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They have done a decent job so far, but let's see what happens in Clevelands court.
After 2 games, how do you rate the officiating?
I think that the refs have been doing a pretty decent job. There have been missed calls like LBJ's elbow to Manu's chin in game 2 or Tony's obvious extra step while making a layup to turn back the Cavs rally but these things happen and usually even out. I don't see them falling for obvious flops w/c is reassuring. Overall I give them an 8 in a scale of 1-10.
They have done a decent job so far, but let's see what happens in Clevelands court.
We'd give them a 0 if we were down 0-2.
Because that would mean they single-handedly caused a 30+ point swing in two games. So yeah, they would deserve a 0 if that's the case.
I didn't like game 2's officiating at all.
A lot of beneficial calls went the Cavs way, especially in the 2nd half. Fortunately, the Spurs were kickin' so much ass it didn't matter.
I tend to think NBA officiating is usually poor, the worst of all major sports leagues IMO. I'm not one to blame a game or series on the officiating, I expect it to be crap for all teams involved. These cats can't see a flop when the rest of the world can and often call nothing when people really do collide. Seconds later they call something for gently touching a dude's wrist while he's shooting. It's the damndest thing...
To answer the question...
It sucked ass, as always.
Jesus, that elbow was not intentional. James was pulling the ball to his body to go up for a lay up/cradle the ball in traffic.
Let's all do an exercise here. Extend both arms out as if you were holding a ball, about two feet from your chest should do. Now, pull both arms towards your body.
OMG! Your elbow moves back! CRAZY!!!!!!!
Everyone knows it was not intentional, but that does not mean it was not a foul.
Had Manu elbow hit King James I am sure the everyone would be all over it asking for a suspension for Manu.
3,3/5
So far, so good. They have tended to let them play, which is what refs should do.
Sometimes they have to call some ticky tack fouls, if they feel the game is getting a little chippy and could get out of hand.
And yes, they will miss some calls, and they will even get some wrong. They have to make a decision in the blink of an eye.
But in the first two games, I would say they have overall done a really good job.
Actually, despite the wins, I haven't been all that impressed with how they have called the game.
They've called a number of suspect offensive fouls on both sides, and yet let a number of hits go uncalled. They've been doing a lot of " for tat" foul calls - you know, when the refs just HAPPEN to call the same damn thing on one end of the court that they just did 30 seconds ago on the other end - which drives me nuts. As if calling the same suspect call on both ends makes the officiating any better.
But, I think the Cavs and the Spurs are playing through however the game is being called better than almost anyone we've faced so far.
It really makes me realize how big of a bunch of whiners the Suns were. The officiating isn't really any better or worse, but the Cavs aren't letting it get to them - although, Mike Brown's decision to leave Lebron on the bench with those 2 fouls in the first was a TERRIBLE decision.
I thought in the 2nd half the other night there was a ton of contact that wasn't called. Obviously I'm a Cleveland fan, so I might have my wine and gold glasses on, but I remember Gibson getting upended twice and not a foul was called. Yet Lebron just has to get looked at and they will call a foul on that. I know he is a rookie, but you have to give him something.
I also hate how they at times stop calling fouls at all, then call some stupid blocking foul atop the 3 point line. They have done that countless times to both teams
The first game surprised me with it's decent and seemingly fair officiating. I thought the last game was bad. Phantom calls (to both teams). Changing how they called the game in the middle of the game (if it's a foul in the first five minutes, it should be a foul throughout, and likewise with the non-calls). I thought on the whole that there were bad calls for both teams, but there were stretches when we were really going where it felt like (I stress felt - I haven't gone back to see if an objective viewing would support it) the Cavs were getting a number of calls to help them back into the game. That may be colored because I expect that from Bavetta (I do think he's equal opportunity though - if it were the Spurs down, I expect he'd give them the calls).
Overall though, when the Cavs made their late push, I thought the officiating was better (so I credit the Cavs taking advantage of the bad lineups).
In game 2 the Spurs went deep into both the third and fourth quarters without a single foul being called on the Cavs. And if memory serves, half of the Cavs' output in the second quarter came from FTs. Duncan was getting pinballed a lot, why he wasn't taking more jumpers (which he was open for AND hitting) was a surprise. The first foul call on Cleveland in the fourth was Gino's four point play with 2:24 left!
I liked the way game 1 was called much better.
I really haven't been impressed with the refs. Manu takes one to the chops from Ledirk with no call. Duncan also got called for a foul with absolutely no contact...at least twice. It was pretty pathetic officiating AGAIN.
NBA officials are the best in any pro sport. Aside from a couple of bad three second calls I haven't seen anything to complain about. 9 out of 10.
I generally agree that these games have been well-called. I thought the crew that worked Game 1 -- Steve Javie, Mike Callahan, and Ken Mauer -- did an exceptional job. They let the players play the game; they called some offensive fouls and a few violations here and there --pretty much every one of the calls was correct, too -- but the crew was largely unobtrusive, which is what you want at this point.
I suspect that the Game 1 crew will work Game 5 as well.
The Game 2 crew wasn't too bad, all in all. There were times that it appeared that they pushed the "Keep it close" button, but I don't think that there was anything that they egregiously missed or just flat out blew. There did seem to be a bit more -for-tat among the Game 2 officials, and I'm pretty sure that Joe Derosa told Jim Clark that Clark made a mistake by whistling Lebron for his 2nd foul less than 3 minutes in (at the timeout following that call, Derosa wandered over to Clark and seemed to have some pointed words for him; either Derosa was propping him up for having the guts to make that call or telling him that you don't make that call in a Finals game -- given what I've seen from Derosa of late, I'm guessing it was the latter).
In any event, I'd expect that Derosa and Bavetta will call Game 6 (if necessary), along with one of tonight's officials. I think we've seen the last of Jim Clark for the 2007 playoffs.
Welcome to our world.
What about the out of bounds on Bruce (followed by the out of bounds on Pavlovic)? Bruce was nowhere near out of bounds, which replay clearly showed. They didn't show Pavlovic's in replay, but it sure felt like a "Whoops, blew that one. Well, here you go, that makes it better, doesn't it?"
There were just more of those sorts of calls, and it annoyed me.
But overall, I've been relieved. We still have to see what happens tonight (and if Salvatore is there, then I've got my su ions, even as I don't believe the league calls games beforehand), but I was worried it would be a LeBron freethrow clinic. It certainly hasn't been that.
Upon looking at the replay, Bruce was much closer to being out of bounds than he looked in real time. I thought Pavlovic did actually step out of bounds. It felt like a for tat, but it's insane how often that legitimately happens in basketball games, where a guy steps out immidiately after another guy does.
I hope we get Danny Crawford tonight. I think he's one of the best refs the NBA has, and we usually win when he works our game. Except for that Phoenix Game 2 BS this year, I think we have a pretty good record with him.
Props to the refs for not making their presence known. I wonder if The Dwyane Wade FT Parade from last year has anything to do with them calling this Finals pretty evenly.
Well, Salvatore has to work either Game 3 or Game 4 -- and since I'm not willing at this point to believe that Salvatore might be in line to draw a Game 7 assignment, I'm thinking we'll see Salvatore, Nies and someone else (Danny Crawford?) tonight. That likely leaves Rush, Delaney, and someone else for Game 4 (I suspect that the Game 7 crew, which will be comprised of a mixture of Game 3 and Game 4 crews, if form holds, will be Rush, Delaney, and Crawford).
I wouldn't say Salvatore getting Game 3 is evidence of the league calling games beforehand; I'd think it would have a lot more to do with the way officiating assignments in the Finals are determined.
Overall I think the refs have been pretty good. I am a little worried about tonight, however.
On the Bowen out of bounds call in Game 2, when Clark blew his whistle I swore he looked like he was going to call a travel, and then realized Bruce didn't, so he bailed himself out by pointing at the line and saying he stepped on it.
The other call that I was miffed on was the 3-seconds on Fabricio that was called by Bavetta. I rewound that and the most I got to was 2 seconds with Fabricio in the lane. If you watch Pop on that call, he couldn't believe Bavetta called that.
Good catch. I forgot about that, but I thought the same thing. He'd have been better off calling the BS travel, but I think he called the BS travel on Duncan in the first quarter, so he might have been worried about it.
Forgot about Crawford. I already had Salvatore and Nies targeted for this game.
Danny would be a nice addition to balance out those 2.
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