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Re: Call the fouls consistently

 From: Kim Malo <kimmalo@mindspring.com>

The
problem wasn't any individual call, it was the fact that things were not
called consistently against both teams. I'm more inclined to think a fair
amount of it was in response to the crowd rather than anyone's press
clippings - the ref's resentment at the constant chorus of BULL-SHIT (I'm
assuming that was bleeped out of the broadcast) paired with bending over
backward to make it clear that they were not intimidated.

Actually, the chorus was quite audible and understandable on the broadcast.
  I agree with your point above about the lack of consistency.


Bavetta can be a
bit dramatic anyway, but he seemed to go out of his way to rub some calls
into the home crowd's faces, even gesturing the call again, after a crowd
response.
And for me, Bavetta is one of the good ones, though he does look like he ought to be stored in the Pyramids between gigs. He does enjoy playing up to the home crowd, though.

My thing is, I think it's unfortunate that the players needs to be concerned with the officials' personalities. With Javie, for instance, you better not look at him or here comes the "T". I realize, though, that there'll always be humans officiating games, and so there'll always be a mixture of personality, bias, and human emotion that will influence the game. It's just that, if that could be held to a minimum, it would be better for everyone.


OTOH, we weren't robbed. Life isn't fair. You grow up and find a way to
deal with it. If you don't, then you aren't good enough. Like if we did a
better job not getting picked off and rotating on defense, we wouldn't have
been running and slapping late at people so much. The calls weren't fair,
but if we were robbed then it's because we let ourselves be robbed.
Oho, blame the victim! No, seriously, you have a good point. Each game is different. In some games, the refs have a lot of influence (i.e. a close call late in a close game or something), and then sometimes one teams digs a hole early on and then has to scrap late to get back into it.
Well, fouls are going to be called at that point. I guess, while I want to have the ability to discuss the officials and how they are doing their jobs, I don't subscribe to any conspiracy theory, nor do I think that every time there's a questionable call or three, that the losing team got "robbed". The Celtics didn't get robbed in the last game. The officiating hasn't even been that bad, and this from a guy who delights in dogging the refs when I think they deserve it. The officiating has been better than say, the Philly series. In today's NBA, you can't expect a well-called game anymore, though you do sometimes see them, expected them is setting one's self up for disappointment. It's a matter of lowered expectations for me regarding this issue.

So it's an unfortunate reality that the players (and fans!) have to deal with it, but, the important part of that last phrase was "deal with it." As a fan, I can rant and rave on the Internet for days after the fact, but I certainly hope the players are thinking more about what *they* have to do, to both perform well and keep the other team from doing so, than the officials. For players, the focus needs to be on the game, not the zebras.


An interesting point about the growing up aspect that probably didn't come
through on the broadcast BTW was that Walker seemed to be getting on the
refs more in response to bad calls/non-calls involving his teammates -i.e.
in his role as a leader- than the ones that involved himself. And seemed to
be able to do it without having the refs want to kill him after. Another
sign of his leapfrogs into maturity.
True, and I'm all for giving Walker credit, but it's probably also true that people associated with the league (refs, media types, etc) reward success. When the team was mediocre, Walker was close to a "punk" and the "most hated man in the NBA". Now that the team has had some success, he and Pierce will get the calls because they are the team's superstars, and in the NBA system, superstars are better than stars who are better than role players ... better than the lowly rookie, who gets *no* calls going his way. And the better your image is, the more likely the call will go your way. Jason Kidd was not getting these sorts of calls when he was with Phoenix. But now that he's recast in the personal role of "team savior and lone superstar" and his team's role is "most improved team/eastern sacrificial lamb" he most certainly does.

Well, I guess that just about does it for this particular rant about the refs. I realize it's unpleasant for those who do not wish to talk about the officials, but I guess there's always things on a public list for someone to find irritating. Like the officials themselves, though, I guess it's all about just dealing with it.

Bird