NBA Officiating... Human error or hidden agenda?

[apc]

That looked to me like a flop by Zeller.

You are looking at it with your eyes right?

My eyes see a flop too.

You have 2 guys about the same height and weight (7'1" 250lb vs 7'0" 250lb).  One takes a step and lowers a shoulder causing the other to fall off his feet completely.  In no other place in the world (except soccer/football) would a physically fit person whose expecting contact be knocked off his feet by that.

Not a flop, When you move quickly and trying to set your foot in front of a charging man, it is hard to gain stability so fast. so I think he set his foot in the right place but didn’t have his full balance.

 

[Granath]

The Celtics lost because of:

Mosgov overpowered our bigs - and got away with a couple fouls

The two quick fouls called on Bradley in the 1st quarter

At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the officials gave about 5-6 FT gifts to the Cavs

At the end of the 3rd quarter, the officials called a couple offensive fouls on the Celts, that were non calls.

That's all it took.

The NBA needs to remember that people like march madness because of Cinderella stories.

It was the inability for the Cs to put the ball in the frickin' bucket while giving up numerous offensive rebounds and turning the ball over in the last 4 minutes of the game that cost them. Blaming the refs is a pretty pathetic excuse.

The refereeing wasn't horrible. Irving shouldn't have gotten that call late in the 4th. Maybe Mosgov deserved a couple more fouls. But the refs weren't lopsided. The Cs lost because they didn't execute. End of story.

[bdm860]

That looked to me like a flop by Zeller.

You are looking at it with your eyes right?

My eyes see a flop too.

You have 2 guys about the same height and weight (7'1" 250lb vs 7'0" 250lb).  One takes a step and lowers a shoulder causing the other to fall off his feet completely.  In no other place in the world (except soccer/football) would a physically fit person whose expecting contact be knocked off his feet by that.

Not a flop, When you move quickly and trying to set your foot in front of a charging man, it is hard to gain stability so fast. so I think he set his foot in the right place but didn’t have his full balance.

Maybe I'm watching the wrong clip. Moving quickly?  Zeller takes one step after being manhandled by Thompson and is position before Mozgov makes contact.  I see no moving quickly on his part, and no reason to believe he wouldn't have his full balance, but I guess we're just going to see different things.

[Granath]

That looked to me like a flop by Zeller.

You are looking at it with your eyes right?

My eyes see a flop too.

You have 2 guys about the same height and weight (7'1" 250lb vs 7'0" 250lb).  One takes a step and lowers a shoulder causing the other to fall off his feet completely.  In no other place in the world (except soccer/football) would a physically fit person whose expecting contact be knocked off his feet by that.

Not a flop, When you move quickly and trying to set your foot in front of a charging man, it is hard to gain stability so fast. so I think he set his foot in the right place but didn’t have his full balance.

To some extent he flopped. Zeller looked like he was a toddler getting blown over in the wind. He purposely fell after the contact (which was solid).

Now quite often a player will get that call. Sometimes he won't and the referees will let them play. Zeller didn't. It didn't change the game and there's no use whining about it.

At some point this series I think the refs may very well cost the Cs a game. It hasn't happened yet.

[fairweatherfan]

That looked to me like a flop by Zeller.

You are looking at it with your eyes right?

My eyes see a flop too.

You have 2 guys about the same height and weight (7'1" 250lb vs 7'0" 250lb).  One takes a step and lowers a shoulder causing the other to fall off his feet completely.  In no other place in the world (except soccer/football) would a physically fit person whose expecting contact be knocked off his feet by that.

Not a flop, When you move quickly and trying to set your foot in front of a charging man, it is hard to gain stability so fast. so I think he set his foot in the right place but didn’t have his full balance.

To some extent he flopped. Zeller looked like he was a toddler getting blown over in the wind. He purposely fell after the contact (which was solid).

Now quite often a player will get that call. Sometimes he won't and the referees will let them play. Zeller didn't. It didn't change the game and there's no use whining about it.

At some point this series I think the refs may very well cost the Cs a game. It hasn't happened yet.

Spot on.  It was a flop, but a flop designed to force the refs to call Mozgov for butting into Zeller.  It's usually called, but often not, and in the playoffs it tends to go that way more often. 

[Celtics4ever]

We always used to say when you let a game be close enough that the refs  or a blown can decide it, it is on your team.   Our C's do not have that option, we lack the talent, we need to be hot to compete with them.   Classic example how the post season is a different beast than regular season and our guys are neophytes to it.

[wdleehi]

Because of the players involved, human error.


How close is he to the circle there?  Pretty close (though not in)


That's the point the official may have missed that caused him to not blow the whistle.  The officials have clearly been taught when not completely sure, lean towards the offensive player. 

[Ogaju]

of course it was a flop. but it was also an offensive foul.

[rollie mass]

 i was taught ,get position ,let him initiate contact and go down taking away the full brunt of collision.if players just held ground you would get killed-you have to have position-a fop to me is berfore contact-its all in the timing--zeller had position seemed to take the hit-in a sense must charges are flops if that was-

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

It looked like an offensive foul to me. Zeller's feet were fully outside the restricted area, and were set, and Mozgov lowered his shoulder into Zeller's chest. If that's not a charge, then there's no such thing as a charge.

Did Zeller embellish a bit? Maybe. But Zeller met all the criteria for drawing a charge.

[CelticGuardian]

To those making arguments that we would've lost regardless, not enough talent blah blah.... Look, we lost because of many reasons... but looking at a scoreboard where we only lost by 8... I can only think that the deciding factor was the officiating...

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Here's a good link to a Vine video of the Bradley "foul" on Irving's corner shot.

This was an absurd call. As someone points out in the comments on that link, it looks like the official, Bennett Salvatore, is looking up to see if there's contact on the arm on the shot, which there wasn't, but then he notices Irving on the floor and calls a body foul. In other words, it seems like he assumed there must have been a foul, since Irving fell. Not good officiating.

[SHAQATTACK]

If the play met all the rules to be an offensive foul .....then it's an offensive foul.   The contact was real and forced on the defensive player .  Zeller did not initiate the contact . He was set holding his ground.

It was very very poor call .    One that the NBA should review with the official and hear why he made the call given the video that clearly shows it was not.

Officials suck .....and when they are in doubt .....they call it for the favorite team ....the one that is in the best interest of the NBA to win and continue.

The act of giving ALL 50/50 calls to the stars or better team is the WRONG way to gain trust with fans .

The priority of seeing to it that certain stars and teams succeed undermines the trust of the knowledgable fans.    Maybe not for a grandmother or 8 year old .......but it surely looks bad showing favoritism to the stars with calls .

How about fair play for both sides ...all players treated as equals?

[kozlodoev]

Here's a good link to a Vine video of the Bradley "foul" on Irving's corner shot.

This was an absurd call. As someone points out in the comments on that link, it looks like the official, Bennett Salvatore, is looking up to see if there's contact on the arm on the shot, which there wasn't, but then he notices Irving on the floor and calls a body foul. In other words, it seems like he assumed there must have been a foul, since Irving fell. Not good officiating.

The call is for contact on the arm on the follow-through. It was pretty obvious on the in-game replay from the opposite end of the floor. This will be a foul every time.

Salvatore, by the way, is one of the better officials in the league.

[kozlodoev]

If the play met all the rules to be an offensive foul .....then it's an offensive foul.   The contact was real and forced on the defensive player .  Zeller did not initiate the contact . He was set holding his ground.

He embellished contact. Did you know this carries a flopping tech with it?