No need to explain, just get better; and a compelling game

Okay, I honestly don’t get this league I cover.

Not sure you heard but the home office issued another one of those officiating “apologies” late yesterday, this one admitting that officials missed the call on the Dahntay Jones-Kobe Bryant play at the end of Wednesday’s Hornets-Lakers game, the play that’s likely to cost Bryant at least a couple of games on the shelf and who knows what that might do to Los Angeles’s playoff hopes.

(You can see the short release and the video of it here)

Now, I’m dead certain it was foul and a dirty/dangerous play, you can see Jones slide his right leg into Bryant when Bryant was airborne and there’s really no place for that in the game.

I don’t care if It’s Kobe Bryant or Bear Bryant, there is no reason at all to put another player at risk with a cognizant move like that and the fact Bryant actually turned his ankle on the floor and not Jones doesn’t mitigate the dirty play at all.

But what I don’t get is the league.

Yes, it was a blown call but we see a half dozen blown calls in practically every game played every night, many that come in the final minutes of close games and are arguably factors in the outcome.

That’s at least four “apologies” or explanations the league has put out this year – two to Toronto, think there was one involving Denver or Dallas and then this one – and I’m not quite sure what the message is that’s being sent.

It probably irks the referees no end – not sure that’s an entirely good thing but I haven’t had a chance to ask any of my acquaintances in a Marriott concierge lounge to see what they really think about it – and the end result is, what?

Look, you know I think officials in basketball have the hardest gig in pro sports and that they’ve been uniformly bad this season but having the bosses hold them up to public ridicule probably doesn’t solve anything.

And there’s the big issue: How do you solve the problem?

Do you just have to wait for the younger officials to get better?

Is there some way to do more training at game speed to get them more adept?

Is there more video (no, no, no; a thousand times no!)?

I’d suggest there is no simple answer and it’s one of the biggest issues plaguing the game today, some of these refs simply can’t keep up with the speed of the game and make the split second reactions necessary.

Culling the herd makes no sense because it will just over-burden the good ones who are left; adding more whistle-blowers might not be the answer because you’ll have even more inexperienced officials doing games.

Maybe it is just cyclical and once the young guys gain more experience we’ll go back to the olden days, when you’d get the odd missed call but not the number we see now.

I do know one thing that might help a little bit:

If there was an end to the incessant whining of players and coaches on every call or non-call things might be a bit more calm and that can never hurt.

Just as I’ve not seen as many poorly officiating games this year, I don’t remember a season with more yelling and screaming and gesticulating and, yes, unnecessary whining from every team every night.

Bad calls happen; players need to suck it up and play; bad calls happen, referees need to work harder to make sure there are fewer of them.

End o’ rant.

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Getting ready for the weekend?

Maybe this will help.

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Just wanted to mention Andrea.

You know, just ‘cause

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Yes, we’re back for the usual IGBT tonight for the monumental struggle with the Charlottes.

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I’ve got to get this finished so I can start looking over the interwebs to read the good national baseball writers down south.

And what I’ll be looking for is to see how many of them rip their American countrymen for having the audacity to cheer for another country in a significant international competition.

I joke, a bit; but as I watched that compelling Dominican Republic-USA game in the World Baseball Classic last night, the fans were almost as interesting as the game.

It was like some Canadian soccer game against some other country down at old BMO Field, so much support for the “other” team it was wild.

That aside, that game was as great sports entertainment as I’ve seen in a long, long while and gets back to a point we made here the other day:

It doesn’t matter if you have a rooting interest at all (and I certainly didn’t), if you get a close game with something significant on the line in a great atmosphere it’s outstanding just sit back and enjoy it.

That was a great, great baseball game and I didn’t care a whit which side won, I wanted to be entertained and enthralled and I could barely pull myself away to go pick up Super Son at work.

That’s sports. And that’s why it’s so good.

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Mail call.

It’s askdoug@thestar.ca and I’m sure there are some leftovers from the chat, right?

(Speaking of the chat, I think it’s here)

Thanks.

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Comments

[Lorie]

Good morning, Doug, and Greetings from London the Lesser - according to the opinions of some. :) And the crowds at Budweiser Gardens may be (slightly) less than sellouts, but still, haven't the Canadian skaters been grand? Kaetlyn Osmond gave a surprisingly wonderful performance yesterday as did Patrick Chan the day before. And as far as our local faves - Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir - well, we just hope they can quickly fix the fizzles in their twizzles. And we know they will! Now, you happened to chose My Least Favourite Ever Irish Song for your St. Patrick's Day Tribute. Gave me nightmares when I first had to sing it 50 years ago and the damn thing still unnerves me...but how about this one? We like Van, right? And The Band, right? And lullabye's are always nice and soothing. And not prone to causing bad dreams. Slainte!
http://youtu.be/X15IHJSe2Lg

[sportschic]

Thank you for adding the link to the chat! I looked for it last night but couldn't find it anywhere. Isn't there a way it could be filed in with your blogs the way the IGBT is? Do you call it the TNCT?

Serie A occasionally 'demotes' a referee/linesman when he makes a mistake on a big call. I don't know that it makes any difference, other than making the fans more cynical (if that's even possible) about referring errors that often benefit the big teams.

[AT]

Come on, those refs don't need more training to know if it is a foul or not, that one obviously was. The training should be to tell these guys, when it is a legit foul and could change the outcome of the game,you still have to call it. It was a questionable dirty play though and it does not help when Kobe embellishes it a bit as well.

Blogger's note: The guy has about the closest thing you can get to a broken ankle; "embellish" is a stretch at best

[sportschic]

Argh. Hit send just as I realized I should edit my comment. Serie A occasionally 'temporarily' demotes a referee. They referee in a lower league for a few weeks as a punishment.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

I'll jump into the ring with another Irish jig here (fine selections, Doug and @Lorie). It's an old and grainy vid, but this 10-year-old's performance still gobsmacks the ever-lovin' leprechaun out of me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h03iH-Bsvj8
Cheers. Go Jays!

[Avinash]

Seeing the dirty play on Kobe was so infuriating. It's a blemish on officiating that really should be addressed. And I think there should be repercussions for the foul too. It's not fair to just say, "Our bad." It's like too bad, so sad, but we just don't care. aargh.

[Rob.V]

Nah, that was a good Basketball play. #8 makes tough shots, you gotta crowd him as much as possible. Good play!!

Plus, the league is letting a lot more go this year.

The apologies are silly. Don't apologize, fix it.

Yes, more replay. A challenge per half? Gotta do something.

The way the replay is set up now is an insult. Why can you only review in the last 2 minutes? What a missed 3 point play with 2 min and 1 second left in the game not important? And only "certain" plays are reviewable... makes no sense.

You know what has been driving me crazy all year. They're not sure if it's a 2 or a 3 so they're going to check it at the break. Yup, it's been changed from a 3 to a 2 so the score is now...

Okay, so how many of these Baskets were called "incorrerctly" in years past?

This is big, BIG business. They have an obligation to get it right.

- 4th ref
- More replay
- 2 challenges per game (per team)

There are ways, but ways cost $$$. The NBA needs to put their MONEY where there apologies are.

[sam]

The Domincans are the team to beat I figure.
Dickie, Arencebia and Reyes had a good showing last night which was good to see....

The officiating in the NBA has been a little suspect at times - but agree it's a tough gig. The conspiracy that star teams and star players get the benefit of the doubt most nights may have some teeth - I'm not sure what worse though - An official I'm sorry, or ignoring the infraction....

[LeeZ]

Re: the constant whining and yapping. About five, maybe seven, years ago, the league imposed harsher enforcement of rules designed to stop all the yapping. If players so much as gave refs a funny look, they were teed up. It lasted a year, maybe two at most. I for one would like to see it reinstated. @RobV: I beg to differ. Yes, you have to crowd Kobe, but sticking your foot underneath his ONCE HE HAS ALREADY LET GO OF THE BALL is not crowding. It has no possible impact on Kobe's shot. It is not defence. It is intent to injure, pure and simple.

[Boko]

Here's a suggestion that requires one additional employee per game ... get all the good refs in retirement to sit in the video production booth with a direct line to the top ref on the court. AT ANY POINT IN THE GAME, if he sees something that is obviously in need of correction, he tells the guy on the floor and automatically overrides. Otherwise, play on! This would also allow the players and coaches to shut up and play the !@#$%^&*()_+{}:"|>

[D-Mac Ottawa]

I'm with @Rob.V – good D, nothing apparently dirty going on there. The difference between this play and Bruce Bowen's work is Jones jumped to make a play to both block the ball and stay in Kobe's face. He was playing D. Bang-bang.
Bowen never bothered with any of that. He simply waited for his guy to leave the ground, and then Bowen would WALK directly underneath the landing spot. He wasn't playing D at all in those cases. He was setting traps and going for "the kill", pure and simple. BIG difference.
I really like @sportschic's suggestion of a temporary demotion for refs, plus a fine. Whoever they'd replace these guys with would be no more a "rookie" than the rookies they'd be replacing. And I'm all for @Rob.V's stuff (again!) on allowing challenges and more replay. Don't think a 4th ref is needed; maybe line judges like in tennis to make 3-point shot and OB rulings. Time be damned (sorry Mr. Deadline Grunt, sir) – get it right, or why bother?
The reffing BS can't continue the way it's been this year – it's a shambles, and it absolutely needs to be fixed ASAP. Don't kill the game. Fix the weak link – the officiating –and then kill the star treatment!
End o' rant. Cheers. Slainte!

[Rob]

I suppose at some point or another every team in league will suffer from blown calls. However, the raps have had it worse than the rest, and don't try to generalize that they havent. If the league has issued 4 "apologies" for blown calls this year, and 2 of them were against the raps......and that doesnt even include the blatant hack on DD against the hawks on last play, because dwayne pre empted them by blasting the refs, then you have 3 of 5 official league worthy apologies against one team in the league!!! Out of 30 teams to have ONE team be victimized by 60% of the entire league??? Tell me the odds of that and then tell me with a straight face that the refs DONT favour the non-canadian based teams at end of games. And that doesnt even include another handful of blown calls at end of raptor games that were still blown calls but not quite NBA official apology worthy.

No i'm not whining, but numbers dont lie!

[Mark]

He definitely pulled a Bruce Bowen on Kobe there, and it seems to me like it was totally intentional.

Refereeing, man, what a tough gig. I only refereed 7-year-olds and it was a trial (but hilarious at times)... but at the pro level, man, I don't envy those guys one bit.

Cheers folks

[Kevin]

In the nba players play to the limit allowed by the referees. When defending, crowding or taking away the offensive players space makes good sense and having referees absolves you from blame unless you commit an intentional foul. If Jones and Kobe were playing on the playground or at the Y without refs then that play is dirty and would be cause for frontier justice. I think it was clearly a foul and jones didn't care if he injured Kobe. although not intentional jones acted with careless disregard. Dirty is then just semantics.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Okay, I've just re-watched the play for the dozenth time to see if I could find something "dirty" going on. It was a fadeaway. Jones was following the play (and the play is wherever the ball is – Jones' eyes are on the ball). They both jumped, within a nanosecond of each other. They both came down on an angle, not straight up and straight down – because it was a fadeaway. There is no way on god's green earth you could 'plan' to hurt somebody in that nano-second. It's no different than two guys going after a rebound. Bang-bang. An ankle rolls. The miracle is it doesn't happen to somebody every game.
It happened to me AT LEAST once every season. I've rolled both ankles no fewer than 20 times each. Not once in those 40 plays did I ever detect, or did anyone mention, a hint of "dirty". It's basketball. Feces occur.
Cheers. Go Jays!

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

Dirty play or not, I look at those low cut shoes players like Kobe are wearing and wonder why the turned ankles don't happen more often. I know the trainers tape the ankles until they're near bullet proof, but high tops would only help the situation, no?

On a college note, check out what they're wearing in the Big East Tournament this week (which we can't get on Canadian TV and it drives me nuts):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2013/03/14/big-east-tournament-cincinnati-uniforms-are-something/

Reminds me of when the Nets wore those acid wash unis:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1435643-every-teams-worst-jersey-in-nba-history/page/29

AG, Toronto

[DaveB]

I think we have to accept blown calls. The game has sped up over the years and the referees can't see everything. Rookies take a year or two to catch up to the speed of the game. Referees don't get as much "playing time" to get up to speed.

The most blatant missed calls are the holding calls, usually holding a Jersey. I would like to see more technical fouls called to remove the whining from the game. If that was done, maybe Rudy and Kyle would actually go back and play defense. And the Miami Heat would be worth watching.

[saatuk]

@AG said: On a college note, check out what they're wearing in the Big East Tournament this week (which we can't get on Canadian TV and it drives me nuts):

I'm watching the Big East tournament and all of the other major ones. On Cogeco it's the Super Sports Pack and the same stuff is on other carriers - I know for sure on Rogers. It's the one that gives every NBA, NHL, MLB, OHL game and tons of NCAA, including women's BB.

That uniform Notre Dame was wearing last night was disgusting - they looked like fluorescent highlighters with a dirty bottom (the shorts). Gahhh!

[sportschic]

AG, those really are ugly. I'm not sure what look they're trying to achieve, but they remind me a bit of this: http://www.complex.com/sports/2012/06/the-25-ugliest-uniforms-in-soccer-history#10, which pretty much always makes it onto people's ugliest jersey lists.

[Rob.V]

I appreciate everyone's opinion but I'm still siding with D-Mac on this.

I too went back to watch the play a few times. I can concede there was a foul. But big whoop! (in the words of the boss here). There are about 300 of those every night.

Jones is not known as an ankle killer. The only reason we are even talking about that play is because Kobe was injured. Freak injury. If he walked off the floor unscathed would we be talking about that play?.

Also, Kobe has been known to throw some vicious elbows in years past. Yes, entirely separate issue however those elbows in my opinion are much more egregious of an offence than the Jones play.

Point being, those dangerous elbows go unnoticed (and not discussed) because there were no injuries tied to them. This is nothing more than a regular (accidental) NBA injury albeit to a higher profile player so it becomes more than it is.

Seriously, we would not hear one damn word if this injury had happened to say Jeff Adrein of the Charlotte Bobcats (whoever that is?). JV got beat up and mugged in Indiana by some assailant named Hansbrough earlier in the year... anyone in NBA circles talk about that one?.

Kobe's a big boy. He'll live to tell about it... and throw a few more elbows if they make the playoffs.

[David T (Ottawa)]

Gotta disagree with D-Mac and Rob V. I don't for a second think that Dahntay Jones meant to hurt Kobe, but he did step under him and didn't give him room to come down.

As someone who has significantly less cartilege in their knee due to a oddly similar play (though my best fadeaway is probably somewhere around Kobe's worst), I think there's got to be a huge emphasis on letting the shooter come down.

[Boko]

I have one thing to say about Kobe's whine ... I don't even give a Michael Jordan shrug.

[m]

I agree with D-Mac and Rob V

[Andrew Gregg]

@saatuk: many thanks...do you need to purchase a sports pack or are they on regular cable?

I work in TV and I understand the need for the CRTC to protect Canadian properties, but man on man I wish we got more US college ball.

AG, Toronto

[TLI]

Not enough able refs = Too many teams