Yeah, I agree, but it's ridiculous that the refs have so little accountability since this is really the only sport where they can dictate an entire game (eg, by getting key players in foul trouble, penalizing certain offenses or defenses, and so forth). And one of the main reasons so many people think the NBA is rigged is that they have so little transparency regarding the ref performance. Sure, every so often we'll hear about how they blew a call at the end of the game, but they are doing this dozens of times a game and every one of them is important.
I remember questioning the officiating during the Jordan era because it seemed awfully convenient that the NBA's poster child was suddenly winning every title. While he was undoubtedly the best player in the league, even the best player doesn't win all the time. There was a game against Utah where the refs counted a three for the Bulls (that replays showed was late) and discounted one for the Jazz (that replays showed was valid). And then in the waning seconds of the last game (can't remember if it was the same game), they let Jordan get away with a push-off. It wasn't until 2000 that I started to have some serious doubts, in two separate series involving the Lakers (I didn't hate the Lakers back then either). The first, which many forget, was game 5 of the Kings/Lakers 1st round (back when first round was best 3/5). The Lakers were the best team in the NBA and no one gave the Kings a chance, but they had stormed back from 0-2 down to even things up at 2-2. The day before game 5, PJ took to the media and went on a rant about how the Kings were playing illegal defense, and, lo and behold, the Kings got called for it numerous times in the first quarter, which shifted their entire strategy and allowed Shaq to dominate. Now whether they were playing illegal defense or not is not really the issue-- it's that, if they were, it should have been made clear earlier on; if they weren't, then this was effectively a rig job. Again, it comes down to consistency in officiating. If a coach or a player in the media can influence a sport so much, something is wrong with the sport. Later that year we had the infamous game 7 WCF game where the Lakers had 20+ FTs in the 4th quarter and some VERY questionable calls against the Blazers, who were about to make an amazing comeback from down 3-1 to steal the series. But a lot has already been written about that game and, of course, the similar 2002 game 6.
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I love Kobe's 'defense' on that Rubio play. He's still frozen like a statue in the free throw pose, while Rubio's already rebounded and running by him. BTW, I haaaaate the Laker's commentators. I get everyone's biased to a certain extent, but come on.
Unfortunately after Chick Hearn died Stu Lantz went senile and Chick is no longer there to check him. The guy has zero objectivity.
pretty much Chick Hearn to me was the greatest basketball announcer there was -- you could tell he was a lakers fan but he would lay into the lakers when they were playing like **** and would praise the other team when they were doing well. i totally forgot about that atrocious portland game i mean you have 3 games that the lakers could have lost but didnt because of bogus calls Portland Kings Wolves then you have the two crazy comebacks - raptors, Hornets and lakers fans point to the ATL game to how they get hosed on calls - which to me was 50/50 - if they called a foul I would agree and if they didnt I would agree as well it was so quick and the contact was incidental but hard to see how it effected his shot. i mean give them the atl game but then take away those three do you want to be 3-1 in shady calls or 1-3?
Conspiracy or no? Leon Powe himself attempted more free throws than the entire Lakers team combined in NBA finals game 2 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=AoDweYYeovnByASEquu4dlp6PaB4?gid=2008060802 OKC Thunder attempted 55 more free throws in a series than the Lakers which they won 4-2 http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2010_WC1.html Detroit Pistons attempted 60 more free throws than the Lakers in 5 game series despite having Shaq + Kobe http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2004_finals.html Justify all this please if the League/refs favor Lakers so much....or are you guys gonna flip and say the Lakers simply were outplayed in these circumstances. Cant have it both ways
That is excellent. I hope the media gets wind of this if only to embarrass the refs and hopefully cause some much needed reform before everyone believes the league is truly corrupt. Keep in mind that these highlights are not selectively filtered from a pool of hundreds of games... these are just from the last couple of weeks.
