Jazz vs Thunder: Another Bad call!

[Tai]

It's the classic phenomenon of "refs are scared by the home crowd". Sad but true, the Jazz gets a lot of beneficiary calls (or non calls in your example) because of their "tough" crowd and hostile environment of their arena.

The foul on Durant was obvious, I was frankly surprised he didn't complain more about it because the Thunder got robbed on that play...

I wish they were scared of our "home crowd".

Not to fair, the playoffs are just around the corner. 

[fairweatherfan]

Well, it's official

NBA admits missed call in OKC-Utah game.

Yet another black eye for the league - an exceptional game in one of the league's best atmospheres, and the refs screw up the finish.  I try not to be a kneejerk ref hater but this is just embarrassing.

Oh, and now we get to see if there's any referee hijinks resulting from one of their own being publicly called out...it's happened before. 

Hardly a black eye. Calls will continue to be missed in all sports.

Black eye = "publicly embarrassing", not "extraordinarily atypical".  Were the steroid scandals not a black eye for MLB because baseball players were taking steroids before, during and after the news broke?

[MMacOH]

I am sure there was a point in the game where Durant got a 'favorable' call as well.  Foul calls balance out.  Blaming the refs is the easy way out. 

If Durant doesn't play poor defense 2 plays earlier OKC probably wins.  You can't blame the refs unless you execute perfectly.

See, this is a mindset that I can't disagree more with and it lets the refs off the hook for the most part. No one can "execute perfectly" all the time. And for the record, against the Thunder the Celtics had executed pretty darn close to perfect and were getting called on nonexistent fouls or OKC was awarded undeserved FT's. You can call the Celtics out for bad defense, but the Thunder were playing defense even worse than the Celtics in this one: check the fg%. Both teams make mistakes and you can only hope that the bad calls from the refs even out. Some games they don't and, sorry to say it, but the refs have changed the outcome of the game.

I'm convinced there were hundreds of times after Donaghy games where we had fans tell others that "the calls evened out over the game" and that "blaming the refs is the excuse of losers." It's all hogwash, to be honest. And I'd bet a lot of money that Donaghy wasn't a "rogue official." Would you take that bet?

I sure hope he was or else we are all wasting our time watching these games

[FallGuy]

I am sure there was a point in the game where Durant got a 'favorable' call as well.  Foul calls balance out.  Blaming the refs is the easy way out. 

If Durant doesn't play poor defense 2 plays earlier OKC probably wins.  You can't blame the refs unless you execute perfectly.

See, this is a mindset that I can't disagree more with and it lets the refs off the hook for the most part. No one can "execute perfectly" all the time. And for the record, against the Thunder the Celtics had executed pretty darn close to perfect and were getting called on nonexistent fouls or OKC was awarded undeserved FT's. You can call the Celtics out for bad defense, but the Thunder were playing defense even worse than the Celtics in this one: check the fg%. Both teams make mistakes and you can only hope that the bad calls from the refs even out. Some games they don't and, sorry to say it, but the refs have changed the outcome of the game.

I'm convinced there were hundreds of times after Donaghy games where we had fans tell others that "the calls evened out over the game" and that "blaming the refs is the excuse of losers." It's all hogwash, to be honest. And I'd bet a lot of money that Donaghy wasn't a "rogue official." Would you take that bet?

I sure hope he was or else we are all wasting our time watching these games

I can only imagine how angry we're going to be when these calls get put under the magnifying glass in the playoffs!

Nevertheless - bring it on.

[hpantazo]

now, I'm glad the NBA admits they missed the call, but, how does this make headline news and get an official response that they missed the call, when countless other similar no foul calls in similar situations involving Pierce over the last 7 years get nothing? Total rubbish, if that was Pierce on that play instead of Durant the NBA would have fined him instead of apologizing.

[liam]

now, I'm glad the NBA admits they missed the call, but, how does this make headline news and get an official response that they missed the call, when countless other similar no foul calls in similar situations involving Pierce over the last 7 years get nothing? Total rubbish, if that was Pierce on that play instead of Durant the NBA would have fined him instead of apologizing.

Too true!
TP

[guava_wrench]

Well, it's official

NBA admits missed call in OKC-Utah game.

Yet another black eye for the league - an exceptional game in one of the league's best atmospheres, and the refs screw up the finish.  I try not to be a kneejerk ref hater but this is just embarrassing.

Oh, and now we get to see if there's any referee hijinks resulting from one of their own being publicly called out...it's happened before. 

Hardly a black eye. Calls will continue to be missed in all sports.

Black eye = "publicly embarrassing", not "extraordinarily atypical".  Were the steroid scandals not a black eye for MLB because baseball players were taking steroids before, during and after the news broke?

Exactly. It isn't embarrassing because everyone knows that missed calls are unavoidable. It would be extremely unreasonable to expect perfect calls.

The steroid scandals were a black eye because it was shameful that they did not bother policing such behavior, but instead glorified the exploits of the worst offenders.

It is not a black eye for baseball when a 3rd baseman throws the ball into the first base stands. It is just expected human error.

[guava_wrench]

now, I'm glad the NBA admits they missed the call, but, how does this make headline news and get an official response that they missed the call, when countless other similar no foul calls in similar situations involving Pierce over the last 7 years get nothing? Total rubbish, if that was Pierce on that play instead of Durant the NBA would have fined him instead of apologizing.

No. If it was Paul Pierce they would have made them replay the game.

... if we are going the "say whatever arbitrary generalization we want" route ...

[fairweatherfan]

Well, it's official

NBA admits missed call in OKC-Utah game.

Yet another black eye for the league - an exceptional game in one of the league's best atmospheres, and the refs screw up the finish.  I try not to be a kneejerk ref hater but this is just embarrassing.

Oh, and now we get to see if there's any referee hijinks resulting from one of their own being publicly called out...it's happened before. 

Hardly a black eye. Calls will continue to be missed in all sports.

Black eye = "publicly embarrassing", not "extraordinarily atypical".  Were the steroid scandals not a black eye for MLB because baseball players were taking steroids before, during and after the news broke?

Exactly. It isn't embarrassing because everyone knows that missed calls are unavoidable. It would be extremely unreasonable to expect perfect calls.

Are you sure about this?  I mean, you do read threads here, right? 

Plus, missed calls being unavoidable generally doesn't imply that fans will always see a missed call in a specific, important situation as OK.  You seem to be confusing how you think people ought to react with how they actually do react.  When it comes to public perception of the league the latter is much more important.

[hpantazo]

now, I'm glad the NBA admits they missed the call, but, how does this make headline news and get an official response that they missed the call, when countless other similar no foul calls in similar situations involving Pierce over the last 7 years get nothing? Total rubbish, if that was Pierce on that play instead of Durant the NBA would have fined him instead of apologizing.

No. If it was Paul Pierce they would have made them replay the game.

... if we are going the "say whatever arbitrary generalization we want" route ...

I't not "some general arbitrary generalization" it's what I've seen watching NBA basketball for the last 20 years. If you disagree, fine, but don't try to twist what I said. I stand by my observations.