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« on: June 17, 2008, 03:50:47 PM »
I've watched basketball religiously for the last 20years and never really had a problem with NBA officiating. Don't get me wrong, I've been annoyed by bad calls but for the most part I viewed them as mistakes. I think anyone who thinks officials should get everyone call right is somewhat naive. They (officials) are humans and we have to factor in human error. After all, I also make mistakes at work. There are also times when personal relationships and biases influence how games are called. For example, considering Joey Crawford doesn't like the Spurs or Nick Bavetta is not a fan of Shaq and Ed Rush founds "dates" for Michael Jordon it reasonable to assume that some calls in games involving those players/teams & officials were influenced by factors outside of the court. Not fair but I'm not going to stop watch basketball because of it. And then there are those cheaters (players, coaches & officials) who blatantly ignore the rules for their own person gains. These folks should be dealt with accordingly but it doesn't negate the legitimacy of the league as a whole. However, if Donaghy's accusations are correct how can we ever trust anything that happens in the NBA. If the league office does determine games then it would be foolish to believe that it only happened in the 2002 WCF. What about the 1994 Western Conference Finals where in game 7 Barkley shot 22 free throws in the 4th quarter alone (game tally Suns 64FT, Sonics 34FT), or the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals where Scott Williams was suspended for game 7 because of a very suspect flagrant call in game 6 and Mutombo shot 16 free throws (9.5 above his average from the previous 6 games) and finally there is last year's Spurs-Phoenix series -- there is no need to rehash the what went down there. Are the Bird, Magic & Jordan dynasties legit or were Celtics, Lakers & Bulls lucky that to have these guys on their team at a time when the NBA began to focus its marketing on individual stars and not teams. What about the Spurs locking up the #1 pick and choirboy Tim Duncan to join choirboy David Robinson at a time when the NBA began to show concern that the negative image of many of these individual stars would hurt the league. No answers...just a bunch of questions.
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