NBA Must Blow Wistle on Foul Officiating

LeBron James jabs left, cuts right, drives to the hoop, and lets a lay-up fly.  Before the ball decides to make it home inside the rim or bounce off it, a whistle sounds signifying King James will be going the line.

All series this was basically a guarantee. Any time he shot with a green jersey anywhere near him, he was “fouled.”

James piled on point after point at the free throw stripe, despite the fact that he was the only guy getting calls such as this.  The fouls kept the Cavaliers in each game, not to mention the series.

Guys on the Celtics either had to let up and give him an easy bucket or be chastised for playing defense.

In the wake of Tim Donaghy and his fixing game scandal, the NBA needs to take a deeper look at it’s officiating. 

Perhaps they need to put a system in place to review calls, the way baseball did with the Questec systems. Maybe they need to have a review board in place to make sure referees have consequences for poor calls and bad games.

In every other job in life, a poor job results in some kind of reprimand, be it a fine, demotion, or firing. 

Until David Stern and the NBA address what is their biggest problem right now, the league will be questioned for its credibility.  Fans will wonder if the bad calls are a result of a corrupt official instead of believing it to be based on bad judgment or human error.