Minnesota Sports Forum

I was disturbed at the officiating in the OKC and LAC games yesterday. Seemed the like the NBA wanted to make sure both teams moved on. I understand the Randolph suspension (sort of), but the one way calls were a little too much to bear.

There is one play that really stands out to me though. During the clips game, Thompson and Paul were paired off for a jump ball in the LAC FT circle. Kenny Mauer setup for the toss by backing up about 25 degrees off the FT stripe towards center court. Then tossed the ball over Thompson's reach thus ensuring that he could not get the tip. I have never witnessed an official not straddling the center line when tossing the ball up for the jump. Reggie Miller voiced that Thompson has to win that jump, but he never even had a chance. Thompson came down and glared at Mauer. It wasn't the toss itself that was bad, but the angle at which it was delivered. Neither Thompson or Paul touched the ball that I could see and it landed in Jordan's hands four feet back from where the two initially jumped. The positioning by Mauer actually brought him into closer proximity to other players on the outside so he wasn't trying to clear himself. A while later they had another jump ball but this time in the Warriors backcourt and Mauer lined up as you would expect straddling the line.

I am completely puzzled by the positioning by Mauer, and how unfair it made the jump. Mauer is a pretty good official in my opinion (except when reffing Minny where he goes too far out his way to be unbiased), but this has me completely dumbfounded.

The thing that annoys me about the NBA is that officials are never held accountable for incorrect calls. Where as in most other sports the officials are no different to the players, in that if they don't perform they don't play. There's rarely a statement release to the media stating the 'the play has been reviewed and the official made a mistake'. Instead you get frustrated players and coaches getting T'd up and fined and then it all getting 'swept under the rug'. I know on two occassions the NBA came out and made apologies about late game calls, one which was the Wolves vs Dallas game where Love got fouled by Marion but no call was made. That cost the Wolves a W.

Good officiating is about being consistent. If you call a soft foul one end then you are expected to make it at the other end too. But unfortunately it doesn't happen.

Unfortunately the corporate world has swallowed the NBA and with it comes corruption. Dragging games out to 7 game series creates more revenue for the league and I have no doubt that the officials are in on it.

Anyways glad to see OKC get through. There's no way Memphis should have won that series.

I agree Kiwi, it seems the refs have too much influence on each game and are not consistent from game to game...however it's good for the NBA's bottom line. At least the game does seem to be getting more popular with all of this artificial drama.

I absolutely hate NBA officiating. In my opinion it is by far the worst officiated of all the major sports, I also think it is the most important as NBA officials have the ability to effect the score on every call. The combination of terrible and importance makes the NBA unwatchable at times. There was a great youtube video last year about the refs attempts at getting the lakers into the playoffs. Hopefully it can get cleaned up soon, I'm not all that optimistic though.