Christmas is a special day.
Family. Friends. Cookies (oh so many cookies). Santa. And a quintuple-header of NBA basketball games. Most notably the NBA Finals rematch between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. Monday’s game marked the 1st time they’ve played since last year’s NBA Finals. A highly competitive, hard fought game was overshadowed by a handful of “missed” calls.
Let’s start with the facts. The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 99-92. The Warriors now hold the best record in the NBA at 27-7 while the Cavaliers sit in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference at 24-10. That’s enough facts for 1 minute. Now, let’s get to my ever popular opinion….
Despite their early success, the Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics don’t stand a chance. Barring major injury to 1 or more key players on the Cavaliers or Warriors, the world will be watching Cavs Vs. Warriors Part 4 in June. Hopefully there will be less complaining about fouls come June.
During the last few minutes of Monday’s game, Lebron James felt he was fouled multiple times, by Kevin Durant. The league agrees. We know the league agrees because since March of 2015, the NBA brain trust decided it would be a good idea to release a “Last Two Minute Report”. This report was implemented to publicize a play-by-play review of all relevant calls and non-calls made (or not made) by referees in the final 2 minutes (and overtime) of games contested by 5-points or less. Said reports will not retroactively change the outcome of any game. They’re solely in place to make the league “more transparent”.
Oh yeah, that should help Lebron James sleep at night. The league might as well say this:
“Hey Lebron, we just wanted to confirm your suspicion that you were fouled by Durant (twice). No no, we’re not going to change the calls or award your team a victory, we just wanted to rub salt in the wound.”
To which I’m sure Lebron would reply, “Thank you so much!!”
**What’s funny is, no one’s talking about Lebron having more turnovers (7) than assists (6) in this game. No one’s talking about Lebron going 2 for 7 from 3-point range. No one’s talking about the Cavaliers scoring just 16 points in the 2nd quarter. And no one’s talking about the Cavaliers shooting just 31.8% from the field.**
Listen, a “Last Two Minute Report” is a REALLY STUPID idea. The league, players, and fans need to accept that there’s human error involved in every sport. Calls made by referees, in a split second, are subjective. Not subjective in a ‘biased’ way. Subjective in a ‘that’s the way the referee happened to see it’ way. The same referee, on the same play, may make the exact opposite call a day later.
Dear NBA,
Unless you’re going to expand your replay system to include foul calls, please don’t give me a detailed criticism of every call made, or not made, the following day. This LITERALLY doesn’t help anyone. Thanks.
Sincerely,
DaveTalksSports
What do you think of the officiating in the NBA?? Don’t hold back. Tell me what you think in the comment section below.
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Dave Talks Sports 
If there’s any one thing that makes the NBA unwatchable at times, it’s the officiating, specifically the inconsistency. I understand that they have a very difficult job – everything happens at warped speed – but a foul is a foul, a travel is a travel, etc., regardless of who does it or when. Add replay to inconsistent officiating and you end up with indecisive, inconsistent officiating.
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Very well said. Instant replay needs to be modified in every sport. It should be faster, and more effective, and only used to fix egregious mistakes.
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Ditto. And if they can’t modify it, they should just get rid of it. I thought the NBA should have gotten rid of it after the Clippers – Thunder series a few years ago, and after the Buffalo – New England NFL game this past week, I’m wondering if it’s needed there. Human error is human error, and evidently it can happen whether making a call live or after watching replay. So what’s the point?
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Couldn’t agree more. I went nuts on my radio show earlier tonight about that Kelvin Benjamin touchdown. Just awful!!
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