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Old Wed Jun 14, 2006, 05:18am
SMEngmann SMEngmann is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 423
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLMatthew
They called 5 travels in games 1 and 2 also...It's the old veterans making those calls. Also have seen lots of off-ball offensive foul calls. It's a breath of fresh air.
I don't understand the current preoccupation that officials have now about emphasizing travelling, carrying and off ball fouls such as marginal bad screens. These violations are game interrupters that put the focus of the game squarely on the officials. Travelling and carrying should be called when obvious and when they cause an advantage IMO. If you gotta replay the tape 5 times to see the travel, it's not a travel. If a player palms the ball while dribbling in the open court, why stop the game and call it? Also, officials who become "travel officials" are so focused on the violation that they cannot effectively referee the defense. Call the obvious, call what matters, it just leads to a much better game.

As for the off ball offensive fouls, same principle. If there's an advantage, it's obvious or non-basketball, get it, if it's marginal, or there's doubt, why stop the game? If these fouls aren't obvious, the game will get out of hand very quickly, putting a negative focus squarely on the officials. For the record, every one of the NBA off ball fouls/travels were obvious and had to be gotten, they were quality calls.

To sum up, and I know a lot of people will disagree, the emphasis should not be the number of off ball calls or violations, but the quality of those calls, especially considering the context of the game. Too many people wrongly justify weak calls by claiming to "preserve the integrity of the game." Hogwash, consider the context of the game and the spirit and intent of the rules and call the obvious, it leads to a better game and less trouble.
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