The NBA: Where Bad Officiating Happens
Unlike, say, Freddie, I’m not one for conspiracy theories, nor do I think it’s wise to make the case for trends that may reflect little more than confirmations of my own biases (as Will puts it, the bad calls went both ways last night, and there were two plays in overtime where Dwight Howard defended the hell out of LeBron and the usually-predictable whistles weren’t blown), but the call/no-call combination at the end of last night’s fourth quarter – if you missed it, start around the 1:10 mark here – was among the worst I can remember. LeBron dives – simply dives – several feet forward into a retreating Mikael Pietrus and gets a whistle to tie the game with a half-second left, and then the refs look the other way as Howard gets undercut by Varejao on a lob attempt as time expires … I know it’s typical, but of course that’s exactly the problem.
But the most frustrating thing about it – well, the second-most frustrating thing, following the fact that one of the best players in the history of the game consistently ”comes through in the clutch” by flopping like a EuroLeague footballer – is the way that the announcers just move on as if nothing happened. The whistle on Pietrus was by far the worse of those two calls, but it wasn’t discussed at all during the game, while the non-call on Varejao got little more than a shrug; if conspiracy theories are your thing, the apparent complicity of the announcers on the league’s networks of record is as good a piece of support as you can hope to find. At this point, Marv Albert’s unwillingness to call a flop for what it is is even more embarrassing than his ridiculous blonde toupee – thankfully for his sake, though, Craig Sager’s neon suits have simply run away with gold, silver, and bronze in that department.
Anyway, I suppose it doesn’t much matter, as the superior team won last night and seems a lock to wrap things up in six or seven. LeBron, meanwhile, is as good as gone in Cleveland: if this is the best talent they can attract to surround him with, the appeal of remaining a hometown hero won’t amount to much, and there happens to be a coach in New York City who runs an offense that’s pretty well suited for a player with zero perimeter game and a penchant for drawing phantom fouls whenever he’s within seven feet of the basket.
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I don’t think you’re watching those plays closely enough. I haven’t seen a slow close-up view of the trip call on Pietrus, but if you watch his feet in the video you linked it looks like LeBron falls over Pietrus’ foot while they’re both moving and Pietrus doesn’t have position in front of him, so that looks ok to me. The non-call with Howard and Varejao is kind of a mess – AV is definitely pushing Howard back and undercutting him, but the initial move features a push-off from Howard, and then he grabs Varejao’s arm again. So I’m ok with a non-call there. Both guys are grabbing and pushing, and neither has the ball. Granted, if Howard hadn’t pushed and grabbed AV would have fouled him anyway, and who knows whether he would have got the call. I kind of doubt it. But he did push off and grab hold of his arm during the play.
I only kind of believe the NBA is crooked. What I really believe is that NBA officiating is atrocious.
[...] Freddie has a gravestone. John Schwenkler agrees that the officiating is bad and also the announcing: But the most frustrating thing about it [...]
Yes, well if the TNT crew had done its job, you would have. I pretty much agree about the non-call on Varejao, though – it’s just that it seems that a different standard applied to Pietrus and LeBron.
What the NBA really needs to do is to institute a rule penalizing players for flopping.
How about the goaltending tipin by Howard in the overtime? Or, Howard’s no-call foul on James shooting a three? Howard got far more breaks then he had go against him.
BTW, Howard should have been called for the foul on the lob. His push-pull move on AV would have made NFL defensive ends proud, but has no place in the NBA.
BTW, just finished reading your last paragraph. You have zero basketball or NBA knowledge.
The fact is that Orlando is shooting almost 50% on three-pointers (15% better than their average) and Cleveland is shooting 25% on threes (15% worse than average). That is the basic story of this series (besides the horrible officiating).
One final note, the foul/jumpball involving AV/Howard/James is a real problem. How can it be both a jump ball between James/Howard and a foul on AV? It should be one or the other. Either the jumpball or foul happened first.
Are you KIDDING me?! That was the most obvious non-foul I’ve ever seen …
And sorry to break it to you, but Cleveland is terrible, dude. Just. Plain. Terrible.
Well, Brian, the fact that Orlando has the best defense in the NBA might just conceivably have something to do with Cleveland’s lack of success on three-pointers. And right now it’s just obvious that Orlando is playing better than Cleveland – the Cavs keep losing or almost losing in spite of absolutely disgusting numbers from LeBron. They’re getting nothing from their supporting cast – West and Williams are shooting terrible percentages and Big Z has been completely abused. If you want to quibble with John’s calling Orlando the superior team, you have to make a distinction between performance against all opponents and performance against a specific opponent. And in some cases that’s valid: the Lakers couldn’t seem to beat Charlotte this year and recent years, but nobody would say the Bobcats are the better team. Sadly for Cleveland, it’s how they stack up against Orlando that matters now, and everybody can see how that’s going.
To Brian again, I really don’t think it’s fair to say that the story of this series so far is a random disparity in 3-point percentage, when the Magic have consistently had success against the Cavs in this series, the regular season, and even last year. The matchups just don’t work well for Cleveland.
Joe,
Orlando is nowhere close to the best defensive team in the league. Cleveland has open looks. Orlando has open looks. One team is shooting hot. One shooting cold.
John,
Howard clearly fouled James on that three. He left his feet and his momentum carried him into James in the act of shooting. When you make a stupid play on defense, you should be penalized for it.
I agree the matchups are not in Cleveland’s favor (they could be if Cleveland would run with one big instead of insisting on putting AV and Z out there at the same time). Numbers don’t lie and Orlando only shoots 30% at home on threes but shot almost 50% last night. When Skip To My Lou is banking in three-pointers, it’s just not your night (or series).
BTW, Cleveland-Orlando during the regular season was simply the home team winning every game.
Or how about: One team can shoot. The other can’t. Guess which one’s going to win?
No, he didn’t; and no, they didn’t. When your opponent flops and you make a solid play on defense, you shouldn’t be penalized for it.
John,
That makes no sense. The first rule of defense in that situation is don’t leave your feet on a ball fake. Howard fell for it, went up in the air and prevented James from getting off a clean look. You have obviously never played basketball. It was a textbook foul.
And, during the season, the Cavs actually shot almost 5% better than the Magic on three-pointers. So, both teams can shoot, and, yes, the team shooting better on three’s right now is going to win.
Brian, forgive me, I was merely going off of John Hollinger’s defensive efficiency stat rather than your infallible intuition when I said Orlando has the league’s best defense. My bad – I’ll try to be more accurate next time. It’s true that Cleveland was right up there with them, but really it comes down to the matchups point. Orlando defends the Cavs better than vice versa. I’m skeptical that Cleveland is getting as many open looks as Orlando is. I will say that since three out of the four games so far has come down to the final seconds, random luck does play a big role here. But that cuts both ways – Cleveland could easily have been swept at this point. The Magic have the only “sizable” margin of victory in the series.
During the regular season, Cleveland squeaked out a victory at home by 4 points (helped by a borderline 3-seconds call on Howard in the final minute and a ticky-tack foul on Courtney Lee) and got manhandled by the Magic twice on the road, once by 11, once by 29. Margin of victory matters – the stat geeks say its a more reliable indicator of future success than win-loss record. So it’s not just a matter of trading home games. But this brings up an important point: the Magic are a better road team than Cleveland is, and that’s obviously decreased the significance of the Cavs’ home court advantage in the series.
When did this play with James and Howard on the three-pointer occur? I haven’t seen the replay of that one.
Joe,
At least you’re reasonable and knowledgeable compared to John.
I think you’re right, luck has had a lot to do with this series. It could’ve been a 4-0 Orlando sweep, but it could also be 3-1 Cleveland right now.
Overall, NBA officiating is horrible. It generally goes against both teams. It’s the inconsistency that’s killing the game. All the ticky-tacks called above the circle and the near muggings not called at the basket. The problem is that the last two or three bad calls in close playoff games are deciding series.
James-Howard play was in overtime (under two minutes I believe, maybe later). I think the play was on SportsCenter, but not sure. Besides LeBron not getting the free throws, Howard would have been out of the game. Howard again avoided his sixth when Lewis got called for a ticky-tack foul on a James drive down the left side of the lane that should have gone to Howard.
Henry Abbott, from ESPN’s Truehoop blog:
“In the closing seconds of overtime, I think everyone was sure Dwight Howard would be called after he bit on a LeBron James fake, and made contact while James released the shot. It looked like a play we have all seen called a foul a zillion times. But replays revealed that at the time of contact, Howard was upright on the ground, and James jumped into him.”
I still haven’t seen this, however.
Just read that same column. While Howard came back down, his momentum was still carrying him into James and prevented him from getting off a clean shot.
Also, Abbott called Howard out on the lob at the end of regulation.
Nonsense. Howard came down perfectly upright, and James – surprise! – did his best to initiate contact. If that had been whistled, it would have been worse than the call on Pietrus.
John,
Stop showing your ignorance. You’re either a total homer or a troll.
The play with Pietrus clearly shows LeBron tripping on Pietrus’ foot as he tried to slide in front of LeBron when he was already past him. Clearly a foul.
I’m done arguing the Howard foul on the three. It was a textbook foul.
While we’re at it. Howard also could have been called for a moving screen on the game-winner by Lewis. He clearly moved and stuck his hip out to knock Wallace off course and leave Lewis open for the shot. Howard also could have been called for a loose ball foul on Pietrus’ long miss from the corner when he and West got tangled up. West clearly makes that play if Howard doesn’t dive and knock them both to the ground. While I’m okay with no-calls on those plays, they are further examples of Dwight Howard getting the benefit of the doubt. I went back through the game and counted 12 total fouls on Howard (not counting any offensive fouls since Howard’s loan offensive move it to put his shoulder down and drive it into the chest of the defender and then spin either hooking the defender or clearing them out with elbows up above the head). The difference maker in overtime should have fouled out late in the fourth or early in the overtime.
Not to mention the goaltend on the Hedo miss in overtime, which by your silence you must be conceding.
Yes, I concede! Running away from a player and having him trip over your leg on purpose is TOTALLY a foul! And so is standing straight up while a player flops into you!
Homers and trolls, indeed …
And you’ve proved my point. Come back when you’ve watched the game and have at least a second grade understanding of basketball.
“Come back”? It’s my blog, dude. Shape up or ship out.
Regarding moving screens – that’s not just Howard, that’s every big man in the league right now. Don’t get me started on how many moving screens Garnett set in last years Finals. It would be easier to count the legal ones. There’s a reason Eddie House and Ray Allen always seem to be able to spring loose when they need to. Have you seen any moving screens called during these playoffs? I can’t remember even one.
Then maybe you should go on hiatus until you’re up to speed on sports-related topics.
“With four seconds to play in Game 4 and his team trailing by 2, LeBron put his head down, dribbled as fast as he could and prayed Michael Pietrus would either bump him or trip him. If you watch the clip, he’s moving so fast that it would have been humanly impossible for him to make a shot. That wasn’t his goal. He wanted a call. And he got one. Their feet got tangled, LeBron lurched forward, and the refs bailed him out.”
Is this argument from authority? With Bill Simmons as the authority??? Just kidding… He was certainly trying to draw a foul, but I question whether it would have been impossible for him to make a shot. This is LeBron we’re talking about here, after all.
Exactly, Joe.
If Pietrus isn’t there to trip LeBron, he goes in for an uncontested dunk. Just because Simmons couldn’t make a shot at that speed doesn’t mean LeBron can’t.
Yes, that is true. And if there had been a twelve-foot brick wall there, he wouldn’t have. Which goes to show …?