I am still marveling on the officiating in tonights game. So many aggressive plays un-called and so many called to intently, if you ask me. I have seen 2 players on the Nuggets get away with flagrant fouls. One of them was a two handed push in the back. He was later bumped up to a flagrant foul 1, which wasn’t assessed in the game, which sucks because there would have been 2 free throws and the Lakers getting the ball back. Too much of the games momentum has fallen into the hands of the officials, and that kind of power cannot be trusted. It could easily lead to officials accepting money to control the momentum of the game.
It has always been a good practice for officials to call a game with an even temper. This has not been the case with this series, and I’ve got to wonder if my favorite sport is going the way of the Wrestling World?
The play that blew my mind was the intentional tripping of Kobe, which wasn’t even called a foul, let alone flagrant. What’s that saying. There were 3 officials standing there, who get paid to watch the whole floor. Paid, man! If a player tells the officials he was intentionally tripped, and there going to assess the foul at some later point, then why not right then. We saw the replay 12 times on TNT. We all saw it! How do you think this will effect the fans of the team you called, while ignoring the other?
I know there is a lot of confusion out there amoung ref’s trying to do the right thing and call the game fairly, but when I have to listen to the announcers state there favorite on one team while criticizing the other throughout the game, while the refs are showing a heavy hand toward one team and showing lenience toward the other one play later, it starts looking a bit scripted. Are you sure they are playing against each other Mr. Stearn? Do you investigate your own refs, or do you leave that to the local authorities?
