Source: NBA Reviewing Officiating of Game 4

[Donoghus]

Can't say I'm terribly surprised after watching that 4th quarter. 

Certainly not on the level of Game 6 of the '02 WCF but there were some headscratchers there. 

Not shockingly, Joey Crawford, seems to be at the middle of last night.  Guy loves the attention.

I do think this is a lot of this press release is just about the league trying to save face with the PR.

So which way are you saying the refs gave this one to Indiana?

No.  There were just some pretty borderline ticky tacky calls along with blown calls.

That Lakers-Kings game from '02 was on a whole other level.  To this day, that's the one game I've watched that I genuinely believe had something fishy going on. 

Last night was not although I do think Crawford made things about himself near the end.

[connor]

There were missed calls for both sides, but I'm surprised that they are actually publicly saying they are going to review the officiating given that I don't think this game was that much worse than any other playoff game I've watched throughout the post season. Its just playing into the hands of people who say that the league is absolutely biased towards certain franchises and star players (and their evidence is mounting up).

The big thing I took away from this game though is that LeBron actually looks human when he gets the same calls as everyone else. He is still clearly the best player on the court by a wide margin, but when he is taken down from his "superstar status" and treated like everyone else he becomes far less intimidating.

Yes some of the calls against him may have been sketchy, but EVERY single other player on the court gets those same bad calls. Its only newsworthy because its LeBron not getting treated like a diva.

[timobusa]

sterNBA.

LeBron won't have 3 fouls the rest of the series. Best believe David Stern has put in word.

They're probably gonna fine Lance Stephenson.

But they won't fine the great LeBrooooon *tommy heinson voice*

[SHAQATTACK]

Stevenson is marked man...HOW DARE he play defense on the "KING"  ,  how dare he challenge da Kings  game.

LeBron won't have EVEN ONE FOUL this next game.   

LeBron and WADE have to have the special treatment  ...which sucks so bad ...they are the worse floppers and cry babies in the NBA.


LeBron is the "WORST ACTOR" or flopper ....his antics are laughable and make a joke of the NBA officiating .

[CoachBo]

Of course they are. Indiana won.

[Eddie20]

Can't say I'm terribly surprised after watching that 4th quarter. 

Certainly not on the level of Game 6 of the '02 WCF but there were some headscratchers there. 

Not shockingly, Joey Crawford, seems to be at the middle of last night.  Guy loves the attention.

I do think this is a lot of this press release is just about the league trying to save face with the PR.

So which way are you saying the refs gave this one to Indiana?

No.  There were just some pretty borderline ticky tacky calls along with blown calls.

That Lakers-Kings game from '02 was on a whole other level.  To this day, that's the one game I've watched that I genuinely believe had something fishy going on. 

Last night was not although I do think Crawford made things about himself near the end.

Which calls are you referring to? Because it was Crawford that called the travel on Wade, but he did not call the tripping 6th foul on James.

[wahz]

They review calls after every game - the only thing it could affect is flagrant foul classification and however they evaluate the refs.

The officiating was pretty terrible though - I like that if the calls had gone the other way people would be shrieking about Stern and ref conspiracies, but almost no one's nuts enough to think the league would conspire to promote the Pacers.

When I started reading this thread I assumed it would be about all the crazy calls that went against Indiana. There was maybe one bad call that didn't go Lebron's way but in Miamis run to take the lead, there were 4 or 5 partiuclarly awful calls that all went against Indy

[CelticConcourse]

He should be the last one complaining. There've been countless "questionable" calls against Heat opponents. Deal with it, Lebro!

[fairweatherfan]

They review calls after every game - the only thing it could affect is flagrant foul classification and however they evaluate the refs.

The officiating was pretty terrible though - I like that if the calls had gone the other way people would be shrieking about Stern and ref conspiracies, but almost no one's nuts enough to think the league would conspire to promote the Pacers.

When I started reading this thread I assumed it would be about all the crazy calls that went against Indiana. There was maybe one bad call that didn't go Lebron's way but in Miamis run to take the lead, there were 4 or 5 partiuclarly awful calls that all went against Indy

The officiating was bad overall, both in terms of what was and wasn't called.  Several calls went against Indiana, including the single most obvious bad call (the shot clock violation). 

But against Miami, there was the last LeBron foul, the Wade travel, the foul on LeBron where one ref called an offensive foul on Hibbert and Crawford overruled him, the Heat being charged a timeout for Spoelstra being on the floor (which happens constantly), West hitting Wade in the head and not getting a flagrant, the soft backcourt offensive foul with 2 seconds left in the 3rd that led to Stephenson's 3 at the buzzer, their entire top 3 being in foul trouble most of the game, etc etc.

I'm not saying these were all bad calls, just that they were all unusual or 50/50 type plays.  And I definitely don't think the refs were deliberately favoring the Pacers - they were just awful.  But I am sure that if you swapped the Pacers and Heat names in the calls I listed, a lot of posters would be screaming conspiracy.

[Fafnir]

I can't be bothered to care about the Spolestra losing a timeout. If he's that upset he can just argue that he should be assessed a technical foul. He literally disrupts players on the fastbreak at least 3 or 4 times a game by running on the floor.

[scaryjerry]

The league and the heat and Lebron more specifically should pound sand...it's about time all the calls don't go his way

[fairweatherfan]

I can't be bothered to care about the Spolestra losing a timeout. If he's that upset he can just argue that he should be assessed a technical foul. He literally disrupts players on the fastbreak at least 3 or 4 times a game by running on the floor.

Yeah, the only defense against that is that coaches do it all the time (which they do).  But I'd like to see it cracked down on, because it's getting ridiculous.  It was just an unusual time and place to call it, unless Spoelstra had already been warned.

[CelticsFan9]

*Prepares to be crucified*

I thought a couple of the fouls on LeBron were kind of weak, especially the one of the Hibbert and1.  Watching it live, I didn't even see a foul, and upon watching replay, it was a touch foul at best.

His offensive foul at the end of the third (where he barreled into West, I think) reminds me of KG's moving screens.  LeBron/KG does it every game, why call it now?

Finally, the foul that got him out was, in my mind, a makeup call for the horrendous shot clock violation assessed to IND.  I didn't really like it because they chose to make up for it with 56 seconds left in a crucial playoff game.  For starters, I think Stephenson ran into LeBron, because Wade had rejected his pick, and I also don't think LeBron moved THAT MUCH.  Moving screens are rarely called, anyways.

Did I enjoy seeing LeBron foul out?  Absolutely.  But some of those calls against him very shaky.  And like I mentioned, that SCV made my eyes bleed.

[Redz]

*Prepares to be crucified*

I thought a couple of the fouls on LeBron were kind of weak, especially the one of the Hibbert and1.  Watching it live, I didn't even see a foul, and upon watching replay, it was a touch foul at best.

His offensive foul at the end of the third (where he barreled into West, I think) reminds me of KG's moving screens.  LeBron/KG does it every game, why call it now?

Finally, the foul that got him out was, in my mind, a makeup call for the horrendous shot clock violation assessed to IND.  I didn't really like it because they chose to make up for it with 56 seconds left in a crucial playoff game.  For starters, I think Stephenson ran into LeBron, because Wade had rejected his pick, and I also don't think LeBron moved THAT MUCH.  Moving screens are rarely called, anyways.

Did I enjoy seeing LeBron foul out?  Absolutely.  But some of those calls against him very shaky.  And like I mentioned, that SCV made my eyes bleed.

. I was thinking the same thing on the 6th foul and KG doing the same thing.  The difference is they tend to call KG for at least an obligatory illegal screen call per game.  Lebron does not.

[nickagneta]

This really is the fault of the NBA offices. They have allowed for the quality of their officiating to decline for years and years. What's the average age for an NBA ref? 55? 60? 65?

Joey Crawford was ancient in 2002 when he reffed the Kings and Lakers that has to have been fixed. 11 years later he is still officiating?

Lebron gets the Jordan treatment by the refs and after one game where he is treated about the same as any other player in the league, suddenly the league needs to publicly announce they are reviewing fouls called against him? Please! So he fouled out on one game where he had some bad fouls called against him(and yes, he did have some bad fouls called against him last night). So what? Tell that to the other 10-30 players that foul out every night in the NBA on some really bad foul calls against them.

The league needs to stop publicly coddling this Heat team to create some sort of media image of Lebron's greatness and just let them play the game.

San Antonio sits three players and gets fined. Miami does the same thing...nothing.

Rondo gets suspended for tapping a ref on the butt while joking with him and because he has a history gets the suspension. Wade can elbow players in the head and even though he has a long history of cheap shots, just gets a flagrant call. His history of taking out guys like Darren Collison and Rajon Rondo and others....ignored.

Lebron fouls out of a game on a bad call or two and there is an investigation. KG, Pierce, Paul, Duncan, Howard, the Gasols, George, Dirk, Griffin, etc. etc. can foul out of a game on a bad call or two and .....nothing.

NBA is really starting to make it very difficult to be an older, extremely dedicated fan of their game.