|
Let's start over and see if anybody can understand my point. I wasn't crapping on NBA and NCAA officials. I was merely commenting on the FIBA officials doing a good job of managing the game and keeping the flow. It isn't because FIBA officials are better, I think it is because the style of basketball is more enjoyable to watch in my humble opinion. NBA officials call the game the way the NBA wants them to call the game and they are very good at it. FIBA officials call the way FIBA wants them to call the game and they too are very good. FIBA seems to allow more contact that doesn't really affect the play and I like that. Too many games in the NBA playoffs were decided late by touch fouls in the final seconds of games. Bowen (two times against Dallas), Nowitski (against Wade on a drive at the end of a game) for example. The NBA used to let players decide the game on really close calls at the end of a game. As a fan, I don't like to see the game decided on the foul line unless the foul is obvious. That's just the way I see it. I like to read message boards of teams after playoff games. At least half the posts in the NBA boards are about close calls that each team thinks they got screwed on. People talking about the FIBA games rarely mention the officiating. I know it comes from fans, but if nobody is mentioning the officiating, that's a good thing. When Mark Cuban went on Letterman he talked about his part in getting the officials to really concentrate on slight bumps and hand checks so the LeBron James and Dirk Nowitski's can drive to the basket more freely. When it is called that way, I think there are too many fouls. I don't like games where each team shoots 35+ free throws. The game bogs down and gets ugly. The FIBA games just seem to have more of a natural "basketball flow" to them. As for the passion, I think it is equal. Everybody wants to win. Did you see Gasol in tears after Spain won, there is passion there, just as in the NBA.
|