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Integrity is all umpires and other officials have. I can't imagine NBA officials being much different.

Any complaints I've heard about MLB umpires were strictly over missed calls, blunders, etc. Can't remember serious questions of bias in MLB. By nature of the game, anything outside of balls & strikes is pretty clear cut.

While former NBA officials, commentators, coaches, & players all acknowledge bias in NBA officiating. The whole "stars get calls" thing. So-and-so hasn't "earned" that call yet...

Since you brought up baseball, the guy who recorded the Lee Elia tirade frequently talks about his conversation with a well respected, long-time NBA ref. The ref said that if Michael Jordan committed a foul & John Paxson was in the area... the foul would always go on Paxon. "Because we're in the entertainment business". That's pretty damning.

Regardless of one's position, things like this just look bad:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MhmGyZ7KF0)

Not to mention the Lakers Kings a decade ago, the whole Tim Donaghy thing, the Ewing draft, the NBA ref that used to find women for Michael Jordan after games, etc....

When Tom Thibodeau said last series, "‘‘We know how it’s going to be called." "We're not going to get calls. That's reality." I don't think he was even lobbying for calls. Just saying what he felt. Lebron James wouldn't be thrown out of a playoff game if he shoved Nazr Mohammed...

I will submit that NBA refs don't have the cleanest track record. And the "stars getting calls" thing is also supposedly prevalent in baseball (i.e. if Pujols doesn't think it's a strike, the umpires assume he's right), but thats a complete myth. I will say, though, that even in baseball, a star might get a little more leash. But I dont see anything wrong with that. Officials understand that players are there to see the players, not them, so you better be damn sure before you throw out the guy everyone paid to come see. Barry Bonds is a good example of someone who got that treatment. He had to pretty much kick an umpire in the nuts to get thrown out. However, on the flip side of that, Dwight Howard gets thrown out once a week.

As far as the video, I'm sure you know it's pretty easy to put together a montage of calls that paint a picture.

NBA officials work their whole lives up through local high school, D1 college and such to get to where they are. The idea that after they worked so hard to achieve a dream, they would be receptive to David Stern calling them up and telling them basically to be a bad official, is ludicrous to me.

Maybe I'm off-base. As I said, most of my experience is in baseball. But I just can't see it. NBA officials definitely haven't lived up to the standard of integrity set by MLB and NFL offficials, but blatant rigging still seems a bit far-fetched to me.

I'll try to keep my response short and brief.

Back in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, Miami did get a few questionable calls (the one I can remember most is a flagrant foul called on the Bulls with 1:44 to go). In fact, there were in some blogs that the 4th quarter (especially the last 2-3 minutes) were poorly officiated in favor of Miami.

Then again in last year NBA Finals, Miami got calls left and right in Game 2 and 4. And I know I'm not the only one who saw them, as there was much outrage and complaining on social media. Here are a few of the top of my head:

-Goaltending on Ibaka block http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAbZ-Bn6Zlo
-Chalmers bumping Westbrook, and no foul
-Westbrook returns the favor, but gets called for a foul
-No call on Lebron defending Durant's shot with 10 seconds left http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA_MclW1eI4

I know there is more, and of course, there's always the Lakers-Kings series of '02, the Tim Donahey confession on 60 minutes about how he used to bet on games while he was still a ref [link=www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5914330n‎] and [link=www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5914372n‎], Game 6 of the Jazz-Bulls '98 Finals, late in the game when the Bulls were up by 2, Scottie Pippen hung on the rim‎ long enough before the Jazz put up a layup that rolled off the rim while the rim was rocking a little bit, and Bulls-Heat series this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r-SOjEN27E Just my 2 cents.

Last edited by Big Dogs at 5/23/2013 10:25:04 PM

I'll try to keep my response short and brief.

Back in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, Miami did get a few questionable calls (the one I can remember most is a flagrant foul called on the Bulls with 1:44 to go). In fact, there were in some blogs that the 4th quarter (especially the last 2-3 minutes) were poorly officiated in favor of Miami.

Then again in last year NBA Finals, Miami got calls left and right in Game 2 and 4. And I know I'm not the only one who saw them, as there was much outrage and complaining on social media. Here are a few of the top of my head:

-Goaltending on Ibaka block (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAbZ-Bn6Zlo)
-Chalmers bumping Westbrook, and no foul
-Westbrook returns the favor, but gets called for a foul
-No call on Lebron defending Durant's shot with 10 seconds left (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA_MclW1eI4)

I know there is more, and of course, there's always the Lakers-Kings series of '02, the Tim Donahey confession on 60 minutes about how he used to bet on games while he was still a ref (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5914330n‎) and (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5914372n‎), Game 6 of the Jazz-Bulls '98 Finals, late in the game when the Bulls were up by 2, Scottie Pippen hung on the rim‎ long enough before the Jazz put up a layup that rolled off the rim while the rim was rocking a little bit, and Bulls-Heat series this year: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r-SOjEN27E) Just my 2 cents.

Don't mind me, I'm just fixing your CBS links so I can watch them.

A technical foul for yelling "ball don't lie"? In an NBA playoff game? (After an unnecessary technical foul moments earlier)
Sigh, this league...

Hey the game didn't lie either. Pacers won.

Was it the Pacers that got a tech?

A technical foul for yelling "ball don't lie"? In an NBA playoff game? (After an unnecessary technical foul moments earlier)
Sigh, this league...

If a tree falls in a forest, and there's no one there to hear it, which official calls the technical on the Pacers? I say it's the one closest to the scorer's table.

Whatever happens in this series, as a Pacers fan, I'm just proud of what they've accomplished. They've played great ball all season, and this is the happiest I've been as a fan since Reggie Miller retired.

I enjoyed this play for some reason:
(http://i.minus.com/idEmEA8iDSHLV.gif)