NBA Officiating Is a Joke

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy came out and talked about fixed games of an unspecified playoff series in 2002, so that the particular series would be extended to seven games. After all the research was done, everyone found out that the series in question turned out to be the controversial Lakers-Kings match-up.

I remember that series very well. I was a sophomore in a Northern California high school, and I was rooting hard for the Lakers. I had an intense hatred for the Kings ever since I went to a Warriors game around that time, and heard chants of, "DE-FENSE!" when the Warriors had the ball on their own home-court.

Biases aside, even I knew that something was wrong with the Lakers-Kings playoff series that year.

The Lakers definitely stole a game or two, but I remember not caring too much about it because "Floppy" Divac was doing some bad acting in that series as well. His performances made Ashton Kutcher's acting look Oscar-worthy. So, being a naiive teenager at the time, I thought to myself, "OK, everybody's cheating. It cancels out."

However, for the last 6 years, I have noticed a lot of playoff series that had questionable officiating. The Suns-Spurs and Pistons-Cavs series from last season, and even the Heat-Mavericks finals from two years ago, all had very questionable officiating, whether it was Horry's hip check to Steve Nash, or Dwayne Wade's untouched drives to the hoop resulting in multiple fouls and 3-point plays.

In the midst of Tim Donaghy's recent allegations, I started wondering to myself where the integrity of sports had gone.

Something used to be very sacred about sports and fair play. But nowadays, each time turn on ESPN, every third segment is about steroids (MLB), Spygate (NFL), fixed games (NBA). There is something really odd about this situation when the government decides to get involved too (Steroid Congressional Hearings, Sen. Specter wanting to investigate Spygate, etc.).

It wasn't until I saw a post-game interview with Lakers' coach Phil Jackson last night that things started to become a little clearer to me. I thought Jackson was being a "whiner" a few days ago after Game Two, when he criticized the officiating, and stated that Leon Powe had more free throws than the entire Lakers team.

But, after the news on Donaghy broke out, the "Zenmaster" had something really interesting to say. He said that he had had a problem with officiating for a very long time now. He wished that the duties of officiating of playoff games was run by a separate entity altogether. Such a simple solution for this problem.

Think about it, if the officiating was run by a separate organization, I bet that there would be far less controversy. Listen to Phil, the guy has won nine championships as a coach (although one of those titles might be tainted now) and two as a player.

He has more rings than he does fingers on his hands, so let's conclude that he does know a thing or two about basketball. I highly doubt that players and coaches would be against this idea.

In fact, why not make this a reality for officiating in all sports. I'm talking
football, baseball, hockey, everything. Just make one big organization in charge of sports with one goal—to ensure the integrity of games.

The funny thing is David Stern will probably brush this issue away, and focus more on things like what clothes players are allowed to wear when grocery shopping, or some other stupid topic that's not really important.