[jeffpea]

Anybody see the Spurs vs Mavs OT game last night and the post-game analysis by Charles Barkley? I'm paraphrasing here, but he essentially said -"David Stern has got to do something because the officials have been brutal in the playoffs".....

Although I only saw the 4th qtr and OT, last night's crew (Dick Bavetta, Jim Clark, and Derrick Stafford) did have a rough couple of minutes in the 4th qtr.

Jim Clark mistakenly thought a Mavs player hit the ball out of Duncan's hand before going over the backboard (no one touched it - should have been Mavs ball)

On the same possesion, Jim Clark overruled Derrick Stafford on a shot clock violation (2 replay angles did not show the ball hitting the rim)

After inbounding the ball following the "inadvertant whistle/shot clock" situation above, Stafford got Duncan on a moving screen that looked a lot like the ole' "make up call".

On the ensuing possession by the Mavs, when the ball went out of bounds on the endline, neither L or C had a clue (T had to come in to solve it). Coming on the heels of what happened at the other end of the court - it didn't look very good.

Despite those situations listed above (and two other surprising calls later in this game), have the officials been that bad? It seems to me that they've done an overall good job of working some very close games with the team that played the best winning.....