Phil Jackson $25.000 poorer

[Mark Padgett]

The Associated Press: Lakers' Jackson fined $25,000 for ref comments

[grunewar]

1) He can afford it, 2) The minute those words come out of his mouth he knows he's gonna get fined, 3) Heck, if he wins the next game, his team make pick up the bill!

[mutantducky]

ugh here's to a better game tonight. I was rooting for the Magic and even I think the refs were going for them as well. I don't know if it is home court or that the NBA would like to see more games and a better series but too often there has been some real issues with the refs in the NBA during the playoffs. not the WWE...
Stupid Magic did everything possible to lose that game

[Adam]

I'll say this again.
The number of people who would have to be involved in a successful conspiracy at this level precludes the possibility.

[mutantducky]

i think the officiating has been solid during the playoffs. just the last game there were some issues I had. Refs are fans as well maybe not for a specific team but they can be influenced by the fact that the game is at home and that they know the series would be better if it were closer. Hard to be neutral and they may not be, even though they perhaps think they are. just speculation on my part and like I said the officiating this year has been good.
The Cavs/Magic series was a lot of fun and the refs did really well in that one.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by mutantducky

just the last game there were some issues I had. Refs are fans as well maybe not for a specific team but they can be influenced by the fact that the game is at home and that they know the series would be better if it were closer. Hard to be neutral and they may not be, even though they perhaps think they are. just speculation on my part

How about some specific examples to back up your totally unfounded "speculation" that the NBA officials, who are the best in the world, are "influenced by the fact that the game is at home and that they know the series would be better if it were closer." IOW - let's have some proof that these officials are intentionally making calls favoring one team over the other.

Well.....I'm waiting.

[SethPDX]

Originally Posted by mutantducky

The Cavs/Magic series was a lot of fun and the refs did really well in that one.

No they didn't. LeBron vs. Kobe would have generated a lot more interest.

(No, nobody is kicking calls on purpose.)

[APG]

Originally Posted by mutantducky

i think the officiating has been solid during the playoffs. just the last game there were some issues I had. Refs are fans as well maybe not for a specific team but they can be influenced by the fact that the game is at home and that they know the series would be better if it were closer. Hard to be neutral and they may not be, even though they perhaps think they are. just speculation on my part and like I said the officiating this year has been good.
The Cavs/Magic series was a lot of fun and the refs did really well in that one.

Completely irresponsible statement to be making

[mutantducky]

well this, sure there has been lots mentioned on it so I will stop.
Researchers' NBA officiating study detects biases, but not necessarily the ones fans suspect 2009 NBA Playoffs | Schedules, news, scores, standings and more – OregonLive.com

"The researchers found that each type of favoritism -- home, trailing in a game and trailing in a series -- resulted in a 5 to 10 percent advantage in "discretionary" turnovers, or ones over which referees have the most influence. The researchers do not attempt to explain what the percentages could mean in actual wins and losses.

Still, the study concludes that the detected referee biases, though probably unintentional, could increase the league's revenues through additional ticket sales and television appearances by reducing the number of blowout games and making televised games more compelling. "




but like I said overall I agree with this-----
"An academic study of NBA officiating found little to no evidence that referees favor teams from large media markets in the playoffs, a favorite conspiracy theory of skeptical fans."

[grunewar]

Gosh, I wonder why those darn officials didn't let it go to a game six and seven to generate more revenue and excitement for the league.....?

Originally Posted by mutantducky

i think the officiating has been solid during the playoffs. just the last game there were some issues I had. Refs are fans as well maybe not for a specific team but they can be influenced by the fact that the game is at home and that they know the series would be better if it were closer. Hard to be neutral and they may not be, even though they perhaps think they are. just speculation on my part and like I said the officiating this year has been good.
The Cavs/Magic series was a lot of fun and the refs did really well in that one.

That's odd because one of the categories for the NBA Officiating Performance Standards that each officials EOY review consists of is:

1. Play calling

a. Makes accurate calls regardless of the
circumstances

b. Makes consistent calls from player to player
throughout the game & is NOT affected by
the HOME TEAM atmosphere