Game 1's Officiating

[Cry Havoc]

It wasn't the worst game I've seen officiating wise. I was too busy being pissed at us for LOAFING in the first half to care about the calls. Then in the second, we were coming back, so again, I was more worried about us putting the ball in the hoop. The only one that pissed me off is the Shaq block on Manu, which, in retrospect, looked like a pretty clean block.

[fyatuk]

I'd call it evenly bad. While the suns got the benefit of blatently wrong calls, I thought the Spurs got the benefit of more close calls. It was horrendous reffing, but it didn't strike me as biased, just aweful.

[fyatuk]

That was the only blatantly bad call I saw.

TP got called for a foul when he made no contact whatsoever. And Shaq did not get called for a foul on a blatant shove to Tim when setting up position (during the replay you can hear one of the announcers laugh a little and they shut up, it was funny).

Those were some blatantly bad calls/no-calls as well.

[Mitch Cumsteen]

I thought the complaining by the players on both teams was more annoying than the officiating itself. Only a few blown calls, as can be expected in any game.

I agree with this completely. Shut up and play already.
Also, on a couple of plays in the first half, it looked like Parker was trying harder to draw contact than make his layup.

[Obstructed_View]

Nash was set outside of the charge circle. That was a decent enough call. Judgment call but nowadays the defensive player gets the benefit of the doubt as long as they are outside the circle.

Duncan went around him and caught him in the shoulder. If I have to explain the rules of basketball to you, then we might as well not bother doing this.

Did you not read the post you quoted?

Yeah, did you? Unless you can explain how Timmy can get a "clean block" without making any contact, I don't think we were referring to the same play.

How many thousands of times has Tim got the same call in his career?

Parker didn't get that call in the same game. And it doesn't change the fact that he clearly travelled.

Easy call. Parker hit his elbow. Parker even said after the game that he fouled him.

Because Parker complains about foul calls all the time.

On the Ginobili one, Shaq got all ball first and any contact was created by Ginobili. That was a good no call. Playoff games shouldn't be won at the line, especially on a questionable call.

Again, I shouldn't have to explain basketball to you. Shaq got the benefit of the doubt on every questionable play for two games against the Spurs with five fouls. There's just no way you can defend that. None.

Yes because Duncan never does that.

That's just stupid. I have never in my entire life seen Tim Duncan jump into the body of another player when he doesn't have the ball 20 feet away from the basket in order to draw a foul.

This was about as fair a game as could be expected ... especially with BS calling the game. There were a few bad calls but both teams got 'em.

I saw nothing that warranted a call to 911 for a waaaaaaaaambulance.

Yeah, because I do this a lot.

[DePastino]

You should have seen the game in person. It was a joke. Call after bogus call went the Suns way and still the Spurs won. You also probably didn't see all of the cheap crap the Suns were doing on TV away from the ball. I will say this. Shaq us a true Sun now. He's starting to whine just like the rest of them.

Like the Spurs don't piss and moan after EVERY foul? You guys crack me up sometimes. I can at least admit that the Suns complain way too much. I wish they'd just shut up and play.

But news flash: your Spurs whine about fouls at least as much as every other team out there.

[dreamcastrocks]

I don't remember that one, but that would mean that all three of Duncan's fouls were on BS calls.

Are you talking about the one where Duncan slightly made contact with his elbow? That's a foul.

The officiating was equally bad. It wasn't biased in any way. This game was better than any game of last year's series, that's for sure.

[dreamcastrocks]

Duncan went around him and caught him in the shoulder. If I have to explain the rules of basketball to you, then we might as well not bother doing this.

Duncan tried to get around Nash. I could see it called either way, but that one is a no call. Duncan tried to get out of the way.

[Bulwark]

Like the Spurs don't piss and moan after EVERY foul? You guys crack me up sometimes. I can at least admit that the Suns complain way too much. I wish they'd just shut up and play.

But news flash: your Spurs whine about fouls at least as much as every other team out there.

I think every team (players and coaches) complains to the refs. I think it works to a certain extent. But everyone is going to complain about a "perceived" injustice.

But I am tired of all this comlaining about the Suns/Spurs complaining. That's my complaint.

[ambchang]

I am beginning to think that unless every single call goes for a team people be content with the officiating. The whole game was evenly called, there were blown calls both ways, and that is pretty much expected, I don't expect a perfectly called game where refs made no mistakes, but as long as the calls even each other out and does not give a clear advantage towards one team, then all is fine.

To whining fans, please shut up unless you can acknowledge that Thomas set moving screens, and Oberto flopped.

[easjer]

There were some bad calls (as has been pointed out), but that will happen every game. I did not like that Shaq never fouled out, when he clearly should have, but what else is new?

I was unhappy about the officials before the game started, and predicted some of the issues. Came to pass.

Nevertheless, it was called far more evenly than I expected and I would hope that we get at least the same level of even-handedness as Saturday's game tomorrow.

I don't think it's unfair to about officiating. It's unfair to claim that it alone decides games. I'll be among the first to say that the officiating doesn't matter if the team plays well, and in fact, in the middle of my rant Saturday about these officials, I clearly said that if the Spurs were relying on the officials to win, then they were already ed.

[Obstructed_View]

Are you talking about the one where Duncan slightly made contact with his elbow? That's a foul.

Since I clearly said I don't remember that one, you can call it whatever you want, since I don't remember it. At one point I referred to both the one where Duncan touched nobody and nothing and was whistled, as well as the one you called a "non call" where Duncan was called for a charge.

The officiating was equally bad. It wasn't biased in any way. This game was better than any game of last year's series, that's for sure.

Since Suns fans exclaim over every whistle, lobby for suspensions at any contact and continue to blame the David Stern Conspiracy for suspending two players that were rightfully suspended, I submit that a game that's demonstrably one-sided is exactly the kind of game you would refer to as not biased in any way.

[Obstructed_View]

There were some bad calls (as has been pointed out), but that will happen every game. I did not like that Shaq never fouled out, when he clearly should have, but what else is new?

That was what started me out. I suggested before the game that the Spurs would be able to foul Shaq out if they'd only be aggressive when he had five fouls. I couldn't have been proven more wrong. The fact that it happened two games in a row against him cements it to me.

[ClingingMars]

The officiating was bad for the Suns and the Spurs.

[ShoogarBear]

Both teams played hard.

[td4mvp21]

I thought it was your typical inconsistent officiating you see in the NBA. At first it was call everything on the Suns, nothing on the Spurs, then it was call everything on the Spurs, nothing on the Suns, and then in the 4th/overtimes it was call nothing for either team.