ECF Cavs-Magic: Last Two Games Are Why People Don't Watch NBA Games

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

First of all, I'd like to point out the irony in my futile search for a picture of the officiating crew from Game Three of the ECF.  Somehow, the referees sent these teams to the line a combined 86 times, called 58 personal fouls, one flagrant-two, and three technical fouls, but somehow the photographers managed to avoid capturing the officiating crew on film.

Kind of funny.

What is not funny is how incompetent the referees have been in the last two games.

Let's start with a common point of contention from Game Two.

Somehow the referees managed to completely miss Dwight Howard hitting Mo Williams in the head while trying to block a meaningless lay-up well after the whistle, and then subsequently completely miss Mo Williams throwing the ball at Howard in dismay.

Let's forget who started what and the potential ramifications—Dwight Howard being on the edge of an automatic suspension after Game Three with six techs in the playoffs and a possible overtime in Game Two instead of a game-winner by LeBron.

How can there be three referees on the court with none of them monitoring the players? 

I understand they can't see everything, but it's still a little laughable, isn't it?

Then later in the game, I can't even explain the marathon of make-up calls that I think started with the charge called on LeBron for nicking Anthony Johnson on the shoulder on the way up, proceeded to a charge on Hedo while Varejao was still moving backward to get in position, and I think finally ended on another call on Hedo for clearing out with his off-arm or something to that effect.

Honestly, I can't remember where it began or end, but I think we can all agree that there was a good chunk of plays that can easily be categorized as make-up calls.

Also, in that game, the officiating crew started a disgusting trend of calling touch fouls both ways on guys simply fighting for position.

Which brings me to Game Three, a travishamockery of basketball in which the referees decided that the Orlando crowd had actually come to see them officiate the game, not to watch the Cavs and Magic play another classic.

Now, just in general, the parade to the free-throw line was despicable all around.  And the fact that the Magic shot 16 more ft's than the Cavs when I thought the Cavs were shooting a lot of ft's is somewhat telling. 

Can somebody please break those down into real fouls, touch fouls, regular fouls, and playoff fouls?  I'm gonna say that maybe I saw two playoff fouls throughout the entire game.

The flagrant-two called on Anthony Johnson calls for a complete rewrite of the rules on calling flagrant fouls.  Yes, it was dangerous, and he put a hurtin' on Mo, but was it even remotely intentional? 

No. 

It was a normal basketball play gone awry.  Johnson was trying to create some space and his elbow flew wide.  It happens.  No reason for an ejection.

Meanwhile, Howard clearly tried to throw another one of his patented elbows after a play, and the referees completely ignored it.  Not the ejection/suspension-worthy blow that he gave Dalembert, but equally as dangerous even though Mo got out of the way. 

Christ, the refs should do Howard a favor and call that every time so he learns some discipline and doesn't end up hurting somebody and getting suspended 30 games.

And poor Delonte West. 

He's doing a decent job defending Hedo, keeping him out of his comfort zones despite having a real height disadvantage, and the refs called him for two fouls in a row for supposedly being too rough in fighting Hedo for position. 

The second one came all the way out near midcourt.

Does anybody remember how Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes played Dirk in 2007?

And then a technical in the waning minutes on Delonte for a half-hearted push on Pietrus after a play. 

This isn't high school. 

They'd just let Dwight Howard get away with pretty much raising his elbow to hit Varejao on a dead ball, but pulling it back at the last second; and they'd just listened to and watched Howard go nuts after picking up his sixth.

Oh, and I almost forgot that bogus three-point foul called on Dwight Howard coming up from behind LeBron.  Great play, no foul.  Sorry though, buddy.  Apparently, as Kurtis Blow would say, that's the breaks.

Bottom Line

I know this is a rant, and a very poorly constructed one at that, but I have a point.

These officials are killing the game; redefining the concept of thinking the fans are there to see the referees and not the players.

There is no flow to the game whatsoever, and it has nothing to do with the way the two teams are playing.  It's just every single time down the floor there is some sort of foul call, often meaningless. 

And in the meantime, they are ignoring the important stuff.

It worked out fine in Game Two because both teams managed to play through it and make big plays down the stretch.

But Game Three, which was supposed to be a test of which team was truly better, was laughable. 

Neither team played their true game.

Anyway, I don't know who the officiating helped, and I don't really care.  At this point, I'm simply sickened that the NBA robbed me of a chance to see two great teams go at it like championship contenders are supposed to, so I'm just gonna sign off.

By the way, I was drunk when I wrote this.  Friggin' sue me, if you want.  Just make sure you get Joey Crawford as the judge if you want to win.

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