Espn front page calling out the refs (bill simmons article)

[DAF86]

The NBA should have challenge reviews like the NFL.

[DAF86]

The NBA should have challenge reviews like the NFL.

Not for every single play but for really important ones like that 6th foul on Nene last night, that was a game decider.

[FromWayDowntown]

Can you tell us more?

This (http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost...4&postcount=56) is a post from back in Round 2 that spells out some of what I'm talking about:

I actually track playoff officiating assignments and have now for several years. I haven't ever picked up on some sort of arbitrary pattern of assignments that seem aimed at ensuring an outcome of any particular game.

Just look at the assignments so far in Round 2. Each of the 7 crew chiefs (Javie, Foster, J. Crawford, Wunderlich, Salvatore, D. Crawford, and McCutchen) has been assigned to one of the 7 games played after tonight. Danny Crawford worked Sunday in Denver, Foster and Wunderlich worked Monday in LA and Boston, Javie and McCutchen worked the games last night, and Joey Crawford and Salvatore are working the games tonight.

For the sake of completeness, Joey and Salvatore last worked on Sunday -- Game 7 in Atlanta. Javie and McCutchen, Tuesday's crew chiefs, last worked on Saturday -- Game 7 in Boston. Wunderlich worked the fame last Friday in Miami and Foster had worked last Thursday in Game 6 of Orlando/Philly; Danny Crawford had last worked last Tuesday in Game 5 of Houston/Portland.

Graphically, the crew chief assignments have looked like this over the last 8 days:

TUE -- Wunderlich, J. Crawford, McCutchen, D. Crawford
WED -- Bavetta, Javie
THU -- J. Crawford, Foster, Salvatore
FRI -- Wunderlich
SAT -- Javie (+McCutchen)
SUN -- J. Crawford (+Salvatore), D. Crawford
MON -- Wunderlich, Foster
TUE -- Javie (+Bavetta), McCutchen
WED -- Salvatore, J. Crawford

To me, that looks like a fairly regular rotation. In Round 2, everyone is working in rotation based mostly on when he worked last. In fact, I'd be willing to guess that the crew chief on Thursday night in Cleveland is likely to be Dan Crawford. If it's not him, it will be Wunderlich or Foster.

I'd even be willing to guess that the 2nd and 3rd officials in Cleveland tomorrow night will include at least one of: Sean Corbin, Marc Davis, Ron Garretson, and Derrick Stafford.

For whatever it's worth, the officials for that game in Cleveland (Thursday, 5/7/09) were Dan Crawford, Derrick Stafford, and Violet Palmer. I got 2 of the 3 right with just a short list of 7 potential officials (there were 27 officials still working at that point in time).

[Louae]

Give it a rest. We all know that the Mavs would have won if the Refs hadnt helped D-Whistle so much. Everyone knows the Mavs should have a trophy for 2006. You dont have to say it in nearly every post you make. We all know that the Heat's 2006 le is complete bull .

MAVS=2006 NBA CHAMPIONS.
We KNOW

It doesn't matter to me that the MAVS weren't the 2006 NBA Champions b/c they shouldn't have gotten there in the first place. D-Whistle could've been Dirk Nowitski with the calls he was getting the the Spurs-Mavs series.

To me, the Mavs going down like that was sweet justice.

[manufan10]

Whether or not Simmons is making a legitimate point which IMO he is, the way I read this article it translates to, "My team got eliminated, I'm bored, so I'm going to write an article in an attempt to put an asterisk next to whoever wins the le this year."

I like Simmons but he needs to work on not sounding like a crybaby Celtic homer.

If you're a regular reader of the Sports Guy, you would know that he is often very critical of the officials. This isn't his first rant that the refs suck. I don't think his article has anything to do with the Celtics at all. What part of the article gave you that impression?

[Spurlady]

It doesn't matter to me that the MAVS weren't the 2006 NBA Champions b/c they shouldn't have gotten there in the first place. D-Whistle could've been Dirk Nowitski with the calls he was getting the the Spurs-Mavs series.

To me, the Mavs going down like that was sweet justice.

Amen to that. Spurs got screwed in that series. Dirk got breathed on and would get a call. Anytime the Spurs had momentum going, the refs would get whistle happy and call the Spurs for a foul ruining the momentum.

[Dex]

Not for every single play but for really important ones like that 6th foul on Nene last night, that was a game decider.

I think they should allow for one challenge per half. If the foul is overruled, the ball would be given back to the challenging team (or the correct call would be made, were it a foul situation). If the ruling stands, then the opposite team gets a technical free throw, maybe even two. This would keep teams from using it purposefully to stop momentum. If you're going to challenge a call, you better be damn sure you are correct, and it better be worth the chance to give up points.

Unfortunately, I don't think they'll ever put into play, for that very same reason. There are too many situations where teams could use it to just stop a break or kill momentum. Then again, any player or coach can just get a technical and do the same thing if they really want to (like last night when Van Gundy's technical kept a Williams trey off the board).

But Stern would NEVER want to question the credibility of his perfect refs.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

If you're a regular reader of the Sports Guy, you would know that he is often very critical of the officials. This isn't his first rant that the refs suck. I don't think his article has anything to do with the Celtics at all. What part of the article gave you that impression?

No part of this article, but the fact he doesn't say when the Celtics get the benefit of the officials is what gives me that impression.

[manufan10]

No part of this article, but the fact he doesn't say when the Celtics get the benefit of the officials is what gives me that impression.

[poop]

It doesn't matter to me that the MAVS weren't the 2006 NBA Champions b/c they shouldn't have gotten there in the first place. D-Whistle could've been Dirk Nowitski with the calls he was getting the the Spurs-Mavs series.

To me, the Mavs going down like that was sweet justice.

EXACLTY. the mavs fans conveniently forget this part. they whine about wade but ignore the fact that they got past us in the same exact way with their own D(irk)-Whistle.

[DPG21920]

There were some poorly officiated games in the Mavs/Spurs series, but imo the Mavs got royally screwed by the refs against the Heat.

Miami should have gotten more calls than the Mavs, but sometimes it was out of hand.