Right on cue...Tony Brothers reffing tonight's Game 2 vs Bucks

[Phantom255x]

WELP

Series now tied 1-1 and half our team is in foul trouble 8 hours before gametime.

[slamtheking]

Learned something new from this - ref assignments for Games 1+2 are set before the series begins. So this isn't a league reaction to Game 1, it was already scheduled. Ditto for Foster in the other series.

It just seems pretty typical for the NBA though. They continue to put really poor officials on big games. I think it is a huge advantage for the Bucks to have Davis and Brothers working tonight...even if this was planned ahead of time

Don't they just put the most experienced refs on for the playoffs? Saying they continue to put poor officials on big games, they would simply say the most experienced refs are taking the playoffs...

I will be interested to see how the reffing goes with Kyrie. We haven't had a superstar in the playoffs since the days of the big 3. Yeah Giannis will get some calls, but I bet Kyrie will as well.

Only thing I know is it'll be a close game, which I thought even before the ref lineup

After game one, I'm expecting a Bucks blowout - and that's before the refs were announced.  Bucks will bring it tonight.  Would not be surprised to either see the C's come out lackadaisical thinking they now have HCA in the series so they don't play as hard as they did in game 1 OR the C's do play hard but the refs shut down any runs the C's are able to muster. 

[Tr1boy]

These refs can give the Bucks all the calls they need

Celts will still blow them out!

[Chris22]

They brought in Brothers because Joey Crawford is no longer available.

[number_n9ne]

[liam]

They brought in Brothers because Joey Crawford is no longer available.

And they brought in Marc Davis because Tim Donaghy was busy...

[MattyIce]

These refs can give the Bucks all the calls they need

Celts will still blow them out!

not if Al is in foul trouble the whole night

[angryguy77]

They brought in Brothers because Joey Crawford is no longer available.

And they brought in Marc Davis because Tim Donaghy was busy...

Pretty coincidental the that both games tonight have refs that have some bad history with the teams playing. They say it's decided ahead of time, if so, then there's no reason to not announce who's reffing where when it's decided. waiting until the day of stinks.

There's a reason they don't announce regs earlier, the league is lying.

[Walker Wiggle]

They brought in Brothers because Joey Crawford is no longer available.

And they brought in Marc Davis because Tim Donaghy was busy...

Pretty coincidental the that both games tonight have refs that have some bad history with the teams playing. They say it's decided ahead of time, if so, then there's no reason to not announce who's reffing where when it's decided. waiting until the day of stinks.

There's a reason they don't announce regs earlier, the league is lying.

Let me know if I've got this straight... The league office maintains that it assigns the officials for the first four games of each series before the series begins, but doesn't make those choices public until right before each game?

[angryguy77]

yup

[wiley]

I believe the league is trying to improve its officiating. 

But it is still in crisis mode and they are still in denial about it.

The problem is the number of phantom calls.  Missed calls don't stop the game flow.  Phantom calls do.
Of the two types of missed call, the phantom call is far worse.  A phantom call means the ref decided he saw something that did not happen.  This is unnatural and horrible for any sporting event.  A missed call is a much more natural event in any sport...refs cannot be expected to see every instance of contact, it's just not possible.

Phantom calls are:
A.  Unnatural
B. They stop the flow of the game
C.  They create an alternate universe reality where everyone wonders what the F is going on.


Good luck Tony!  Do your best! 

[liam]

They brought in Brothers because Joey Crawford is no longer available.

And they brought in Marc Davis because Tim Donaghy was busy...

Pretty coincidental the that both games tonight have refs that have some bad history with the teams playing. They say it's decided ahead of time, if so, then there's no reason to not announce who's reffing where when it's decided. waiting until the day of stinks.

There's a reason they don't announce regs earlier, the league is lying.

Let me know if I've got this straight... The league office maintains that it assigns the officials for the first four games of each series before the series begins, but doesn't make those choices public until right before each game?

It might effect attendance. I personally wouldn't attend a game officiated By Davis or Brothers. The betting lines also change once the refs are announced. It affects the games. If the refs were on the up and up they would have the same refs and same way of calling games all series in the playoffs. Then players could adjust to how the refs were going to call it.

[angryguy77]

They brought in Brothers because Joey Crawford is no longer available.

And they brought in Marc Davis because Tim Donaghy was busy...

Pretty coincidental the that both games tonight have refs that have some bad history with the teams playing. They say it's decided ahead of time, if so, then there's no reason to not announce who's reffing where when it's decided. waiting until the day of stinks.

There's a reason they don't announce regs earlier, the league is lying.

Let me know if I've got this straight... The league office maintains that it assigns the officials for the first four games of each series before the series begins, but doesn't make those choices public until right before each game?

It might effect attendance. I personally wouldn't attend a game officiated By Davis or Brothers. The betting lines also change once the refs are announced. It affects the games. If the refs were on the up and up they would have the same refs and same way of calling games all series in the playoffs. Then players could adjust to how the refs were going to call it.

I believe that partly to reason, and if so, the league is willfully tampering in games because it knows it can influence the outcome with the right ref. 

I'll always love this team, but due to how shady this league is, I don't think I can ever get fully invested in it like I once was. I mean look at us, before a pivotal game 2, fans around the league are either happy or unhappy depending on the ref. That's a problem.

[liam]

They brought in Brothers because Joey Crawford is no longer available.

And they brought in Marc Davis because Tim Donaghy was busy...

Pretty coincidental the that both games tonight have refs that have some bad history with the teams playing. They say it's decided ahead of time, if so, then there's no reason to not announce who's reffing where when it's decided. waiting until the day of stinks.

There's a reason they don't announce regs earlier, the league is lying.

Let me know if I've got this straight... The league office maintains that it assigns the officials for the first four games of each series before the series begins, but doesn't make those choices public until right before each game?

It might effect attendance. I personally wouldn't attend a game officiated By Davis or Brothers. The betting lines also change once the refs are announced. It affects the games. If the refs were on the up and up they would have the same refs and same way of calling games all series in the playoffs. Then players could adjust to how the refs were going to call it.

I believe that partly to reason, and if so, the league is willfully tampering in games because it knows it can influence the outcome with the right ref. 

I'll always love this team, but due to how shady this league is, I don't think I can ever get fully invested in it like I once was. I mean look at us, before a pivotal game 2, fans around the league are either happy or unhappy depending on the ref. That's a problem.

I shouldn't even know the refs names but I do. They used to put the refs names on the bottom of the box scores but took them off. There shouldn't be news stories and blog posts about the refs prior to a game. It's a really bad look for the NBA.

[liam]

ESPN has a headline about the Rockets getting a bad ref and we get Brothers and Davis, are you kidding me?