Nuggets-Warriors: Game Again Marred by Incompetent NBA Referees

The Golden State Warriors game was again marred by another two examples of incompetent officiating, an occurrence which is becoming a more and more common theme as the year progresses.

One example of this incompetence came on three free throws for Ty Lawson just before the end of the third quarter.

In most cases, this was a noncall situation. The same series of events happened later on at the end of the fourth quarter, and no whistle was blown.

But at the end of the third quarter, the officiating crew decided that Lawson should be rewarded with three free throws with .8 seconds remaining in the quarter when the replay clearly showed that at the time Lawson wasn't even remotely close to going for the just beyond half court shot.

Lawson did get fouled by Ellis, there's no denying it. The issue that Don Nelson and the rest of the Warriors have is that the foul call came way after the play concluded with Ellis getting all ball and the ball popping up into the air.

Instead, Lawson calmly made all three free throws to get the Nuggets within one of the Warriors at the end of the quarter.

Finally, the call that really affected the outcome of the game: With about 30 seconds left in overtime, the Warriors had the ball in the front court and were taking the ball out of bounds from the side.

The Warriors set screens for Monta Ellis to get the ball. As Ellis was making his way through to get open, he was grabbed by Nene, but there was absolutely no whistle blown on the play. If Ellis hadn't been able to track down the ball, it would have been a turnover by the Warriors.

The fourth foul on Corey Maggette in the game was a joke as well. Maggette didn't want to foul Nene, who had inside position on him. So Maggette just let him go and didn't even make any kind of contact with Nene but was still called for a foul.
 
Fans wonder about Rasheed Wallace and other coaches ripping the referees, and tonight is just another perfect example of why it is done and how the NBA hasn't done a thing to fix it.

The sad part is that, although the game is going to be talked about for how great it was, in the endthe reality is that these supposed top-notch officials continue to make mistakes that are costing games.

Right now, it's really a wonder how most of these officials even have jobs.