I've never seen the Playoffs so Poorly Officiated

[bdonovan]

Not specific to team or player.

The only basketball that had worse officiating in my lifetime has been prior Olympics.

We all know the playoffs are more physical. But the question is HOW physical. What I'm seeing is people straight up pushing defenders for "screens". Grabbing and holding defenders.

The most common way of scoring is shouldering your opponent out of the way to get separation. This is not basketball.

To make matters worse, in addition to their "anything goes" approach, the refs then randomly call fingernail fouls to make their approach utterly inconsistent.

We should expect favoritism to be multiplied in this environment. Stars get the most leniency and can throw people out of their way without a foul call; role players get hit for trivial fouls. It is hilariously bad basketball to watch.

When you allow indiscriminate physicality, you degrade the game- and get away from skill and towards brute force and star favoritism.

Adam Silver is the most incompetent commissioner in my lifetime; remarkable for someone who seems intelligent on the surface.

[90sgoat]

Yeah, I am all for physical basketball but some of these games have been egrerious against Denver, Indy and Mavs in particular.

They went overboard and went from no contact allowed to full on double handchecking outside the 3 point line.

[bdonovan]

Yeah, I am all for physical basketball but some of these games have been egrerious against Denver, Indy and Mavs in particular.

They went overboard and went from no contact allowed to full on double handchecking outside the 3 point line.

You're absolutely right. They went from one extreme to the other.

I mean forget the idea of a moving screen. They're always moving. Guys are just running into the defender and throwing a shoulder into them.

Yeah you have the double hand check at the perimeter, the shoving people in front of you who are trying to rebound before they jump, throwing elbows into people's midsection to move them out of the way.

A few years ago I played pickup basketball with some cousins who were visiting. I'm no Michael Jordan but I know how to play. The entire time one of them was grabbing me, holding, etc. It was an ugly game, more determined by physicality than skill. When you allow too much nonsense in the game, you're just giving the game to the more physical team, not the best team.

[90sgoat]

Moving screens have been an issue for a while though, maybe less bad now, but the grabbing is not ok, the pushing off is not ok, the double handcheck at the perimeter is not ok.

Handcheck and grabbing makes a huge difference yes, it's why guys in the 90s didn't pound the ball as much, because if you can keep a forearm and hand on your opponent, you can feel where they're going and just push them off a little bit.

I remember playing 1 vs 1 in such a game once and it was so difficult to get by, basically every layup or shot was contested as a result.

If you see MJ, he made moves really quickly, before they could handcheck.

[StrongLurk]

Moving screens have been a joke since the 2015 Warriors were able to get away with 3-4 moving screens each play.

[ImKobe]

Yeah there's no real consistency from game to game and it's frustrating to watch. They might let these guys play for 3 quarters and then call the softest shit in crunch time. Or they'll call every foul early and then swallow their whistle when it's convenient.

[BarberSchool]

In my lifetime, I have seen several NBA post-seasons where I had ZERO doubt, that at the very least, the league was orchestrating matchup specific, directives for how they want certain actions/matchups/playstyles officiated a certain way, to influence the outcome of a series in favor of the more popular team, or the larger market organization.

Sacramento vs LA - Early 00’s - favored Kobe/Shaq Lakers, who sold hella merch worldwide, and were a giant draw on TV. Anyone who saw this live on TV, knew it was fixed. Numerous NBA players and former players spoke out about this. Active players got fined heavy.

Dallas vs Miami - 2006 Finals - after attendance dipped severely after the “Malice at the Palace” in 2004, the league tried an anti-streetwear, anti-jewelry, anti-Durag dress code in 2005, in hopes it could improve the leagues public image and bring back many white fans. Also implemented rules changes and other things to little effect. Dwyane Wade was an electric, popular, clean cut, Married star with no tattoos, who was on GQ’s top 50 sexiest athletes list. They gave Wade 20+ FTA in multiple games in this series, in hopes he became the new clean cut, smiling, likable face of the league. It worked.

Lakers vs Celtics - 2010 - again, league favoring the Kobe Lakers heavily. Boston staff and players spoke out in guarded language, as did other active players.

Crunch time in the Pacers/Knicks game, and the game 2 against Denver happening the same night, made the vast majority of the worldwide fanbase, feel that Silver is being strong armed by sports books, and large market owners, in a way that makes him look simultaneously WEAK, corrupt, dishonest, and not up to his job title. With little to no respect for the storied history of this game.

It’s disgusting, and if they don’t correct it soon, they’re gonna have all their superstars injured, and all the fans, tuning out and not buying merch for their families.

[BarberSchool]

I’m all for allowing physical play on loose balls, on rebounding, and other hustle plays. But definitely not on skill plays, like shooting or ball handling.

Obviously, eliminating the Harden bullsh!t, sweep throughs (should be embarrassing no call turnovers like it used to be), unnatural angles and unnatural motions, and flops is much needed and badly overdue, but to allow such blatant excessive contact to shooters and penetrators, is harming the product, and harming the stars longevity and ultimately their durability.

What has happened this post-season is such a massive overreaction, that has backfired massively on Silver and the league leadership. I would go so far as to say, that league office may be trying to use this to sack Silver and install someone else.

[bdonovan]

Yeah there's no real consistency from game to game and it's frustrating to watch. They might let these guys play for 3 quarters and then call the softest shit in crunch time. Or they'll call every foul early and then swallow their whistle when it's convenient.

That's the worst part of it- the inconsistency. If you're not going to blow the whistle, then do that for every player, both teams, and all four quarters.

The selectiveness of it causes me to wonder if this is really the NBA's way of putting their finger on the scale of who wins and who loses. I wouldn't mind if they published what the rules are for the playoffs. Prior, it was the same thing but more physicality. Now it seems the rules are completely different- if they want to permit moving screens, over-the-back fouls, straight up shoves, let it be published and enforced consistently.

[FultzNationRISE]

That's the worst part of it- the inconsistency. If you're not going to blow the whistle, then do that for every player, both teams, and all four quarters.

The selectiveness of it causes me to wonder if this is really the NBA's way of putting their finger on the scale of who wins and who loses. I wouldn't mind if they published what the rules are for the playoffs. Prior, it was the same thing but more physicality. Now it seems the rules are completely different- if they want to permit moving screens, over-the-back fouls, straight up shoves, let it be published and enforced consistently.

Is Giannis still bleaching his skin?

[bdonovan]

In my lifetime, I have seen several NBA post-seasons where I had ZERO doubt, that at the very least, the league was orchestrating matchup specific, directives for how they want certain actions/matchups/playstyles officiated a certain way, to influence the outcome of a series in favor of the more popular team, or the larger market organization.

Sacramento vs LA - Early 00’s - favored Kobe/Shaq Lakers, who sold hella merch worldwide, and were a giant draw on TV. Anyone who saw this live on TV, knew it was fixed. Numerous NBA players and former players spoke out about this. Active players got fined heavy.

Dallas vs Miami - 2006 Finals - after attendance dipped severely after the “Malice at the Palace” in 2004, the league tried an anti-streetwear, anti-jewelry, anti-Durag dress code in 2005, in hopes it could improve the leagues public image and bring back many white fans. Also implemented rules changes and other things to little effect. Dwyane Wade was an electric, popular, clean cut, Married star with no tattoos, who was on GQ’s top 50 sexiest athletes list. They gave Wade 20+ FTA in multiple games in this series, in hopes he became the new clean cut, smiling, likable face of the league. It worked.

Lakers vs Celtics - 2010 - again, league favoring the Kobe Lakers heavily. Boston staff and players spoke out in guarded language, as did other active players.

Crunch time in the Pacers/Knicks game, and the game 2 against Denver happening the same night, made the vast majority of the worldwide fanbase, feel that Silver is being strong armed by sports books, and large market owners, in a way that makes him look simultaneously WEAK, corrupt, dishonest, and not up to his job title. With little to no respect for the storied history of this game.

It’s disgusting, and if they don’t correct it soon, they’re gonna have all their superstars injured, and all the fans, tuning out and not buying merch for their families.

Great examples. In a way it's an old game from the league, but just they're IMO degrading the game further to create new levers for themselves to do more of the same.

>the league was orchestrating matchup specific, directives for how they want certain actions/matchups/playstyles officiated a certain way, to influence the outcome of a series in favor of the more popular team, or the larger market organization.

Yeah, pretty much. That's what I was implying. That's a good way of putting it. They are now giving players the sense that it's a physical playoffs so dont' complain about officiating, meanwhile selectively officiating games that benefit whoever they want. Or just to create drama in the playoffs, longer series, etc.

[hold this L]

Yeah there's no real consistency from game to game and it's frustrating to watch. They might let these guys play for 3 quarters and then call the softest shit in crunch time. Or they'll call every foul early and then swallow their whistle when it's convenient.

This is one of the biggest issues in the sport. You essentially have to take a guess on what type of game you'll deal with depending on the ref, the type of day he's having, whether your or opponent's team is dominating + what minute, who you're defending, who you are on offense, what team you play for and during the playoffs, what the game to game score is to ensure every series is extended.

These f*ckers have absolutely zero consistency because all the factors above play a role in how they set their rules.

[90sgoat]

Increased physicality is a good thing, but they went from zero physicality all the way back to 80s style no-rule common foul bs.

There's a reason the handcheck was changed to one hand, not two hands and only allowed inside the half court.

"Incidental contact" is the most important good thing though. That's what we've all been wanting, that not every contact needs to be a foul. That's what allows real finishers to create highlight plays, not foul merchants driving to get fouled.