Seems to be getting bad again this year in the playoffs.  If a team looks like they are going to pull away, or a blowout is happening they start swallowing the whistle/making BS calls to help the other team out.  Boston is on the verge of blowing out Atlanta and sure enough a series of bad calls here in the 3rd are going against the C's.  Last night they swallowed their whistles in favor of the Suns to keep them close.  Laker/Nugz series you would always see a flurry of bad calls in favor of the Nugz to try and keep them at least close when the Lakers would make a run.  Wasn't until game 4 that they said "fvck it they ain't winning this thing anyway."

the refs were absoultely atrocious AGAINST the suns last night in the clutch 

It's 12:30 here and I just got back from the Celtics game.  You knew the refereeing was going to be bad when you saw it was Bavetta, you just had to hope he wasn't going to help the Hawks make history.  It's amazing how much "respect" Atlanta has gotten from the refs in this series.  After 5 games, Atlanta has taken 157 free throws, Boston has taken 108.

greenteam:

It's 12:30 here and I just got back from the Celtics game.  You knew the refereeing was going to be bad when you saw it was Bavetta, you just had to hope he wasn't going to help the Hawks make history.  It's amazing how much "respect" Atlanta has gotten from the refs in this series.  After 5 games, Atlanta has taken 157 free throws, Boston has taken 108.

IVE SEEN WORSE.... But this years officiating is the worse Ive seen in a very long time. Talk about double standards. Last year they bounced Amare out of the pivotal SA game for putting one foot on the court in a non aggressive manner. This year, Ive seen players slap other players ( songala /Bron ) , players push refs ( kg) , menacing gestures and a whole lot of very physical play that deserved suspensions or at least a flagrant.... None were issued. Its so clear that Stern has a super heavy duty double standard when it comes to who he wants to advance . So , in the end, how can we really judge who is the best ? UNLESS ALL ARE TREATED EQUAL.....THIS IS A FARCE

I don't mind physical play as long as it's called the same way at both ends.  For the most part, I liked the approach the refs took in the Boston-Atlanta Game 4.  They let a lot of little stuff go at both ends, so that the game wasn't constantly broken up by fouls and had some flow to it.  Most of the flops went as non-calls.  It had the feel of a playoff game in the '80s.  It was a fun game to watch, even though Atlanta beat my Celtics.

 

 

 I can't stand to watch the Lakers play because of the bias given to them. 1stQ tonight, Boozer has two quick fouls the Jazz have 5 team fouls and the Lakers just picked up only their second... Game one was a joke too. Two Jazz starters foul out, two other players have 5 but I could live with that if it wasn't for the phantom calls that surround K-Bob... You can't defend him. Not only is he an incredible player he gets fouled every time a defender raises a hand near him. I know I sound like a bitter Jazz fan and that's because I am.
 

/Yawn.

 

Every year whoever loses cries about the refereeing. Can we move on?

Murrog:

/Yawn.

 Every year whoever loses cries about the refereeing. Can we move on?

Sure move on, there is so much happening on this board fill your time with something else...........

 

Again last night the Jazz have two starters foul out... Lakers convert 35 of 43 free throws while the Jazz make 13 of 16... and yet Phil Jackson will go on record saying that the Jazz have an unfair advantage with the officiating at home. No way the Jazz get that kind of help from refs. It's the Lakers that do. Rocks made the same complaint about officiating while getting the same advantage as the Lakers now see. Trust me on this, the Lakers will win but P Jax will cry about the refs, about the mascot and about the fans being too close in SLC. He always does. He is a master of spin. He knows the officials read those papers that he talks to....

 

Move on........... 

You do realize Utah led the league in personal fouls committed? they're a physical team and Phil just so happends to be able to work the refs and get them to spot out the calls that usually dont get called , Utah was lucky only a couple of Jazz players fouled out

The refs missed this foul.  As you can see Jarren Collin's arm is clearly across Pau's neck/face area which is pretty much a foul in the normal universe of basketball

Actually I don't see that foul. I see Collin's arm in front of Pau's neck.face, but from this angle I cannot tell if it is on his throat, or 6-8 inches in front of his throat--and neither can you.

Folks have completely forgotten the distorting power of the television lens--the same power that allowed John Wayne to smack his fist in a guy's face and knock him down--except that of course he did not really touch him. We place ourselves looking through a camera above the refs who are there, and go so far as to accuse them of fixing games based on the what we saw on the camera.

Yes I'm sure it's all the Jazz physical play. Everyone says the Jazz are physical so they can hack and wack then complain it's the Jazz that started it.

 LA made more than twice the free throws than the Jazz took. ... 43 attempts by LA 16 by Utah. Yep it's just Utah's physical play.
 

LouFerigno:

 I can't stand to watch the Lakers play because of the bias given to them. 1stQ tonight, Boozer has two quick fouls the Jazz have 5 team fouls and the Lakers just picked up only their second... Game one was a joke too. Two Jazz starters foul out, two other players have 5 but I could live with that if it wasn't for the phantom calls that surround K-Bob... You can't defend him. Not only is he an incredible player he gets fouled every time a defender raises a hand near him. I know I sound like a bitter Jazz fan and that's because I am.
 

 

 

Lets see here, you have a team that led the league in fouls and opponent FT's by a fair margin.  A coach who has had a long standing "no layup" rule.  Going against one of the greatest coaches in league history, the best player in the game, and one of the best offensive teams in the league. 

 

Trying to blame the refs for a inferior team losing to a superior team is a cheap cop out.

 

Funny how all these talking heads in the media keep bringing up the FT disparity but don't have the brain power to look into why.  And none of them can point out a supposed bad call.  Not that they haven't happened. The Jazz have gotten away with a ton of over the back fouls and pushing in the back on offensive rebounds.

Oh yeah, back to the topic.  Refs managed game 1 of the Lakers/Jazz series by letting the Jazz get a ton of offensive rebounds going over the back or pushing in the back to gain the advantage allowing them back in the game.

 Can you point me to a link showing the league numbers for fouls and opponents FT's?

Here's opponents free throws.  I haven't found total personal fouls yet.  Utah was second to Denver (which plays at a much faster pace, more possessions per game) in free throws given up.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/statistics?stat=teamstatoff&sort=fta&order=true&league=nba&avg=pg&qual=true&seasontype=2&pos=&season=2008

And here's total fouls committed.  Utah led the league.

http://www.nba.com/statistics/sortable_team_statistics/sortable3.html?cnf=1&prd=1#top

Thanks greenteam.

You'll all laugh but I'm a Jazz fan and I've always thought the Jazz got called for more fouls not because they play physical though.   The thing that goes against my bias theory is that opponents of the Jazz typically get more fouls called on them versus the Jazz which leads us back to the physical play. I still think thats all a farce though and that the officials buy into that as well. Long standing stereo type.

greenteam:

Here's opponents free throws.  I haven't found total personal fouls yet.  Utah was second to Denver (which plays at a much faster pace, more possessions per game) in free throws given up.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/statistics?stat=teamstatoff&sort=fta&order=true&league=nba&avg=pg&qual=true&seasontype=2&pos=&season=2008

 

 

You link shows Utah leading the league in FT's given up with Indiana second. 

You're right.  That was on offense that they took the second most free throws after Denver.

 

 Utah usually gets some really good home cooking but they didn't get much tonight.  On that last jump ball Fisher actually two hand shoved Kyle Korver and the refs let them play on.  Point being, there were a lot of little BS opportunities for the refs to favor the home team but they called it pretty straight.

 It may have looked straight to a Laker fan but with K-bob pulling Williams off the ball by his neck with 14 seconds didn't seem pretty straight to a Jazz fan. K-Bob gets away with so much but hey he is the MVP. If the Jazz got the calls the Lakers do they might be up 3-0

Bwahahaha.....he just called you a Laker fan Yeast.

 

 

Bedroom Bully:

Bwahahaha.....he just called you a Laker fan Yeast.

 

I BLEED purple and gold!

Point blank, there is a reason why the Jazz are so much better at home than on the road - they beat the *** out of people at home.  I mean, the Jazz have been allowed to set moving picks for about 20 years in Salt Lake.  It's probably fair ball if the refs call a game in Utah even once in awhile.

The Lakers get superstar calls.  The Jazz lay the wood to people and benefit from a lot of no calls. The refs aren't gonna decide this series. 

 

 

 

 The refs already decided the Lakers would win game two by putting them on the line so much. K-Bob will win this series though because he is unstoppable right now. He almost pulled game three out of a hat!