As evident in the Kings-Lakers game, Shaq was taken out by the refs and his own teammates. Sound familiar? He had two quick fouls in the 1st quarter and the 3rd was a very tick tack call. Doc Rivers said something to the extent of, "If calls were made like that on both sides of the floor, Shaq would be at the FT line everytime." Shaq ended up with SIX shots and was effectively taken out by the refs. So maybe in the end, its the refs and the system that takes out the big men....... Shaq ended up cursing again in the post game interview. He's obviously very frustrated. For everyone that gets frustrated by Yao not doing to hot right now, even Shaq has problems.
Have you watched a lot of Laker games? Over Shaq's career he has gotten more breaks from the refs than probably any player.
All im really saying is that sometimes the refs and the system takes out the big men. It's like they don't want them dominating anymore. When was the last time a center busted a 50 pt game? Obviously today was an exception for Shaq but the way the refs took him out of the game shows how refs have way too much control over the game.
Shaq gets hacked a lot but also initiates a lot of the contact making it harder to tell who's at fault. Whereas with Yao he often times isn't taking a power move but is just trying to get his shot off while getting the same kind of physical contact that Shaq does but receives no calls. Shaq often times is trying to initiate contact by lowering his shoulder which should be an offensive foul but most of the time with Yao someone is pushing under him with both hands or slapping his arms while someone is barreling under him and he almost never gets those called as fouls. It's pretty frustrating to watch especially when I turn on ESPN Classic and see how strict the officials used to be when calling a game. Traveling has become so common now you practically have to take 4 steps or change your pivot feet in the middle of a move ala Garnett who ironically as I type this never gets called for travelling. Yao does it too though as does everybody. It gets ridiculous. While I appreciate having JVG as our coach his mentor Pat Riley really fubared the way the officials call a game now. It's now the mentality that the refs can't call a foul everytime you push someone around unless you want an empty court for both teams by the time the 1st half ends. And then having Shaq take advantage of that with his sheer girth makes calling a game even more ridiculous. In some aspects I can't fault the refs, since in almost every instance during a possession could you call a foul for holding onto someones jersey, travelling, handchecking, etc, and that puts the refs in a tight spot. Yet at the same time I can't help but be astonished by the biasness from the refs for letting smaller players get away with so much grabbing and holding just because someone is bigger or stronger than them. Francis is the victim of a lot of BS as well. He gets grabbed all the time when running through picks, gets pushed when taking his shot, slapped on his arms when shooting, handchecking, etc. Officiating is a b****.
I just think that because he is so big, he's so much easier to pick out and notice. (Thats pretty obvious though.) I hope that something changes in the offseason regarding this officiating situation. Maybe there should be more of an incentive on calling fair games. Or maybe if a crew misses so many calls, their jobs would be on the line. If a blue collar worker messes up at work, he usually has to suffer the consequences. Why shouldn't the refs be held accountable for their actions as well? Another wild conspiracy theory: The RED jerseys. I remember learning something in psychology about how dark jersey teams get more fouls called than light colored teams. I know its a reach but I remember there being research done on it.
I was thinking about the same exact thing while watching Shaq play.. refs seem to be biased against the really "Big" guys and have been hurting their game recently.. look bad at the last 3 games or so.. I think both big guys pick up 2 crappy fouls in the first Q. I hope something comes out of this. J
Yet, Doc Rivers still has a point. If the game was called by the book, Shaq would have a lot more offensive fouls, but he'd average 20+ FT attempts a game. Bad referreing is being exposed by these big men, BUT, it is not just a problem with them. Refereeing in the NBA is at an all time low, imo.
You hit the nail straight on the head. Yao is suffering from the Shaq effect. They can't call 6 offensive fouls on Shaq, so consequently they have to let a lot of defensive contact go on him as well. See, when Shaq does that turn around move, where the defender stands straight up and Shaq bumps him and then hooks the defender around the kidneys with his elbow, that by definition is an offensive foul. But if the refs called every one of those, Shaq would foul out on offensive fouls in about 10 minutes of play. So, to compensate for letting him get away with that trash, they let a lot of contact go where the defenders are hacking, slapping, bumping, and pushing him. The problem is Yao doesn't operate like Shaq. He doesn't mow defenders over and force the ref to swallow the whistle. He should be getting the benefit of a ton more calls. The last couple games are perfect examples. Horrid officiating.
I still don't understand how we went into Staples center, played the Lakers (and kept the game close), and after playing 33 minutes and being contained to only 6 points, Yao was not fouled one singe time by the Lakers?!?!?!? Can someone explain that one to me? -- droxford
LOL The only ones that could explain that would be the refs, because they have an explanation for everything. I wouldn't believe theri explanation. Silly
Ummmm...Shaq may get calls, but if anyone got the best ref treatment, it was Mikhail Jamesovich Jordan.
I didn't watch the game tonite but Shaq has also been benefitted from officiating throughout his career as he could stay in the paint for, like 10 seconds.
I watched the game and what's so striking to me is that it's way too easy for the referees to take Sahq
It is too easy for the referees to take Shaq and Yao totally out of the game. All they need to do is call a couple of offensive fouls on these guys early in the game and one ticky tack foul on the other end, and they are done for the night.
Maybe the nwbl should experiment with a no foul out rule and see what happens. 6+ fouls results in two free throws plus the ball. I'm not sure I like. But someone like shaq just distorts the whole game.
In basketball the road jerseys are the dark jerseys and there is a natural inclination among refs to give the home team the break. I think this has more to do with road vs. home teams than dark jerseys.
I think y'all are only looking at a few games. If you look at this whole season or Shaq's whole career you'll find he gets more breaks than probably any other player. Its true Jordan basically could travel and carry as much as he wanted but unlike Shaq Jordan's offense didn't consist of what should be offensive fouls. Shaq's game, especially in his Orlando days, was basically running the defender over to get a dunk. Think about how many times you've seen a defender standing outside of the no-charge circle with their feet planted and arms up in the air. Shaq gets ball backs over them to the basket or turns his shoulder into them and doesn't get called for an offensive foul. Often the defender will be called for fouling Shaq. While some might complain that to call Shaq for offensive fouls everytime he does that would take him out of the game IMO if they had done that early in his career Shaq might've adjusted his game so he wouldn't do that. If not then so what? Why should the rules be bent so Shaq is a star? Artis Gillmore was a huge strong center but the rules weren't bent so he could run over people to the basket. Or for that matter why not then remove the zones so Steve Francis and Mobley can iso all day to be super-stars. Great players should be considered great because they can play within the rules and still dominate the game and IMO its a sad trend that the NBA bends the rules to allow stars to get exceptions to the rules.
I definitely think Shaq bull dose his way to the basket but I don't think it's an offensive foul every time. If the defender has hit foot set, and falls backwards without shuffling his feet, then it's a foul. Vlade does this well and that's why he gets calls from the refs against Shaq a lot more. But if Shaq bums you and you don't fall, then the refs would feel that Shaq hasn't done anything to take you out of the ability to play defense, thus they swallow the wistle.
