Pop Quiz: NBA Postseason Recap (Part II)

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

            C. repulsive

            D. abysmal

The answer is D, as well as any other synonym for terrible.

If you perform your job consistently terrible, eventually you’re not going to have job. You’ll be fired, replaced by someone better, and perhaps younger. That’s the way most jobs should work. And that’s the way a lot of jobs actually do work.

Not the case for an NBA official, an occupation where there’s seemingly no relationship between job performance and job security.

This postseason, like most, was marred by consistently terrible officiating. There’s just no other way around it. The refs were flat out bad.

I mean, where do you even begin?

Do you start with the fact that the only things missing from Rajon Rondo’s frequent attacks on Bulls player were a ski mask and a Louisville slugger? Yet he was never suspended.

Then there was the infamous no-call in Game Three of the Dallas-Denver series that enabled Carmelo Anthony to hit the game winning three. This I found to be the most ironic call of the entire postseason.

Carmelo Anthony never gets the benefit of the doubt. For instance, when ’Melo is near the bucket, there basically has to be an action worthy of first-degree assault (plus evidence), or he’s not getting the call. Yet, he receives perhaps the worst call of the entire NBA postseason.  Gotta love it. 

The inconsistent and questionable officiating continued throughout the NBA Finals.

Sometimes there was a whistle, sometimes there wasn’t. You just didn’t know what to expect from the men sacredly preserving the NBA rulebook. Hell, in one sequence during Game Five of the NBA Finals, Andrew Bynum executed three illegal screens before Kobe Bryan found space for a jumper. This happened directly in view of an official.

Fouling is the one thing you can count on from Andrew Bynum! And even he couldn’t get a call! Terrible.

It’s gotten to the point where enough is enough. Officiating is really starting to take away from the NBA playoff experience. We shouldn’t have players walking on eggshells during the playoffs. It’s the playoffs. There’s going to be hard fouls in the NBA postseason. Tempers are going to flare.

We don’t need referees playing bigger roles than they should. We watch the games because of the players. We want to see them care and compete. We want to see their emotions get the best of them at times. This proves to us fans that they really do care about winning, that it’s more than a paycheck.

Bottom line:  NBA officiating must improve.

In spite of the horrible officiating, there’s no question the Los Angeles Lakers were the best team this season.

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