Part of what amazes me is how could league officials be aware that discredited (an subsequently convicted) NBA official Tim Donaghy was fixing games, because the officiating I witnessed this afternoon (and during any NBA game) is simply absurd.
A New York Times article from some time back had this tidbit:
According to Donaghy's lawyer, the disgraced ref "had told federal investigators that NBA executives directed referees 'to manipulate games' in order to 'boost ticket sales and television ratings.' The legal brief singled out Game 6 of the Western Conference finals in 2002, when the Los Angeles Lakers shot 27 free throws in the fourth quarter and beat the Sacramento Kings, 106-102, to force a seventh game in the series.
The Lakers went on to win the series and the finals."
What I saw in Sunday's Game One simply reaffirmed what I have been seeing for years in the NBA and the reason why I don't watch the sport — it reminds me more and more of big-time wrestling; a lot of theatrics preceding a foregone outcome.
This is not a knock on the players, who are stellar (if not way overpaid) athletes, but the referees who — unable to keep up with the game — call infractions with the kind of arbitrary winsomeness that one usually reserves for blowing soap bubbles.
Traveling, charging, palming the ball, pushing off are hardly ever called, but the whistle will shriek when a defender cleanly blocks a shot or is even in the same ZIP code during a hard-charging layup. It's pathetic and after Sunday's game I think I've seen all the playoffs I need to.
For further evidence, check these out and thank God for baseball and the hockey playoffs.
http://dimemag.com/2010/04/the-worst-foul-call-ever-in-the-nba/
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