Officiating

[Prof. Clutch]

Those refs almost had people ready to riot there at the Garden tonight.  I've never personally witnessed such a long session of fans booing in my life.  I mean truly dedicated to it.  I've seen fans boo a bad call and hold it for thirty seconds or so, but there was seriously one point where every single person in the arena booed continuously for more than 2 minutes straight.  There was a nun at game that they kept showing on the jumbotron and I'm pretty sure even she was booing.

Bad bad officiating tonight.

[Eja117]

I'm sure nothing makes Stern happier than hearing nuns booed the officiating

[Lord of Mikawa]

Those refs almost had people ready to riot there at the Garden tonight.  I've never personally witnessed such a long session of fans booing in my life.  I mean truly dedicated to it.  I've seen fans boo a bad call and hold it for thirty seconds or so, but there was seriously one point where every single person in the arena booed continuously for more than 2 minutes straight.  There was a nun at game that they kept showing on the jumbotron and I'm pretty sure even she was booing.

Bad bad officiating tonight.

Now that is insane.

[hwangjini_1]

The sixth foul against Garnett was so outrageously bad, right up there with the Salvatore offensive foul against Pierce in game 6 in 2008. KG was being held by two different people.

I disagree on the KG foul, he took was too aggressive in the screen for Rondo. He took a chance and got caught,he had a similar call yesterday vs. heat.

If you don't think that was bad than you must not have thought any of those calls down the stretch were bad.

If they called stuff like that consistently guys would foul out in the first quarter. Refs absolutely pick when they will or will not call something. Because every time someone makes contact with a player in the court they can pretty much blow there whistle.

The timing of those calls were ridiculous

You are 100% correct...and I still blame the NBA for having rules with grey areas...refs are humans with natural human biased tendencies. The trick is you cant empower them to make a choice whether to blow the whistle or not. The NHL and NFL are doing a great job of explaining officiating to the fans...the NBA is lightyears behind and moving backwards.

Every rule will always have a gray area because these are rules about human beings doing things. People will always do things on the borders in real time and refs will always have to make judgment calls. Biases aren't the problem. The limits to human perception are.

The only way to get rid of that is to have no rules.

We will always be flawed in our perceptions because we cannot pull in enough data from our environment in a complete and accurate way. It is impossible. Humans will always use heuristics when putting together all the data we take in and our perceptions will always flawed (though usually not as flawed as someone like Tommy Heinsohn who generously allows his wishful thinking to play a big role in his perceptions with little restraint).

For which I love him dearly. 

But I agree with your points on the officiating and limits to human abilities.

[Shad0wman]

When  ref Tim Donaghy spent 15 months in prison for cheating are you sure hes the ONLY ONE EVER IN HISTORY OF NBA TO DO EVER DO SO. PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE? Can you hear me? Call it conspiracy, but I call it what I see it, refs shaving points.

[bfrombleacher]

I'm sure nothing makes Stern happier than hearing nuns booed the officiating

Wow. Hahaa. TP

[chambers]

They were bad towards the end but not as bad as people are making.
Having Heinsohn as the broadcaster doesn't help things. The guy sees green things that no one else can (understandably).
There were some bad calls, but Pierce was an easy foul and so was Garnett's.
Steimsma easily clipped Teague on the wrist/hand and you're in denial if you think that wasn't a foul. A few of them were iffy but it's so much harder out there in person than it is with the angles of TV and replay (and Tommy berating anything that goes against the C's).
Bad, but not fixed.
Tough win, heart felt win. Only makes us stronger.

[Bahku]

Hate to say it, but this thread is so predictable, (though I wholeheartedly agree with CoachBo) ... just unbelievably horrendous officiating in this game, and still many people, (mostly the same people), defending the refs.

It's just amazing to me how some folks see the officials as always above reproach, and as just an excuse for "sour" fans ... gimme a break! Some of the worst calls I've ever seen in this one, and as clearly biased as it can get.

Shameful job by the refs, and shameful defense of their lack of integrity by anyone making excuses for them. How bad does it have to get before an impartial board is put together to make these guys accountable to someone?!?

Nice game, Celtics ... once again you had to defeat eight people on the floor.

[j804]

How livid was Tommy I just watched the game on DVR and was busting up


"GIMME A BREAK..."

"THAT'S TERRIIIBBLLEEE"

[myteamisbetterthanyours]

Didn't see the game, but I'm not surprised.  NBA "un-officials" are the slimiest, most foul (pun intended), worst referees in sports. 

Theres contact on almost every play in basketball that could be called a foul.  Every call is borderline and its based on judgement/point in the game the play occurred/who currently has the momentum/who "looks" more aggressive.  They literally pick and choose when to make calls.  It's disgusting. 

But! I have a solution.

The only way this can be resolved is if we have Robot Refs and specialized basketball courts that can tell when players travel and double dribble, because apparently, humans can't officiate NBA games.

[Celtics18]

I don't get what all the fuss is about.  The Stiemsma offensive foul?  Yeah, he fouled Josh Smith.

  Paul's arm came out and slapped Josh Smith on that move where he drove past him.  Smith made a ridiculous sell job, but it was a foul.

  Garnett called for the illegal pick going through the lane was the worst one, but it certainly had enough contact while moving to be a foul. 

I'm not that upset about it. 

[2short]

This was bad but to me the miami game it seemed like the refs picked a time to start giving out calls to get miami the win.

[Employee8]

I don't get what all the fuss is about.  The Stiemsma offensive foul?  Yeah, he fouled Josh Smith.

  Paul's arm came out and slapped Josh Smith on that move where he drove past him.  Smith made a ridiculous sell job, but it was a foul.

  Garnett called for the illegal pick going through the lane was the worst one, but it certainly had enough contact while moving to be a foul. 

I'm not that upset about it. 

To be fair, I was livid last night.  But this morning, I've come to my senses and agree that they were all legit fouls.

I have some good lip reading skills.  When the teams took the floor after the timeout and before Atlanta's last attempt in regulation, the camera was on Josh Smith and Paul talking to each other.  I missed what Paul said but he was behind Josh and he was smiling so I assume he said something to the effect of "gotta love it when you get a free pass eh?" and Josh responded with a "dude, you slapped me in the face.  you can't do that man."  Paul just rolled his eyes and said nothing in return.

Sounds legit to me on Josh's part.

[Fafnir]

I don't get what all the fuss is about.  The Stiemsma offensive foul?  Yeah, he fouled Josh Smith.

  Paul's arm came out and slapped Josh Smith on that move where he drove past him.  Smith made a ridiculous sell job, but it was a foul.

  Garnett called for the illegal pick going through the lane was the worst one, but it certainly had enough contact while moving to be a foul. 

I'm not that upset about it. 

The NBA officials almost NEVER call the arm bars and stiff arms driving players use to shove off defenders. Pierce, Rondo, Johnson, Hinrich, every player who dribbled was doing it all night. Call it the same way the whole game or don't call it at all. Only Smith's head being low and exaggerated reaction drew a whistle in this case.

[incoherent]

What I hate most as other have touched on, is the offensive arm bars that Wade and Lebron do every single play to create space.

All players do this but I think it should be called.. That off arm to protect yourself, when you push it out to create space it actually does create a lot of space and is a foul. I hate that it never gets called.