Bad Calls Has Been the Story of the NBA Playoffs
The next few days are going to be dedicated to the NBA. This is the big part of the year and lots of stuff is happening. What I want to talk about today is the officiating so far in the playoffs.
It has been abysmal. The fact that people are talking about it daily speaks volumes as to how bad it has been. People do not talk about officiating if it is going okay. The last time, in my opinion, that the officiating was brought up this much in the playoffs was when Tim Donaghy was reffing Lakers-Kings. That was historically bad. Donaghy went on trial for it. The Kings got robbed. It is a well known time in NBA history. This officiating has been almost, almost as bad. And there is still time for them to get to that level of bad.
I did not watch game three of Celtics-Bucks, but I read about it. I also watched the Marcus Smart three point play, and boy oh boy was it as bad as I read. I am not a Celtics fan by any stretch of the imagination, but they got absolutely robbed by the officials. Smart was clearly shooting a three pointer when he was fouled. It should have been three shots. There is no doubt in my mind. I have been watching basketball for decades, and there is no world where that is not a 3 shot foul. But the officials deemed it non shooting. And Smart made the first, missed the second intentionally and the Celtics could not tip the ball in before the buzzer. The Bucks won and took a 2-1 series lead. They also shot many, many more free throws. I understand it is a home game, and the home team gets calls, but the Bucks shot 34 free throws to the Celtics 17. That is too much. That is Duke level favoritism. It was rough.
I did happen to watch the Suns-Mavs game yesterday though. That was rough stuff. The numbers do not tell the whole story either. There is not some free throw disparity or anything like that. But some of the calls, in favor of the Mavs, were downright atrocious. They were flat out wrong. I always tell my kids and players that officials are going to screw up, they are human, but these are supposed to be the best of the best. They should not be screwing up this much. If this is the best, the NBA has a real officiating problem on their hands. This was one of the worst called games I have ever watched. And I have no rooting allegiance. Sure, I despise Luka Doncic and think he is overrated, but it is not like I am a Suns fan. I rooted hard against them in the finals last year, and really wanted the Pelicans to win round one. But the Mavs were flopping all over that floor yesterday. They would get blown by and simply fall down and the refs would blow the whistle. Devin Booker went up for a jump shot at one point, was fouled, yet somehow got a technical called on him. The refs claimed he slapped Dwight Powell in the face on his follow through. He did not. Booker made zero contact. Powell maybe, maybe got a pinky on him, but acted as if Booker open hand slapped him. And the Mavs were rewarded. Almost the exact same thing happened to Javale McGee. He was going for a rebound and, in any regular scrum under the hoop, got his arms up. He was subsequently called for a tech. But when Booker drove to the basket later in the game and made a layup, he was smacked on top of the head by Maxi Kleber. But Kleber got no technical. There was not even a review. They called a common foul. There was another play, when the Suns were really cutting into the lead, where Mikail Bridges was boxing out Jalen Brunson. Bridges arms did get up in the air and make minimal contact with Brunson, something I would never call in a pickup game, and he was called for a foul. It has to be because Brunson jerked his head back and acted like he was punched in the jaw. This happened with Bridges and Doncic too. There was a loose ball they were both chasing and the two players made contact. Bridges stood his ground and Luka fell to the floor as if he had been shot. Of course the Suns were called for a foul. But the most egregious stuff happened to Chris Paul. Again, not a fan, but there is no world where he should have fouled out of that game. There were some ticky tack calls. Luks would bury his shoulder into Paul's chest, but Paul would be called for a foul if Doncic missed a hot or looked at an official. Paul ran after a missed shot and picked up a terrible fourth foul before halftime. But after a replay, he made no contact with the Mavs player. But, I do not remember which player, fell to the floor as if Paul had body slammed him. The worst was Paul's sixth foul. He did not even touch Brunson. In fact he let him go to avoid a sixth foul because there was still 9 minutes left in the game. The game was still in the balance at the time. But Brunson missed the shot, threw his arms up at the nearest official and, like clockwork, the official called a foul on Paul. He bought into the flopping and fouled CP3 out of the game. It was all downhill from there for the Suns. This was some of the worst officiating I have ever seen. I was openly laughing at the screen. I know the Mavs tried to play it off and say that they learned it from Paul himself. But this was horrific. This was bad. This looked like a fix was in. This was atrocious. I understand that the playoffs is a TV show, and the league wants it to go on for as long as possible, but this was bad.
Like I said at the top, the officials should not be a topic of discussion. Yet that is what is on most people's minds that watched or paid any attention to this past weekend. It was bad and something needs to be cleaned up. The flopping and whining and crying to the refs has got to stop. And if the players continue to do it, they should be held accountable. I do not watch these games to see players mope and flop. I watch them to see the best athletes in the world playing at the very height of their game. The refs should never, ever be this involved.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.