The rigging is just too bad. You can't just barrel to the basket out of control and get bailed out all night. This is worse than wrestling!

This one wasn't decided by refs. It was on us.

Not rigged. Spurs didn't play good enough to win.

Game 3 on the other hand...

Both teams have won 2 at home.

I'm telling you guys. Just wait until game 5 plays out. It will get better. (if you're a Miami Heat / OKC fan)

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Not rigged. Spurs didn't play good enough to win.

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I agree that the spurs didn't deserve to win this one, but the treatment that Westbrook gets is ridiculous. If he gets in the lane then it's a foul no matter how out of control he is. The games a lot closer and he doesn't score 40 without the bail out calls and that's what's frustrating.

Bye bye

not rigged, take your crying somewhere else

But why should star players get the benefit of the doubt? It honestly does not make sense to me why an NBA official can't call a game consistently. It cannot be so difficult to either call all of the touch fouls you see, call 50% of them on each team, or call none. This nonsense of 1 team being able to be aggressive and just throw around the other while the other team can't even touch the aggressor has to stop. It makes road games in the playoffs unwatchable.

A poster on the other thread mentioned this and it really is true - it's easy to be the more aggressive team when the refs are letting you body up and muscle around your opponents and you're getting a foul called every time you're touched. Not so easy when you keep getting mauled in the paint with no call and you can't body up on guys on the defensive end.

Well I don't think star players should get the benefit of the doubt. I'm just saying it like it is, which is why there is a need for change.

Not a criticism to you. It was more a general question the popped into my head after your post, laced with frustration

I just don't understand why they get the treatment period. I didn't take your post to mean they should.

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Not rigged. Spurs didn't play good enough to win.

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This. The only thing I was upset with while the Thunder were building up their lead was Kendrick getting away with the Dampierfense. The Spurs tried to throw it into the post to slow the game down and Perkins wrapped Duncan up blatantly several times with no call. Westbrook got a number of bailout calls, but most of them were after they had gotten a 20+ point lead. I'm not going to complain about that.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/28/2014 8:52a).]

Star players are the biggest, fastest, strongest, most aggressive, and best players.

They have the ball in their hands making basketball moves more than anyone else on the roster. The sheer amount of times they make a move to shoot or drive is so much higher than role players that you're going to see them getting more calls just as it is. When Derek Fisher drives to the hoop and flails his arms and legs after getting blocked or fouled, you're only seeing him do that once or twice in a game. If it gets caught on replay you naturally wonder why tf he didn't get the call.

When Lebron, KD, or Kobe drive to the hoop 15-20 times a game, they too get mauled and don't get the whistle. But they also drive the hoop 15-20 times a game, and you see them get the whistle often because their sheer athletic ability usually gets defenders out of position who resort to reaching and swiping.

The stars will always get more calls because they are better and more aggressive than everyone else, and they force the issue WAY more than any role player.

Once you understand and acknowledge that, then you can start a conversation about the refs and "rigging" or whatever bs it always is.

I definitely agree refs influence games a ton in the NBA, but people refuse to even acknowledge basic numbers and reasons for the perceived issue and their natural biases take over, shielding any rational thought on the subject.

We aren't talking sheer numbers though. It's not like NBA refs have a quota of foul calls they have to make for a superstar. Will the stars get more fouls since they play more? Yes. But why give them the benefit of the doubt on top of that?

Maybe they don't? Maybe if Fisher and Splitter drove the basket 20 times a game and Manu/Westbrook only did it twice, you'd see the same number flip.

But you probably wouldn't, because Manu and Westbrok are stars who are more talented and more athletic than them.

It isn't a "benefit of the doubt" as much as it is one superior athlete forcing the issue. It will always be hard to perfectly officiate that.

The team that attacks the rim will usually get more foul shots. Durant and Westbrook can be devastating when they play smart and attack the rim.

The Spurs did a good job of forcing them to take outside jump shots in games 1 and 2. When that happened the free throws weren't there for the Thunder.

Why don't the Spurs shoot more free throws? Westbrook lives at the line yet Parker hits the floor as much as anyone. Parker, Manu and Duncan should have earned it by now yet the Spurs average the lowest number of Free Throw attempts in the league despite scoring more points in the pain than most. Meanwhile Durant and Westbrook who haven't won crap get all the calls.

The league absolutely has a ref problem. I could care less if they call a lot of fouls or very few fouls, just call it consistently. Somehow the NBA refuses to acknowledge the problem. We literally enter games scouting the officials as much as the opponent. If this doesn't change soon the NBA is going to lose a lot of viewers. I know I am about done with it all and as it stands barely watch the regular season. I used to watch all the games and go to a handful a year as well.

I don't think it is purposefully rigged, but I absolutely think there is a huge bias towards certain players style of play or star status.

You want the star calls? Gotta get the star players first

Maybe I'm just old or should get back in the kitchen... but on a tangent, when did the number of steps to make a basket off a drive or layup go from 1-2 to 5 or 6????

All the star players take 3 or more steps. Tony seems to take 2-2.5 and every now and then gets called for traveling. Lebron, Westbrick, and Durant can take 5 without the ball ever touching the floor.

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Curious Jorge



Maybe I'm just old or should get back in the kitchen... but on a tangent, when did the number of steps to make a basket off a drive or layup go from 1-2 to 5 or 6????

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Travels are only travels for the first 15 games of the season. After that, anything goes.

*unless you are a non-star who may have picked up his pivot foot a tiny fraction of a second before the first dribble of a drive from the wing.

So many rules...NBA why you so complicated?!