, but it would have to be committed in the same way as it would outside the restricted zone.
Yao would intentionally hit his arms on a defender when he's trying to shoot, either he's trying to get fouled out of the game or he wants himself to miss badly when he shoots.
Or he's trying to draw a foul like Tim Duncan, Karl Malone, or Kobe Bryant. The defender's arms were not straight up. At worst, it could have been a no-call. Calling an offensive foul is one of the biggest jokes ever. The refs are inventing new ways to screw Yao as we speak.
Slight correction.. O'neal initiated light contact on the play, but Worrell said he complained about the call on Yao.
