Chicken and egg sort of situation. The refs have rewarded flopping for too long, and they’ve given superstar calls for too long. Now all these young players that grew up watching that come in and expect it. They expect to get every little touch called a foul, to get away with travels and illegal screens, because it’s what they know and are used to. The refs/league rules created this though. What I agree with here is that players treat refs like s***, with the constant swearing, complaining, arguing, etc. I know these are grown men and it’s not the same, but I like how it works in college more. Players rarely complain, the coaches do the complaining and the players don’t get all hysterical because they are supposed to treat the refs with respect. I don’t know if that could work in the NBA, but it does make college ball run a lot smoother. I don’t see any easy solution to this, but a start to me would be to stop rewarding players like Harden and Paul and other floppers and try and MAKE them adjust their games. We know players that good are perfectly capable of still being superstars without all their BS antics.
Durant got all ball there. Hard to see in a couple angles full speed but the last straight from the backboard shot in slo mo showed he got the ball. Didn't he? And Van Gundy says that's contact and him again again or someone else says that's a foul.
I thought that was a great defensive play. When and when isn’t the hand part of the ball? He successfully avoided body contact. Has to be frustrating dealing with inconsistent calls.
It would be beyond disappointing. My favorite teams would then be: 1. Lakers 2a. Whoever is playing LLLLL’s team 2b. Whoever is playing the Rockets 2c. Whoever is playing the C Bags
Look, the 2 min report is hard on the refs, the players jawing at them all game is hard on them too, but they also don’t have to answer to any media for bad calls made or explain themselves. Screw Scott Foster though, I still remember his pretty unhappy expression after Derek Fisher made a 3 to put the Lakers up 94-91 in OT of the ‘09 Finals. His face to me at least, appeared not pleased that the Lakers were gonna pull it off and I have no clue why. Maybe it meant less games and less work for him that Finals. 1:43 to 1:48
its fun to think of it like this, but Scott could have been thinking about a million others things from that facial expression he had. Idk, Scott Foster isn't a favorite official of mine, but I trust his work more than most out of the current crop of officials. Bob Delany was another one of my favorites back in the day. Speaking of Bob Delany, he's got a crazy background in what he did before the NBA that he outlines in his book, Covert. Crazy that he was working undercover and was part of the mock for so many years. Very interesting guy.
There’s another/better version of his face from that situation that makes my point more believable, but I couldn’t find it. He makes this face like “wow, can’t believe he made that, we’re doing all we can to extend this series and the Lakers won’t allow it”. Like a “geez what else can I do here, damn”. Might not even have been that 3, might have been the one to tie it at 87.
That wasn't on refs. The Dallas players were almost afraid to touch the opponent. Looked like they were attempting a legitimate turnover.
I get it, the media has been pushing the whole "players complain too much" narrative when it comes to talk about the refereeing but you also have to give it to the players, so many missed calls and ticky-tack calls.
The ref that didn’t make that call is standing right there. Literally feet away, absolutely unbelievable no-call. The NBA needs to start offering free lasik to every ref in the league.
