There are always conspiracy theories about virtually everything. However, if you've been watching the NBA this season and past seasons, you know something is going on. I'd like to explore that some. Known conspiracy The home court officiating. How bad is it that going into a game, you can automatically project the foul ratios of the teams? The calls for the home team are simply unbelievable, and they get away with murder on the defensive side. Yao essentially got punched in the face in Utah and there was no foul called. Head to Houston, and you can't even look him in the eye without a foul. This phenomenon is not limited to this series, though I DO think it's much more prevalent in the Western Conference (see below.) I completely understand the league wanting more 7 game series, but the officiating is becoming a farce. It kills the quality of some games, and undermines the integrity of the sport. Suspected Conspiracy East Coast Bias -- stay with me now, this is so simple it may be true. The Eastern conference is terrible. We all know that. The Eastern part of the US is the key demographic for the NBA and is the barometer by which it measures its success. Don't think for a second that the NBA views any western team other than the Lakers as anything more than an interesting sideshow. They're not the Knicks, Celtics, or Sixers. Now the NBA playoffs come down to three things: talent, coaching, and energy. Care to note the length of the playoff series in the East? Care to note that the above officiating didn't seem to be much of a problem in the East? Coincidence? I think maybe...but even the fact that I'm not entirely sure is pretty damning. Hell, the Miami Heat won the championship last year, against a Dallas team that had gone seven, and still the officiating was almost humorously pro-Miami -- The East team. Don't get me wrong, I detest Dallas, but only a homer of all homers (e.g. Crawfish/Score) would deny that. Luckily this year, Miami showed just how truly horrid they are without Wade playing the role of Superman. So does the Association try to get quick series in the East, and wear the West down for the eventual match-up? You tell me.
Mac-- Interesting article, I would have suspected the home teams would have a much more signifiicant edge in the calls. Maybe the playoffs are different. NoLimit-- I don't believe the NBA could cover up a conspiracy promoting bias. Think of the book deal that Joey Crawford could get if he had conclusive info. That being said, I think the NBA has the worst officiating of any major American sport. The action is happening so quickly and many of the players have become such good actors. The ref's job is almost an impossible task. But I definitely believe the refs are affected by the home crowd --especially in the playoffs. Question for you... Do you think the enforced definition of a foul is consistent for the same team within the same game? I don't think it is. But I tend to focus on the ones where Dirk gets mugged more than the ones that go our way.
First, it is by far the worst officiated, and I think that is because they don't always make the rules really clear. There's invariably going to be contact on just about any shot. However, not all contact is a foul. That gray area poses a problem. I think their main deficiency is that they have absolutely no idea how to officiate with big men in the game. This goes back before my time, but I remember them having problems officiating fairly even with Robert Parish. THEN Shaq came along, and they STILL haven't figured out how to equitably officiate (both for and against.) You see a lot of it with Yao and every other big man in the league. They simply do not have a standard set for how to officiate, and it does the centers a disservice. I do think there are differences in fouls are called depending on who's involved. That is CERTAINLY nothing new, and the officials are very happy to give the super star treatment. I'm sort of OK with that, only because you have to avoid the hockey situation, where teams just bring goons in to foul out the best players. The fans want to see a great product, not a bunch of Kelvin Cato's wreaking havoc. When I have time, I'll look into the stats on the home/away foul calls. The stats don't tell the whole story though, which can only be charted while watching the games.
As much gray area as there is in the contact foul discussion, the call I hate the most are the ones that aren't called: Specifically, for traveling and carrying the ball. We can all thank Mr. Jordan for the turn of the head by the refs on those.
Oh man, did you see the Vince Carter play at the end of the last Nets/Raptors game?? He took four complete steps, before dishing it to whitey who missed the game-winning shot. FOUR STEPS. Yet another reason to dislike him, I guess.
