KG fined $25 000 for criticizing the refs

[fairweatherfan]

Hypothetical situation. The Celtics get the fourth seed in the playoffs and dispatch of Milwaukee and do so in impressive fashion. The C's are really looking good. They then have to play Cleveland in the second round and after a losing a close game in Game 1 beat Cleveland in Game 2 and the series is coming back to Boston.

Is anyone going to be surprised if it is announced that Mark Ayotte, Zach Zarba, Bob Delaney are the officiating crew for Game 3 in Boston? Yes that would be the same crew that screwed the C's against the Thunder and the Garnett complained about.

Come on! How many of you would be surprised to see that? I know I wouldn't. I would be seething over it and would start a e-mail writing campaign to have an investigation look into why these guys are officiating a Boston playoff game, but ultimately it would still happen and I wouldn't be surprised in the least.

The problem is we've seen so many officials do things we consider to be biased against the team that pretty much no matter who's reffing we could make the same complaint.  Salvatore, Bavetta, Crawford, Kennedy, Mauer...if we're looking for conspiracies we could see it in any of those refs being assigned to a key game.

[PosImpos]

Hypothetical situation. The Celtics get the fourth seed in the playoffs and dispatch of Milwaukee and do so in impressive fashion. The C's are really looking good. They then have to play Cleveland in the second round and after a losing a close game in Game 1 beat Cleveland in Game 2 and the series is coming back to Boston.

Is anyone going to be surprised if it is announced that Mark Ayotte, Zach Zarba, Bob Delaney are the officiating crew for Game 3 in Boston? Yes that would be the same crew that screwed the C's against the Thunder and the Garnett complained about.

Come on! How many of you would be surprised to see that? I know I wouldn't. I would be seething over it and would start a e-mail writing campaign to have an investigation look into why these guys are officiating a Boston playoff game, but ultimately it would still happen and I wouldn't be surprised in the least.

Honestly, I'd just be pleased that we beat Cleveland once in a playoff series.

[barefacedmonk]

[Bahku]

When stars of the game start criticizing the refs by referencing the fact that the best player of the last 20 years was given preferential treatment by the referees during his time and saying a young player was getting calls like that, the NBA has a problem.

Basically he's stating that it's a fact that Jordan was officiated different than everyone else, that everyone knows it and that the young player currently on the court was also getting preferential treatment. The thing is, a very simple video montage of the calls for Durant that night will prove Garnett is only speaking the truth.

So of course, the NBA throws in that little blurb about inappropriate language in a press conference as well and now there can be no arguments because whether Garnett was only saying what was true, he did swear so the fine stands.

This league is pathetic.

They hand hand out what must be somewhere between $500,000 and a $1 million in fines every year for complaining about the officiating and instead of fixing the officiating they only get more stringent with their fines. The tail is wagging the dog on that one.

Saved me a bunch of typing Nick ... thanks. (TP)

Back to u

But doesn't just get under your skin that when a set of officials has a horrible game and one of the biggest stars in the game complains about it the response from the league is to punish the star for rightly speaking his mind?

It's why I like the NFL. You can call for a review if you feel the officials messed up. You can have the game held up for a whole minute or two while the call is reviewed and ultimately, the correct call is made official, the game isn't lengthen that much and there's little to complain about. Sure the subjectivity of pass interference and some other penalties can still cause some controversy but the NFL took a major step from removing controversy over officials.

Also, in the NFL, if the officials mess up calls the league comes out and publicly says so and those officials are taken to task and usually not seen come playoff time. You almost never see that happen in the NBA unless it is the most egregious of errors, like when the Celtics have a game turn around on them because the officials let the other team play with six players and reward the other team for it.

Why can't the NBA institute a coach's challenge for 2 plays a half. What's that going to do make a 2 hour and 45 minute game 3 hours long? Big deal. I would rather have the calls be right and the game be longer.

Now maybe after reviewing that Durant three foul shot foul they give the Thunder the ball side out and Durant hits a three pointer but at least they would have earned it and not been gifted 3 points like they were.

Exactly ... it's crazy! So what they're saying is no one has a right to complain ... that everything they do is without question or liability, and to even speak such is heresy worthy of 25 grand! Unbelievable ... the expletive is of little value other than excuse, because if players were consistently fined for bad language, well, they'd be broke, despite their huge salaries. The example or precident this sets for other sports and areas of competition, (to not allow the questioning of authority), is just plain scary. I just wonder what it will take before something is done about it.

[Chris]

He should be fined that money from the team for being whiny, rather than just stepping up and you know, defending Green on those 3's. 

I know the refs suck.  But this is nothing new.  But the refs did not lose the C's that game, their lack of defense did.

(disclaimer: I am not really saying it was KG's fault, just saying that the team in general needs to play a lot better defense before they have a right to complain at the refs in a game like that)

[fairweatherfan]

The example or precident this sets for other sports and areas of competition, (to not allow the questioning of authority), is just plain scary. I just wonder what it will take before something is done about it.

If there's a major sport out there where you can get away with strongly criticizing the officials to the media, I haven't heard of it. 

[barefacedmonk]

The example or precident this sets for other sports and areas of competition, (to not allow the questioning of authority), is just plain scary. I just wonder what it will take before something is done about it.

If there's a major sport out there where you can get away with strongly criticizing the officials to the media, I haven't heard of it. 

What sports do you consider "major"?

[Chris]

BTW, I have no problem with the league having a policy against players/coaches criticizing refs.  I think that is bad for the league as a whole, and they should protect that.  The complaints should be kept in-house, and dealt with through formal complaints to the league office.

With that said, the league also needs to realize that it has a very real problem right now, where the fans think the refs are biased.  The only way to fix that is to be much more transparent about what they are doing to fix it.  And honestly, they don't even need to DO anything, to fix the public-relations problem, they just need to put on a dog and pony show, like MLB did with the steroids investigation.  The fact that their response is always "we deal with it internally, and review everything...no, you cannot have any details" is that kills them, and promotes the thinking that THEY are the ones fixing games. 

[nickagneta]

He should be fined that money from the team for being whiny, rather than just stepping up and you know, defending Green on those 3's. 

I know the refs suck.  But this is nothing new.  But the refs did not lose the C's that game, their lack of defense did.

(disclaimer: I am not really saying it was KG's fault, just saying that the team in general needs to play a lot better defense before they have a right to complain at the refs in a game like that)

While I agree that ultimately if the calls are not going your way you still have to do everything you can to stop the opposition and I also agree that almost every Celtic loss is attributable to the team(players and coaches), I can't help but think there are definitely those one or two games a year where the refs gift the opportunity for the opposition to win.

Wednesday's game was one of those gift opportunities. Durant, at a minimum should have had 7 less foul shots all by himself. The C's probably should have had at least a half dozen more foul shots. And all that would do would make the game slightly lopsided in favor of the Thunder. It wouldn't even make the game evenly called.

The refs also effected that Atlanta game earlier this season and there was that game in Denver a couple years ago and others. I'm sorry but if the NBA officiating is so bad that it costs the proper outcome from occurring 2 times per year for every team, then the NBA has a HUGE problem. That type of incompetence should not be allowed.

[Chris]

He should be fined that money from the team for being whiny, rather than just stepping up and you know, defending Green on those 3's. 

I know the refs suck.  But this is nothing new.  But the refs did not lose the C's that game, their lack of defense did.

(disclaimer: I am not really saying it was KG's fault, just saying that the team in general needs to play a lot better defense before they have a right to complain at the refs in a game like that)

While I agree that ultimately if the calls are not going your way you still have to do everything you can to stop the opposition and I also agree that almost every Celtic loss is attributable to the team(players and coaches), I can't help but think there are definitely those one or two games a year where the refs gift the opportunity for the opposition to win.

Wednesday's game was one of those gift opportunities. Durant, at a minimum should have had 7 less foul shots all by himself. The C's probably should have had at least a half dozen more foul shots. And all that would do would make the game slightly lopsided in favor of the Thunder. It wouldn't even make the game evenly called.

The refs also effected that Atlanta game earlier this season and there was that game in Denver a couple years ago and others. I'm sorry but if the NBA officiating is so bad that it costs the proper outcome from occurring 2 times per year for every team, then the NBA has a HUGE problem. That type of incompetence should not be allowed.

See, I don't think Wednesday game was bad at all.  I thought the C's weren't getting calls because OKC simply was not playing defense, and Durant kept getting to the line because the C's were constantly a step late, and were reaching. 

[Drucci]

He should be fined that money from the team for being whiny, rather than just stepping up and you know, defending Green on those 3's.  

I know the refs suck.  But this is nothing new.  But the refs did not lose the C's that game, their lack of defense did.

(disclaimer: I am not really saying it was KG's fault, just saying that the team in general needs to play a lot better defense before they have a right to complain at the refs in a game like that)

While I agree that ultimately if the calls are not going your way you still have to do everything you can to stop the opposition and I also agree that almost every Celtic loss is attributable to the team(players and coaches), I can't help but think there are definitely those one or two games a year where the refs gift the opportunity for the opposition to win.

Wednesday's game was one of those gift opportunities. Durant, at a minimum should have had 7 less foul shots all by himself. The C's probably should have had at least a half dozen more foul shots. And all that would do would make the game slightly lopsided in favor of the Thunder. It wouldn't even make the game evenly called.

The refs also effected that Atlanta game earlier this season and there was that game in Denver a couple years ago and others. I'm sorry but if the NBA officiating is so bad that it costs the proper outcome from occurring 2 times per year for every team, then the NBA has a HUGE problem. That type of incompetence should not be allowed.

I totally agree with you Nick (and with your first post in this tread, you perfectly resumed the situation). Games like the one against the Thunder are a disgrace for the NBA - although the one against Atlanta in Boston was clearly the worst officiated game I've seen in two seasons.

What I hate even more about these "fixed" games is that you can tell by watching the players and the coach(es) that they know that referees tend to help the opposing team sometimes, and you can see in their reactions that they are thinking "OK, it's one of those nights, so we're screwed". It's like there is a code of silence in the NBA, a big hypocrisy - everybody (from fans to players to media to coaches) knows that the NBA officiating can be an absolute joke for some games (usually crucial ones) and yet no solutions have been taken, and when a player speaks the truth, he gets fined, as if to say "we know you're right but don't you dare tell the truth to the media".

[fairweatherfan]

The example or precident this sets for other sports and areas of competition, (to not allow the questioning of authority), is just plain scary. I just wonder what it will take before something is done about it.

If there's a major sport out there where you can get away with strongly criticizing the officials to the media, I haven't heard of it. 

What sports do you consider "major"?

In America?  The big 4 team leagues, tennis...golf is a major sport but officials don't tend to play much of a role.  NASCAR depending on if you consider it a sport or not.  That's pretty much it.  I've seen people fined for criticizing officials in all of them except golf.

[barefacedmonk]

The example or precident this sets for other sports and areas of competition, (to not allow the questioning of authority), is just plain scary. I just wonder what it will take before something is done about it.

If there's a major sport out there where you can get away with strongly criticizing the officials to the media, I haven't heard of it.  

What sports do you consider "major"?

In America?  The big 4 team leagues, tennis...golf is a major sport but officials don't tend to play much of a role.  NASCAR depending on if you consider it a sport or not.  That's pretty much it.  I've seen people fined for criticizing officials in all of them except golf.

Tennis players of the past were vocal in their criticism of the refs...thats why they brought in the review system. Players are allowed to challenge a few calls...same goes for Cricket. While its not big in America...its pretty popular globally.

[nickagneta]

The journey towards improvement begins with the realization of imperfection.

If only David Stern understood this.

[Chris]

The journey towards improvement begins with the realization of imperfection.

If only David Stern understood this.

Agreed.  But that is not up to the players, who are being paid for the league to point out. 

For example, if you worked for a company that had some major problems in your accounting division, would you like the managers to go on TV complaining about it?  Of course not, that would kill the stock in the company.  You want to fix it from within.