I have lots of old NBA stuff on my DVR from espn classic that I like to catch up on when there isn't much to watch. Last night was one of those nights so I watched the Bulls vs Celtics from the 1986 playoffs.
In the opening they showed the officials for the game, Frank Middleton, some other guy and Jack Nies (with a full head of brown hair) as the ALTERNATE official. So this strikes me as odd - alternate official? Sure enough they were working 2 man for an NBA playoff game
I had never really paid attention to this before and I must say I was shocked that the NBA was using 2 man crews.
Does anyone know when the League switched to 3 man crews? Middleton and the other guy did a credible job but it was obvious they were:
1) Struggling to keep up with the pace and the heat
2) Struggling to get good angles
3) Having a hard time maintaining control over the play in the paint
and I noticed they were doing some really weird things in their 2 man mechanics like running across the court in transition and (while in the lead position) going from the table side all the way to the opposite corner on the baseline which caused the trail to switch sides during play
anyway what really struck me was the final sequence in regulation. The Celtics were up by two 113-111, Jordan comes down and shoots a 3pt attempt (6:02 mark of this youtube clip).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=69vkEcc-zfc
Middleton in the trail CLEARLY signals 3pt attempt, Dick Stockton calls it a 3pt attempt and Jordan missed it. Middleton then makes an atrocious call on McHale. In the clip you can barely see it but Mchale closes out on the Jordan 3pt attempt, Jordan has a clear shot on the basket and elevates, as Jordan comes down McHale's hand is in the air near Jordan's face and Jordans shooting hand comes down and hits Mchale's hand. Middleton calls foul on Mchale even though Jordan initiated the contact. Now I know someone is going to come out with "airborne shooter" and Mchale was dumb to get that close to Jordan in the first place.
Now it gets really weird. Jordan was clearly shooting a 3pt shot, but Middleton gives Jordan 2 FTs, which he makes sending the game into overtime.
Three questions about this:
1) would you have had the stones to call that foul like Frank Middleton did in that circumstance?
2) why did Middleton only give Jordan two FTs when he was shooting a 3pt shot?
3) do you think the NBA using 3 man crews is better or worse for the NBA game? In other words, 2 man crews let a lot go because they just dont clearly see it to call it. If the glory days of the NBA were the 80s, do you think a return to 2 man crews in today's game would lead to a return of 80s style open court basketball?