Marc Davis
 

I watched the video of the Marc Davis technical foul with 1:25 left in the second quarter. It was not for something on the other side of the court. If the technical foul was just for giving a high five to Blake Griffin, Davis can not be allowed to officiate another game during the rest of the playoffs. It is one thing to miss a lane violation, but something of this apparent magnitude is unacceptable. In addition, If I were Stern (who has enough problems himself), I would tell Stu Jackson and Don Vaden if any other officials pull a stunt like this during the rest of the playoffs, that they both would be held accountable and risk losing their jobs. It is bad enough that the sport has credibility issues, the Commissioner himself has credibility issues, this puts the whole sport in ill repute if the technical foul were for just giving a high five.

Reggie Evans may have received a technical foul for giving Blake Griffin a high-five (VIDEO) | Ball Don't Lie - Yahoo! Sports

Should he be DQ'd for the rest of the playoffs? Hell no.

Even if the League doesn't like his reasoning for the T, at worst, depending on his reasoning, should just get a IC for his grade. This doesn't even raise to the level of the incident between Joe Crawford and Tim Duncan (which was the last time, I can remember in recent history, that a NBA Finals officials got suspended for any real length of time). They'll rescinde the T (he'll maybe get a one game suspension at very worst IMO) if it's warranted and life will move on...there will be no credibility issues from this "incident." Nothing that would be made any worst or any better from listening to your reasoning.

I watched the ESPN replay of the game action for about ninety seconds leading to the technical and saw nothing unusual. The only other thing I can conjecture is maybe Davis thought Evans was taunting the Memphis player by celebrating.

I wasn't sure what Marc Davis gave the T for...but this isn't (at least IMO) something that's enough to suspend an official for for the rest of the playoffs like you suggested.

If IC calls could be graded from 1 to 5, this would be a 5. But that is all.

Davis might have heard something. Vinnie Del Negro did not say anything, which is telling to me. Something must have been said and was overheard.

Peace

I disagree, there was an official much closer than Davis.

Throwing bows to the head???
 

Maybe the left elbow contacting the head of the defender....maybe....delayed/slow reaction to this contact above the shoulders. Hard to defend this one...especially from this angle.

They use to say about boxing, when people cared about the sport, 'Another black eye for boxing.' You can use that phrase for the NBA these days.

Or as Chris Russo famously says about the NBA, 'Typical NBA!'.

I'm not sure why you're throwing a fellow official under the bus, but I find it troubling to say the least. We all make bad calls, no official is perfect, if the T was not warranted, I'm sure he is as mad at himself as any clippers fan.

If ONE call changes the way you feel about the NBA you aren't a NBA fan. You also have a deranged view of basketball and officiating. The NBA is viewed by many people as the top tier basketball with NCAA being at that level too. The officials are expected to match that level. 99.9% of the time they meet that standard.

There is controversy in NCAA basketball about pay to play, officials' schedules, officials' pay, and even missed calls. I can remember two occasions that a team had the misfortune of a bad call and at least one was in an end of the year tournament. Two years ago a crew missed a travel and an out of bounds at the end of a game. Last year a team had to play against 6 players, as I believe they were trying to defend a last second shot. Each crew was disciplined and life went on. How should these calls make me feel they tarnished the NCAA?

You sound like a fanboy and don't understand officiating. If you aren't a clippers fan and just commenting on one bad call, then you are worse than any fan that thinks he/she is your clinician for the night.

What are you disagreeing with? I simply said that Marc Davis might have heard something. No one hear knows what was said, heard or not heard by anyone. Being closer does not mean you will hear someone close to you all the time.

Peace

Having seen the play once (on the video posted in the OP), my guess would be that Marc Davis was holding his whistle for a period of time and assessed the T for a prior action/comment.

Of course, context is everything when it comes to officiating.

Hold The Whistle ...
 

That was my initial thought, but the technical was charged to a player on the offense. I could understand "lag time" for a technical foul to be charged to a player on the defense, but that was not the case here.

10.4.1 SITUATION F: A1 is driving toward the basket for an apparent goal when
the official, while trailing the play advancing in the direction in which the ball is
being advanced, is cursed by the head coach or bench personnel of Team B. How
should the official handle this situation? RULING: The official shall withhold blowing
the whistle until A1 has either made or missed the shot. The official shall then
sound the whistle and assess the Team B head coach or bench personnel with a
technical foul. If the official judges the act to be flagrant, the offender shall be
ejected. If A’s coach or bench personnel was the offender, the whistle shall be
sounded immediately when the unsporting act occurs. (10-4-1a)

I don't mind missing an eight second call, a common foul, an away from the play foul as that is common to the game. This was not common to the game. Thirty years ago, this would have happened and no one would notice. Today everyone is held accountable by the mass media we have and Marc Davis is no exception. You can't have bizarre calls like this taking away from the most important time of the year for the NBA.

No one is saying that Davis should not be held accountable. But when people say that someone in officiating needs to be held accountable, that always cracks me up because this is not about you or me. He is accountable to his bosses and that is all that matters. Not that I am on that level, but I gave a T this year that was in dispute and the only people I had to answer to was the state and my assignor if he choose to say a word to me about the situation.

The media does not need to know the inner workings of what an employer was saying to an employee as they don't do that with the teams either. If a team has an issue, they work it mostly internally and then we might hear or see the results. If Davis did something wrong in this case he would be dealt with mostly privately. And if you do not see him any more, then you can draw some conclusions, but that does not mean those conclusions that you make are accurate either. For all we know Davis might have worked as far as he was going to work for all kinds of reasons. Maybe he did not grade out high enough during the regular season? Accountability does not mean that someone has to be accountable to you about anything.

Peace

He made the Finals last year and generally, unlike the NHL, the same people make the Finals every single year. As for everything remaining private, the toothpaste is out of the tube for that one. We have websites dedicated to NCAA men's basketball officials statistics and schedules the last 16 years. Every ejection in MLB is graded on a website for correct/incorrect calls (by the way it will not make Todd Tichenor look good when today's ejection is posted). The NBA has to post statements about incorrect late game calls. In today's world everyone is held accountable.

Maybe I am wrong here, but I believe this was his first Finals last year. And you would be wrong that the same people make it every year. There might be some of the same names, but that does not mean that certain officials cannot be new or work their first time. There is theoretically a different crew make up every game. I am sure APG can shed some light on the overall process, but it is certainly not the same people and no one else new comes along or a new person every year is not eligible.

You really need to be educated on a few things. The NCAA Men's stats that you refer to, is a website that basically goes through listed or common box score listings and tells you where someone has worked and what conferences someone is normally working. The information is not from the NCAA or the conferences directly.

MLB might grade and ejections and put it on a website, but I doubt they do it the way you suggest (and I doubt this is run by MLB, but I am not sure). And it is common knowledge that MLB does not get rid of their staff or members that make bad judgments or do not grade out with their peers. MLB basically allows an umpire to retire on their terms until maybe a certain age or certain years of service have been reached. MLB hardly even suspends their umpires for things they do. Heck if you look at the way MLB Umpires handle ejections I think Davis' ejection was tame.

And the NBA much more unforgiving of their staff than the MLB has ever been. Joe West is still an umpire that should tell you enough right there based on the controversial situations West has been involved in and his physical appearance.

If you do not like the way the NBA gives out information that is fine, but do not suggest it is a lack of accountability so you know what they think. I am sure there was a report made to the league on the situation as I am sure all of these situations are reported to the league. And NBA officials have many more fouls and no calls that they are evaluated than any MLB umpire has unless they are working behind the plate. A base umpire might be lucky if they have a single call to make in a game. The NBA does not owe you anything.

Peace

Marc Davis (along with Ed Malloy) made his first Finals appearances last year.

And this whole bit about Marc Davis not being held accountable (assuming League Offices don't like the T) is silly. If they don't like the T, they'll rescind it, and maybe in this case, release a statement. If they really think the call is bad, they may even fine him and/or suspend him for a game or two. These things do happen, but the NBA (or any other professional sporting league in North America except for a rare occasion) doesn't make it public as a matter of policy .

And if you did not watch the game live, you probably did not even know this took place. I doubt there is going to be much of an press release for this T even if they did not like the call.

Peace

I've got a theory...

This goes along with my theory.

But the made free throw from the technical foul is not rescinded.

What happen the rest of the game?

You must have bet on the game. :eek:

Peace

Obviously you are right Snaqs. Tmagan is obviously a fanboy and a troll, the NBA will not miss this "fan".

That point isn't germane to the discussion. Your initial point is SOMETHING has to be done for credibility sake. If the NBA believes this is something they need to make public statement (assuming they rescind the T) they'll issue a statement saying Evans should not have been issued a T (much like they just came out recently stating there should have been an away-from-the-play foul in game 6 of the Hawks v. Celtics game).

Your next point seemed to be about being held accountable. As you've been told, officials in the NBA are held accountable...it's just the NBA doesn't feel the need to publicize this, in general. No amount of amateurs and uneducated public making websites tracking this and that and giving calls their own grades, though having no training in how to calls games at the professional level is going to change that.

Generally we know how NBA officials are graded. We didn't see Olandis Poole, Eli Roe or Tommy Nunez Jr. make the NBA postseason this year even though they all have at least seven years experience. The top twelve officials we know because they make the Finals.

In terms of baseball, Doug Eddings hasn't made a baseball postseason since 2005.

We also remember after a bad postseason for the umpires a couple of years ago, two MLB umpire supervisors lost their jobs.

OK, then why are you worried about this situation then? If you already know as you say, then we will find out rather soon what the NBA thinks of Davis or any official right?

Pace

Okay...and? :confused:

Doug Eddings had a couple of seasons where he was "graded" fairly low by MLB and the umpire system they have in place. And the supervisors that were fired by MLB were not fired over one call.

To say that Davis - or any official - should be fired or be "done" because of one call, which may or may not have been graded poorly, is ridiculous. Even if it was an egregiously bad call, tmagan, you honestly believe that one call should cost this official the remainder of the playoffs? So basically you are falling into the whole "the refs cost us the game" camp?:eek:

Really?:rolleyes:

Until the reason for the T is made public (if it EVER is), the only thing "in ill repute" is your biased, and absurd, posting that Marc Davis be removed from further playoff consideration.

Your rant would be better served on the ESPN website following an article by one of their ignorant writers calling into question the officiating in this years playoffs. :rolleyes:

It's that time of the year. I miss JR.

The technical wasn't for the high-five ... if you listen the whistle comes exactly when they are high-fiving ... officials' whistles always come a second or so after the infraction.

The tech is for Reggie Evans extending his right arm to hit Marc Gasol in the face. The official calling the technical waits until the official with the foul makes his call and then blows the whistle for the tech on the play.

You can agree or disagree with whether the tech for flailing his arms was a foul, but the tech wasn't for the high-five.

The technical foul was rescinded...FIRE HIM!

/sarcasm

Use blue font next time. :D

Peace

Guess the League didn't go with your advice as Marc Davis is working tonight...gosh, I wonder why they didn't come to you with your assigning prowess? :confused:

+1!!!

Peace

Okay. Giving THIS knothead credibility subtracts from yours.

Just wanted to remind the OP how silly his suggestion was...

Marc Davis is working AGAIN tonight.

LOL!!!

You mean to tell me he was not fired from all of basketball? :D

Peace

The IN-Credible Mr. Stern really took your advice to heart :rolleyes:

Looks like Marc Davis is going to be "held accountable" deep into the playoffs. Any more stunts like that and he may find himself in the finals if he's not careful.