12/30/24
January 01, 2009
Power Play: The Blazer score what turns out to be a crucial basket on the Celtics with an extra player on the floor. Surprisingly the Blazers employed no subterfuge and left all six players on the court to be spotted by the refs. After discovering the mistake officials still let the basket stand.
posted by HATER 187 to basketball at 03:26 AM - 8 comments
I have just finished looking through the official NBA rules on line, and there is nothing in there about what to do, other than to assess a technical foul, when a team plays with more than 5 on the floor. It's one of those unfortunate holes in the rule book that can crop up in any sport. I do believe that the officials, including the referees, could have done better.
If you look at the rule on the flagrant foul, it includes acts of deceit. The official scorer could have determined which of the 6 players on the court was not checked into the game. The referees could then have assessed him a flagrant foul, given Boston the technical foul free throw, and then awarded the ball to Boston. It's a stretch, but it's the only thing that comes remotely close to covering the situation.
Rivers was right in not blaming the officials entirely for the Celtics' loss. I watched the game on TV, and Boston did not play well. I will say that this might have been the worst job of officiating, even excluding the 6th man problem, that I have seen this season. There was no consistency in the calls being made, although neither team was favored, and this made for very sloppy basketball. The NBA needs to take a very long look at its officials and start fining or suspending referees for poor performance. There have been too many marginal performances over the past few years.
posted by Howard_T at 01:50 PM on January 01, 2009
It's a shame, but it also appears to be just an excuse for the Celtic loss.
posted by graymatters at 02:19 PM on January 01, 2009
Its an excuse in the fact that the Celtics lost focus and spent so much time and energy pissing and moaning about the basket being counted. They should have sucked it up and blown th Blazers out of the building, God knows they have the talent to do that.
posted by HATER 187 at 07:56 PM on January 01, 2009
If it had to happen to any team, I'm happy it was the Celtics. God, I hate them!
posted by jjzucal at 01:32 AM on January 02, 2009
I can totally understand why the C's lost their focus. The refs basically gave away two points to the Blazers even though they were aware that there were 6 men on the court. To say that the points stand because they came before the refs noticed that there were 6 men is absolutely ridiculous and the refs should have made the right call regardless and dealt with the league offices the next day.
This is exactly why there are still people out there that suspect that the NBA is rigged. I do not think it is but these kind of blown calls are happening more & more and with all the technological advances that we have in this day & age, these kind of situations should be nipped in the bud before they get out of hand.
posted by BornIcon at 11:39 AM on January 02, 2009
To say that the points stand because they came before the refs noticed that there were 6 men is absolutely ridiculous and the refs should have made the right call regardless and dealt with the league offices the next day.
Imagine Tim Donnaghay is your referee. Do you think that refs who choose to ignore the rules really help the game's reputation that it's fixed?
posted by dfleming at 07:00 PM on January 02, 2009
No, not at all but shouldn't the right call be made when given all of the facts? They obviously saw that there were 6 men on the court after the ensuing basket so why should the basket still count after the fact?
posted by BornIcon at 11:11 AM on January 07, 2009
Funny. But if the rule does not permit a basket to be taken off the board, the refs should follow the rule. Ian Thomsen expects the refs to decide which rules make sense and which ones don't, which leads to ref anarchy and blood in the streets.