Do the playoff refs suck?

[rickortreat]

You can only tell from the games you watch, and it probably helps to watch a game where you don't care which team wins.  I have plenty of examples from when my team plays, but when you see them making the same bad calls against other teams, you realize that it's consistently bad across the board.  It's not even a matter of how many bad calls there are, but when they are made, since a string of calls can deprive a team of the opportunity to score.

I'm watching the NO - Denver series and I see Sean Marks set up outside the semicircle perfectly motionless and he gets called for a block as some Nugget runs right into him.  I see Byron Scott pick up a technical, protesting a flagrant call on his player, who merely grabbed the arm of another, who managed to loose his balance and fall to the ground.

All this is happening in NO, as they are loosing their lead.  It's like the refs are doing everything they can to help the Nuggets win. 

I don't care who wins, but I do want to see a fair game, and bad calls mess one up.

[Reality]

Was really nervous when Joey "Tim Duncan Hater" Crawford got the draw for Gm 3 Spurs at Dallas.  Remember last year when Duncan got T'd up while on the bench for get this -laughing and smiling about a Crawford call.  We then got to see noneother then Crawford swallow his whistle when Derek Fisher attempted to mount Brent Barry during his game winning shot attempt.   
So yeah when i saw Crawford listed along with Ed "Homer Team" Rush for the game, i thought very good chance of them slanting.
As it turns out the Spurs could not have stunk worse while Dallas played well in the 30 pt halftime lead blowout.

In answer to your question, since you are an affectionado and knowledgable with the greatest era of all time Sixers-Celts 1980-86 along with 3rd wheel Lakers, a main ref at the time, Darrell Garretson said people are on crack who think he and fellow refs cannot effect the outcome of a game.

More modern, we saw Tim Donaghy expose what came down with the 2002 series and the subsequent utter failure for any accountability so why would anyone* think corrupt/inept officiating at times has stopped?  To give you an idea of how obvious it was and is, even W.O.W. has stated he now sees the light regarding Gm 6s fixture. 

Betting on games exceeds all revenues from the game itself, tv included in the NFL.  I would think the NBA matches.

[WayOutWest]

You can only tell from the games you watch, and it probably helps to watch a game where you don't care which team wins.  I have plenty of examples from when my team plays, but when you see them making the same bad calls against other teams, you realize that it's consistently bad across the board.  It's not even a matter of how many bad calls there are, but when they are made, since a string of calls can deprive a team of the opportunity to score.

I'm watching the NO - Denver series and I see Sean Marks set up outside the semicircle perfectly motionless and he gets called for a block as some Nugget runs right into him.  I see Byron Scott pick up a technical, protesting a flagrant call on his player, who merely grabbed the arm of another, who managed to loose his balance and fall to the ground.

All this is happening in NO, as they are loosing their lead.  It's like the refs are doing everything they can to help the Nuggets win. 

I don't care who wins, but I do want to see a fair game, and bad calls mess one up.

Funny you mention that...I was watching game 3 of the Sixers vs the Magic and I could NOT believe Young? not get the call on the final play of the game.  It was an obvious foul that cost Young possesion of the ball but luckily he recovered and made the game winning shot.  It stinks but it happens a lot. 

[rickortreat]

I think the answer is they do, but that most of the time it's not deliberate, in spite of Reality's assertion that the money spent on gambling dwarfs everything else. 

I suppose it's a fair question to ask, did Donaghy's going to jail end it, or is the NBA trying to hide the extend of the corruption?  If anyone can prove that Strern is profiting from this, I'll believe it, otherwise I think it's just a tough job and it's easy to make mistakes and the pressures of certain situations make it hard to make the right call.

I don't think the refs altered any outcome of the games between Orlando and Phila. It was the actual play of the teams that determined the result.

With that said, Orlando would have won that game if Thad' shot doesn't go in.  The refs wouldn't make that call on Howard, even though the replay shows that Howard has much love for Thad!

Bottom line, to win your team has to overcome the other team and an occasional bad call.

[westkoast]

I think they suck just as much as they do in the regular season.  Main difference is each phantom foul or missed whistle means a whole lot more in the playoffs. 

[Reality]

I don't think the refs altered any outcome of the games between Orlando and Phila. It was the actual play of the teams that determined the result.

Bottom line, to win your team has to overcome the other team and an occasional bad call.

Still sticking to that after the Dwight Howard elbow to the head technical yet allowed to stay in the game and Rondo Flagrant ignored Boston-Chicago game ender?

[rickortreat]

I don't think the refs altered any outcome of the games between Orlando and Phila. It was the actual play of the teams that determined the result.

Bottom line, to win your team has to overcome the other team and an occasional bad call.

Still sticking to that after the Dwight Howard elbow to the head technical yet allowed to stay in the game and Rondo Flagrant ignored Boston-Chicago game ender?

It takes something really extreme to eject a player, particularly on their home floor.  If they had removed Howard that really would have altered the outcome.  IMO, the loss of Howard will cost them a game and the series will be decided by a game 7.

Since the league did not do anything further to Rhondo, it suggests that the foul wasn't premeditated. It should have been a flagrant and the Bulls should have had the right to put another shooter on the line. Maybe I'll give you that one!

In any case both series are going on and the winners will play each other. The odds-on favorites at the start are no longer so favored.  The Bulls have given the Garnett-less Celts a lot of trouble and produced an entertaining series. The Sixers aren't quite there, since they lost 2 games in a row, and showed no indication they knew how to score with Howard in the middle. They now have an extra game to figure it out, but as they didn't make any changes in the 2nd loss, I wonder if they have any new ideas.

[WayOutWest]

It takes something really extreme to eject a player, particularly on their home floor.  If they had removed Howard that really would have altered the outcome.  IMO, the loss of Howard will cost them a game and the series will be decided by a game 7.

IMO if Dalembert (is that who Dwight hit?) had gone down OR if Dalembert had retaliated then Dwight would have been suspended right on the spot and probably been suspended for the next game as well.  A little more savy on the part of Dalembert and this series would be over.

[westkoast]

It takes something really extreme to eject a player, particularly on their home floor.  If they had removed Howard that really would have altered the outcome.  IMO, the loss of Howard will cost them a game and the series will be decided by a game 7.

IMO if Dalembert (is that who Dwight hit?) had gone down OR if Dalembert had retaliated then Dwight would have been suspended right on the spot and probably been suspended for the next game as well.  A little more savy on the part of Dalembert and this series would be over.

Clearly he needs coaching from Robert Horry

[WayOutWest]

It takes something really extreme to eject a player, particularly on their home floor.  If they had removed Howard that really would have altered the outcome.  IMO, the loss of Howard will cost them a game and the series will be decided by a game 7.

IMO if Dalembert (is that who Dwight hit?) had gone down OR if Dalembert had retaliated then Dwight would have been suspended right on the spot and probably been suspended for the next game as well.  A little more savy on the part of Dalembert and this series would be over.

Clearly he needs coaching from Robert Horry

What?  Horry was an instigator, Dalembert needs to learn to "drama" something up like CP3/Manu and flop as if he was hit with a machete.

[JoMal]

Only the "playoff" refs??   

Look, the refs have a tough job, one that essentially has someone hating on you every time you do your job. But they knew that going into it, so why not make the right calls regardless of the boos?

[Joe Vancil]

...so why not make the right calls regardless of the boos?

Reason 1:  They don't KNOW the correct call.  (incompetence)
Reason 2:  They're not supposed to make the correct call.  (corruption)

Those are the reasons I could come up with.  Anyone got any others?

[ziggy]

...so why not make the right calls regardless of the boos?

Reason 1:  They don't KNOW the correct call.  (incompetence)
Reason 2:  They're not supposed to make the correct call.  (corruption)

Those are the reasons I could come up with.  Anyone got any others?

Couple of others

Reason 3:  The rules are written to be specifically vague so as to allow for significant interpretation.
Reason 4:  The official didn't see it
Reason 5:  They don't like a particular player so they don't give them the benefit of the doubt
Reason 6:  They know the correct call, but the supervising official doesn't understand the call, or interprets the vagueness of the rule differently, so they call as their supervisor wants them to so they don't lose their job.