NBA Admits Referees Botched Four Calls In Celtics’ Game 1 Loss To Hawks

http://nesn.com/2016/04/nba-admits-referees-botched-four-calls-in-celtics-loss-against-hawks/




NBA Admits Referees Botched Four Calls In Celtics’ Game 1 Loss To Hawks



by Cameron McDonough on Sun, Apr 17, 2016 at 11:16PM

The Atlanta Hawks edged the Boston Celtics in Game 1 by just one point, meaning the slightest mistake by a player or official goes under the microscope.

And apparently the officials made four mistakes just in the final two minutes.

The NBA on Sunday released its Last Two Minutes report, which focused on Game 1 of the Hawks and Celtics’ first-round Eastern Conference playoff series. And Boston fans won’t be happy with the findings.

The league said the referees made four incorrect calls in the final two minutes of the Hawks’ 102-101 win, and three of them hurt the Celtics. The three non-calls that hurt Boston were the lack of a 3-second violation called against Kent Bazemore, and a pair of missed illegal screens against Al Horford. Bazemore’s violation came at the 1:58 mark, and the two non-calls against Horford were with 55.3 seconds remaining (Evan Turner) and 51.1 seconds (Marcus Smart).

The 3-second violation should have resulted in a technical foul and a free throw for the C’s, and Boston was in the bonus during both of the non-calls against Horford.

Atlanta was the victim of one incorrect call, as Kyle Korver should not have been assessed a foul, which resulted in one of two made free throws for Isaiah Thomas, with 1:54 left.


bob
MY NOTE: "four incorrect calls in the final two minutes". That's pretty significant with a 1-point game.


.

Looks like we're going to have a new stat to deal with. That's games that a team coulda, shoulda and woulda won if the officials had made the right calls. Maybe in the future we will have to wait a day or so before we get the final score. Are we heading towards a replay on just about every close call or at least until all officials judgement calls become perfect.?

swish

I wish the league would stop issuing these reports. Wrong or missed calls in the last two minutes of close games obviously have a potentially game-changing impact, but this just feeds into the mindset of those who blame the refs for their team's loss.

If the Celtics want to affix blame for the game 1 loss, they should look in the mirror, because they're the ones responsible for their poor start that put them in such a hole.

Did anyone watch the four videos in question?
There's no way 3 seconds would be called on Bazemore at that point in the game when he had one foot out of the lane almost the whole time. Three second calls could probably be called about 20 times or more during the game.

The screens that were set by Horford were technically illegal as many screens are, but they resulted in no points for Atlanta on those plays. The only play that was called incorrectly that directly lead to points was the foul call which sent IT to the line for two free throws.

Self policing 

In a close game it matters.  

Dboss

Is there any such thing as a perfectly called game ? And whose sets of eyes get to determine the perfectly officiated game. Ah yes, perfection in the eyes of the beholder.


swish

Aren't the refs protected from any kind of judgment or apologizes in their work? If not, they should be. And why is it only the final 2 minutes? If you are going to do the final two minutes, why not the whole game because the final two minutes are nothing but a culmination of the last 46 minutes?

So let me get this straight. So the NBA releases its own report on its own referees on all their last 2 minute botches? That may be the stupidest, most completely biased thing I have ever heard of in my life!

Refs are human. They are going to miss calls and nothing is going to change that because they can't go back and replay the game after it is over. This report makes the NBA look like complete morons.

db

dbrown

Your comment below.

"Refs are human. They are going to miss calls and nothing is going to change that because they can't go back and replay the game after it is over. This report makes the NBA look like complete morons."

Bingo!

swish

I mean, we can add more refs on the court. Let's add two more, that way each ref can watch two guys apiece. I know nothing about refereeing. I just know the game is much better with them than without them, even if they miss a few.

The best comment was from Outside...look in the mirror. Celtics put themselves in that situation at the end of the game. They had 47 1/2 minutes to change the outcome.

db

The NBA refs leave too much to be desired... From preferential treatment of certain players to the missed calls at critical points in the game.



KJ

Better yet, let's replay EVERY call the refs make so there are no mistakes. No, no, no! I've got it! NO Refs!!

Play is stopped after EVERY Play/Possession. Each is reviewed by the refs sitting on the sidelines with a 3 minute time limit until consensus is reached! Now there is a game we can all enjoy because all the errors are eliminated!

db

dbrown4,

I mean, obviously human error will come into play. We can't possibly have a perfectly officiated game, and I don't believe anyone here thinks we can. But the refs will sit there and make calls on something nonexistent (breathing and/or looking at LeBron, for example) but will turn around miss something blatant.


KJ

k_j_88 wrote:The NBA refs leave too much to be desired... From preferential treatment of certain players to the missed calls at critical points in the game.



KJ

And who are these players that get preferential treatment ?



swish

k_j_88 wrote:The NBA refs leave too much to be desired... From preferential treatment of certain players to the missed calls at critical points in the game.



KJ

Just watch college basketball.
You will be thankful for the refs in the NBA...

swish wrote:

k_j_88 wrote:The NBA refs leave too much to be desired... From preferential treatment of certain players to the missed calls at critical points in the game.



KJ

And who are these players that get preferential treatment ?



  swish

Superstar players. Case in point how refs will make so-called "veteran" and "rookie" calls. It's ridiculous to have multiple sets of rules, in my opinion.



KJ

k_j_88 wrote:dbrown4,

I mean, obviously human error will come into play. We can't possibly have a perfectly officiated game, and I don't believe anyone here thinks we can. But the refs will sit there and make calls on something nonexistent (breathing and/or looking at LeBron, for example) but will turn around miss something blatant.


KJ

KJ,

Did you complain at the hundreds of illegal screens/picks Garnett set over the years as a Celtic player or all of the times Pierce threw his head back when he went into the lane trying to get to the FT line?

The refs did not lose the game for Boston.

LeBron gets the benefit of the doubt but so do many offensively skilled players.

tjmakz wrote:KJ,

Did you complain at the hundreds of illegal screens/picks Garnett set over the years as a Celtic player or all of the times Pierce threw his head back when he went into the lane trying to get to the FT line?

The refs did not lose the game for Boston.

LeBron gets the benefit of the doubt but so do many offensively skilled players.

TJ,

For starters, I don't believe I was posting here back then. When it comes to making calls, I prefer the right call is made because that's what I consider to be fair.

Second, I was speaking about the NBA refs mostly in general, not just this game which can be considered a snapshot of what goes on with NBA officiating. Yes, a team has to play well enough to win, and ultimately most of the impact on the result of the game will come down to the teams themselves. However, bad calls can certainly be a momentum killer; I've seen it time and time again. With that said, the NBA should still focus on better officiating so we can have fewer instances of statements released by the league pertaining to "botched calls."

I mentioned LeBron as one of the main players that benefits from favorable calls, but I said "superstar players" earlier.



KJ

k_j_88 wrote:

tjmakz wrote:KJ,

Did you complain at the hundreds of illegal screens/picks Garnett set over the years as a Celtic player or all of the times Pierce threw his head back when he went into the lane trying to get to the FT line?

The refs did not lose the game for Boston.

LeBron gets the benefit of the doubt but so do many offensively skilled players.

TJ,

For starters, I don't believe I was posting here back then. When it comes to making calls, I prefer the right call is made because that's what I consider to be fair.

Second, I was speaking about the NBA refs mostly in general, not just this game which can be considered a snapshot of what goes on with NBA officiating. Yes, a team has to play well enough to win, and ultimately most of the impact on the result of the game will come down to the teams themselves. However, bad calls can certainly be a momentum killer; I've seen it time and time again. With that said, the NBA should still focus on better officiating so we can have fewer instances of statements released by the league pertaining to "botched calls."

I mentioned LeBron as one of the main players that benefits from favorable calls, but I said "superstar players" earlier.



KJ

The NBA does focus on better officiating.
They analyze all of the referees way more than any league does.
They are held accountable through a grading system.
If refs continue to make bad calls, they are fired.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2012/10/08/nba-fires-referee-tommy-nunez-jr-flopping-remains-an-issue/


I play basketball about three times a week.
When I am waiting to play in the next game, I watch the game being played.
Sometimes me and a guy next to me see a play differently or disagree about who touched the ball last.
Basketball is such a hard sport to referee.

k_j_88 wrote:

tjmakz wrote:KJ,

Did you complain at the hundreds of illegal screens/picks Garnett set over the years as a Celtic player or all of the times Pierce threw his head back when he went into the lane trying to get to the FT line?

The refs did not lose the game for Boston.

LeBron gets the benefit of the doubt but so do many offensively skilled players.

TJ,

For starters, I don't believe I was posting here back then. When it comes to making calls, I prefer the right call is made because that's what I consider to be fair.

Second, I was speaking about the NBA refs mostly in general, not just this game which can be considered a snapshot of what goes on with NBA officiating. Yes, a team has to play well enough to win, and ultimately most of the impact on the result of the game will come down to the teams themselves. However, bad calls can certainly be a momentum killer; I've seen it time and time again. With that said, the NBA should still focus on better officiating so we can have fewer instances of statements released by the league pertaining to "botched calls."

I mentioned LeBron as one of the main players that benefits from favorable calls, but I said "superstar players" earlier.



KJ

KJ

Do superstars get preferred treatment or is it because of their superstar value to the team that they play smarter and realize that they diminish their team value when in foul trouble ?

swish

Here's the reason why the league decided to release the referee results at the end of close games.

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/2/27/8121189/nba-grading-close-games

I think everyone on here knows the ref's did not lose the game for the Celtics. By releasing these reports to the public, the NBA has set itself up for constant criticism from every team. Did you hear Stan Van Gundy after the Detroit/Cleveland game?? As great as LeBron is, he still commits so many fouls that never get called. I laugh when I read that he has not fouled out in .. years. I think he did foul out of a game against the Celtics, but a man of his size, no matter how good he is, commits fouls. Come on. If you remember, in his last two years here Garnett was getting called all the time for those screens you talk about. Please.

The fact remains that when the playoffs are on, call it both ways. Some of these young officials do not even know what a good defensive move is. This is a crazy time for the NBA to release a report like this. Deal with it in the offseason, behind closed doors now, whatever, just do not make it open for the public to jump in and cry about their team being picked on.

PLAY BASKETBALL, STOP SO MANY REPLAYS (WHICH BRING QUESTION TO EVERY CALL) AND GET THE GAMES OVER WITH IN A DECENT FASHION. This is too much

Rosalie

I would assume the NBA referees know more about offense, defense and the game in general than any of us here.
I think if Tommy stopped harping on the referees most of the game, Celtics fans could view the referees differently.
I personally think the replays are great at the end of the games.
I just want the right call, especially on who touched the ball last before going out of bounds.
Replays are a big part of the game, they aren't going away.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I think everyone on here knows the ref's did not lose the game for the Celtics.  By releasing these reports to the public, the NBA has set itself up for constant criticism from every team. Did you hear Stan Van Gundy after the Detroit/Cleveland game??  As great as LeBron is, he still commits so many fouls that never get called. I laugh when I read that he has not fouled out in .. years.  I think he did foul out of a game against the Celtics, but a man of his size, no matter how good he is, commits fouls.  Come on.  If you remember, in his last two years here Garnett was getting called all the time for those screens you talk about. Please.

The fact remains that when the playoffs are on, call it both ways. Some of these young officials do not even know what a good defensive move is. This is a crazy time for the NBA to release a report like this. Deal with it in the offseason, behind closed doors now, whatever, just do not make it open for the public to jump in and cry about their team being picked on.

PLAY BASKETBALL, STOP SO MANY REPLAYS (WHICH BRING QUESTION TO EVERY CALL) AND GET THE GAMES OVER WITH IN A DECENT FASHION. This is too much

Rosalie

 James and Durant both had personal foul rates of 1.9 per 36 minutes per game this year. The league average number off fouls per game this year was 40.6.  so both James  and Durant committed 0.046 % of the fouls. So I guess both James and Durant were blessed by the officials when it came to calling fouls.  But that pales by comparison when you take a look at the numbers that Wilt and Russ put up back in 1960-61. That year the average number of personal fouls in a game was 53.6 and against that number Wilt committed 1.2 fouls per 36 minutes accounting for only 0.022 % of the personal fouls called while Russ committed 1.6 fouls per 36 minutes for a percentage of 0.029 . So I guess that Wilt and Russ were even more pampered than James and Durant. And if you want the numbers for Bird and Magic I'll do them so that you can see that James is in very exclusive company.


  swish

Here's a video of the final play in regulation from Game 4.
Marcus could have been called for defensive 3 seconds or 7 or 10 seconds.
Who knows how long Marcus was in the lane before the video started.
You have to be in arms distance from an offensive player to be in the lane.
I am happy they didn't call Marcus with defensive 3 seconds and Boston loses on a FT.
The referees deserve credit and not continued bashing for the job they do.

http://official.nba.com/last-two-minute-report/?gameNo=0041500134&eventNum=1351