ProudBFan

I'm serious. The officiating during the last two games here at the RG (Spurs and T'Wolves) has been BLATANT in its favoritism towards Duncan, Garnett, and their teams.

If ANYONE associated with the Blazers is reading this (Wheels? Rice?), I implore you to push Nash to file a protest against the officiating of these past 2 games.

I'm just so SICK of having to watch my Blazers go 5-on-8 against their opponents.

PBF

__________________

ThatBlazerGuy

Ya, the officiating has been terrible. But, theirs nothing better than winning despite numerous one sided calls(EX. Tonight vs. the Timber Puppies)

TheBlueDoggy

I think it's standard practice to put together tapes of bad calls and send them to the league office for review on particularly bad officiated games... So theoreticly, if the Blazers thought it was "that bad" then they probably already are on top of things.

But seriously, it's a young group... it's going to take a few years and lot of good play for them to get the respect they deserve.

MARIS61

Better that this team learns to overcome that on the court.

__________________
I know what I know. - Paul Simon
I'm ALWAYS right and I NEVER lie. - George C. Tirebiter
Life is tough, it's tougher when you're stupid. - John Wayne
The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced. - Frank Zappa
You are responsible for your children until they are a credit to society. - Jovan Banjanin

Public Defender

The non-call against Banks as Steve Blake was driving to the basket was ridiculous. I could tell it he grabbed his arm even on my relatively small-screen TV while watching from my couch (and the "live" shot was certainly no close-up!). I can't see how a referee standing on the court could have missed it. To make matters worse, it could well have cost the Blazers the game, since it happened in the final 1:00 and the Timberwolves were within four points. I have to admit - I ony saw the last few minutes of the fourth quarter - but that call alone is enough to file a protest of some kind, if you ask me.

It does speak to the young Blazers' resilience, though, that they managed to play through - especially Steve Blake - who was able to get the rebound-handoff from Theo in the closing seconds, and then seal the game with foul shots.

__________________
Next year...

statman

[rant]
The NBA is the worst officiated sport I have even seen. I see more bad calls in one game than I see in an entire NFL season.

Cheating is condoned. Commentators talks about "rookies won't get that call" and "you have to so & so to get that call" and then they laugh about it as if its alright.

The egos of the refs are contstantly showing.

Besides star bias, the biggest problem is that they call things they DO NOT see.

I once saw Pippen called for a foul when he never came within 1 foot of the 3pt shooter. Reason? Air ball. Happens routinely in the NBA.

I do not say "the NBA iiiiiiiiiits faaantastic!"
I say "the NBA iiiiiiiiits aaaaa raaacket!"
[/rant]

__________________
If Utah Jazz fall down in the forest... is it a foul?

Target

It's just like Portland Wrestling.

__________________


It's only a matter of time before Rip City Rules again!!

Redbeard

I agree that there has been some terrible calls down the stretch this whole season, but these young guys can't go out there and expect to get the calls. They have to win the game on their own and not allow room for the officials to take it away. I think a major factor to consider is that star veterans have been playing around these refs a lot longer and the refs know their moves. This sometimes goes both ways, but on the offensive end they will give them the benefit of the doubt.

Personally, I don't think the players should be able to talk to the refs. It should be handled by the coach. Once the call is made, it is made. The coaches should handle pleading for better calls and the players should just stay in the game. I hate watching Kobe and Garnett hounding the refs until they turn the game around. I remeber last year watching Kobe totally get shut down in the first half of a well officiated game and then we spent the first 5 minutes of the third quarter hounding the refs to give him calls. What do you know, Kobe gets about 25 points in the second half and goes to the line 10 times. There should be an automatic T for them saying anything past asking what the call was.

All in all, the young Blazers will still come out and play tough and not worry about the officials. If Rasheed would have learned that a year earlier, he would probably still be here.

__________________
The age of dynasties is upon us.

Samuel

And there you have it: the difference between the most popular American Sport, the NFL, and the NBA.

Would parity be so bad?

Yega1979

I really hated that play when Steve was streaking down the court on a 1-0 fast break, and Jaric grabbed his jersey and they gave the Blazers the ball out of bounds. Blake was ahead of everyone, they should have given him a clear path foul!!! That's exactly what the dagnab rule was implemented for.

And yes, NBA referees are aweful. I think the NBA needs to take a second look at how games are officiated. Some may say, "oh it's such a tough job, and they really do a good job" Well, if the calls are so hard to see, why are the bad calls so apparant to everyone in the stands and watching TV?

Perhaps they need an official that officiants via television monitor, and can give the refs on the court a buss to call a foul. Or at least restrict the amount of calls that out of position refs call.

For example, Viktor cleanly swapped the ball out of a players hands, the ref 5 feet in front of the play called nothing, but the idiot ref all the way at mid court, who didn't even have a VIEW of the actoin calls a foul.

crandc

Agree on the Blake noncall, it was an obvious clear path.
I can see the star treatment when a call is "iffy"; a close pitch is called a strike for a Cy Young winner but a ball for a rookie, it's more likely to be pass interference when it's a Pro Bowl receiver, an NBA star is more likely to get a foul than in his favor than an offensive foul. I can live with it for the borderline calls, but it bugs me that a star has "earned" calls he (rarely she) did not deserve. Or that as was said someone like Bryant goes to the line 205 times a game. (I meant to type 25 but the typo is not so far from the truth!)

bballchik

I also agree with the clear path noncall but even worse than that was at the end of the game Steve got hit and they didn't call a foul when he was CLEARLY fouled HARD on his ARM not ball. I tivo'd it and watched it several times in slow mo and not only was it blatantly obvious but it was also in the sight of an official. This noncall could have easily cost us the game with such a close score with only a minute remaining. I get the whole if it's not obvious you give it to the star thing but to totally hand a game to another team just because our team is young (see: spurs game as well) is just plain wrong and total discrimination. This is a game, games have two sides, not predetermined winners. That's what makes them fun to watch.