I keep missing it. I see calls that I don't agree with, but I rarely see anything that reaches the level of concerted conspiracy in my eyes.
It's not a conspiracy. That would require too much intelligence. It's that NBA refs are so freakin' arbitrary with their foul calls that when you see phantom fouls or blatant no-calls, it's almost impossible not to suspect some sort of motivation behind it.
Mike
This is going to sound ridiculous, but I think they get a bad rap. The difference between a block and a charge, and the difference between how much contact constitutes a foul in the paint is so small, and everything happens so quickly and with so much force that those calls are really tough to make.
NBA refs do a great job. Sometimes they make questionable calls that influence the outcome. That's the nature of the game. However, teams get plenty of chances to win the game without it having to come down to whistles.
NBA refs probably have the toughest job in sports officiating and, relatively speaking, they probably do a better job than any other officials.
HOWEVER, there is an arbitrary element to NBA officiating that is worse than any other sport, except maybe judges in boxing. The analogy I use is that if a home plate umpire did his job the way an NBA ref does his, the umpire would not only have a different strike zone for each player, he's have a different strike zone for each player for every inning and then would occasionally change strike zones in the middle of an at bat.
This is why flopping has become so effective in the NBA. Refs are simply looking to call a foul sometimes and when a player makes an awkward jerk, the ref blows the whistle on automatic.
Mike