NBA Refs' Inconsistencies Ruin Another Great Playoff Game

Here we go again...Another excellent, hard fought, down to the wire NBA playoff game that unfortunately was decided by the referees and not the players.

I'm not a fan of either team, but I was very upset by the lack of a foul call on the play involving Carmelo Anthony and Antoine Wright. Sure Wright could've grabbed Anthony, bear hugged him or even knocked him to the ground.

Taking into consideration what we've seen over the last week with overreaction to physical play, can you really blame him for not depositing Anthony into the front row?

Any other time, that would've been called a foul without a second thought. If you subscribe to the theory that a foul is a foul whether it takes place in the 1st or 4th quarter of an exhibition or playoff game, then this is a problem that the NBA needs to address.

The refs clearly blew this one (just add it to their tab, lol!) and the NBA always rubs salt into the wound in these situations by releasing a statement confirming what all of us blessed with the ability to see already know.

Athletes in general are creatures of habit and all they want is consistency. If the refs are going to call it tight or let them play a little rough, players would like for them to stay with that theme.

I mean there were 61 fouls called in the game which says that the refs were calling the game tight. You get to the next to last play of the game and the refs swallow their whistles.

I don't blame the Mavericks for losing their cool at the conclusion of the game for the most part. That non call has cost them any chance of getting back into this series. No one in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 series deficit. Yes, Dallas was probably going to lose the series anyway, but that is hardly the point.

The refs should held more accountable and have to explain themselves to the public just like the players do when they do something stupid to cost their team the game.

I know that refs performances are rated and reviewed by David Stern among others, but what's wrong with them having to step to the mic after the games? At least after playoff games...

A ref can make a bad call and as soon as a player or coach points it out, they're slapped with a technical foul (see Joey Crawford) or we hear about how hard of a job the refs have from some ref apologist (see Mike Breen).

Obviously players and coaches can't and shouldn't argue every call and yes refs make mistakes like the rest of us, but that isn't an excuse to let them get a pass when some of their decisions have a direct impact on the outcome of the game.

When refs are the story and not the game, it's never a good thing.