NBA Refereeing

Convicted felon Tim Donaghy may be doing the NBA a favor by focusing attention on the refs. He says that several series were thrown in the past few years by crooked refs conspiring with the league.

While that may or may not be true, what is true is this: rules in the NBA are interpreted from night to night, based on location and player involved. As a result, of course viewers (and players and coaches) are going to think there's a conspiracy.

The real conspiracy, if there is one, is that the league gives refs way too much leeway from game to game and even minute to minute. Or perhaps even tells them to cal the game based on the situation.

Case in point, Game 2 of the Finals. Even during a game in which the Celtics were beneficiaries of crowd-pleasin' refereein',the worst call went against them. In the midst of the fourth quarter Laker rally, the refs ate their whistles while a Laker took five steps from mid-court with nary a dribble on the way to a dunk. Any elementary school player would have expected to hear a whistle on the play. But not in the NBA. Why break up a potentially historic comeback?

Why make the call at that point? Easy. Because it's the right call. And it'll make the next call - no matter how difficult - much more palatable for fans, players and coaches. The real challenge for the league is to have the refs achieve game-to-game consistency without regard for venue, situation, score or player status.