It was a very exciting game last night. The Lakers did a good job of wiping out the Celtics early 14-point lead and looked to be taking control of the game in the third quarter. Unfortunately the officiating crew had a very inconsistent evening. You never blame the referees for a loss and that holds as true during the NBA finals but there were Five Calls that left me seriously questioning the ability of last night’s officials.
1) Kobe’s 2nd Foul. – Ray Allen is riding Kobe’s hip all the way to the basket. There’s absolutely NO WAY for Allen to draw a charge from Kobe in the defensive position he’s in. Allen is behind Kobe and moving at the same time. Kobe didn’t jump backwards or sideways. In fact it looked like he leaned in to the basket and there was very little, if any contact. Kobe made the shot, at best it should have been an “And One”, at worst a no-call and a Lakers basket. Instead they wipe away the basket and Kobe has foul #2.
2) Kobe’s 4th Foul. – This one was even easier to call than the first one and any Youth Basketball Official could have made this call. Kobe drives the key and pulls up for a 12-foot jumper over Glenn Davis. On the replay it’s clear as day, Kobe takes to the air, at which point Davis scoots his feet forward to close the distance on Kobe who comes down right into Davis’ chest. You can’t move once the player leaves his feet to draw a charge and you MUST give the offensive player room to land. Davis moved his feet and did not give Kobe any room to land. The result: Offensive foul on Kobe for his 4th personal foul.
3) Kobe’s 5th Foul – Maybe even easier to call than the first two. I’ll give Rajon Rondo credit for reaching around Kobe and tapping the ball away. However, it was right on the sideline and you can see as soon as Rondo knocks the ball away from Kobe, Bryant puts his hands up in the air to allow the ball to go out of bounds. The only chance Rondo had was to dive out of bounds and possibly attempt to throw the ball off Kobe. Kobe is still standing there with his hands up in the air when Rondo initiates contact from behind to try and save the ball. How could that be a foul on Kobe? Standing still, hands in the air and a guy jumps into your back. If anything it was a foul on Rondo, but better it should have been a no-call and Lakers ball. Instead it’s foul #5 on Kobe
Did Michael Jordan ever have to deal with this kind of biased officiating against him?
4) Maybe the easiest call of the night for the officials and the best example of how poor a job they did was the ball knocked out of bounds in the closing minutes by … Pau Gasol? In fast motion it was clearly off Kevin Garnett but at least they were able to look at the instant replay where unless you are color blind you can easily see the ball going off Kevin Garnett. Three officials on the court plus a replay machine, and they still blow this call? In the final 2 minutes. Interesting to note that while replay is definitely the right thing to do in Football, and baseball is getting closer on-board with replay, it apparently won’t make any difference in the NBA since the officials can’t even use it correctly.
5) Ok, I actually saved the easiest call of them all till the end. It was the last one. And it certainly had a lot of impact on the outcome of the game. With the Celtics leading by 5 points but struggling to get the ball out of the back-court the officials generously granted a time-out to the Celtics coach, Doc Rivers. The problem is the Ref’s didn’t actually see Rivers call the time-out until Doc was halfway across the court in the middle of the play. You can’t do that! The correct call in that situation was a technical foul on the Celtics bench for interfering with the play AND the ball should have gone back to the Lakers due to the 8-second time violation. As I said, this was the easiest call of them all. As a referee you know a coach can not be on the floor when the game is in play EVEN to call a time out. If the officials missed the time-out call you can’t penalize the Lakers, who were playing good defense, by allowing the game to be stopped and giving the Celtics possession of the ball. I guess I should be grateful that Kobe didn’t foul out on this play; it would have been in line with the rest of the calls.
David Stern was heckled by the LA Faithful all the way out of the arena last night and if I were him, I wouldn’t come back for Game 6.
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Rich, as you've poignantly illustrated, the officiating has been atrocious. When is Kobe ever in foul trouble? I can't remember the last time. He seems to avg. 3-4 fouls per game. Let alone the playoffs, this is the finals--let them play! There's a whistle on every possession. No flow to the game... frustrating to watch. Bynum went up for a dunk late in the game and was cleanly rejected by Pierce?, but b/c Bynum fell (apparently caused by the play on the ball) a foul was errantly called. They need to get it right the first time instead of "making up" for bad calls. I want to say there was a similar blocked shot on Pau called incorrectly as well. Game 1 was a mess itself, and though the final outcome was favorable, the calls were ridiculously bad. I called NBA headquarters this morning to file a complaint about the officiating. A grouchy old lady w/ a hideous NY accent answered the phone. She transfered me to the"Official Complaint Line". The automated recording says, "We receive hundreds of calls each day. We cannot guarantee a response though be assured we listen to all messages". I left my message berating the officiating and mentioned Tim Donaghy and the WWF in the mix. At times I question being an NBA fan and by association promoting this seemingly tainted-product to family and friends. I love basketball, the NBA is a different story at this point. Don't know if I can stomach watching game 3...
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