To Blow the Whistle: The Zebra Diaries

There is an ill wind in the NBA.

And it flows through a referee's whistle.

In a time when the Powers That Be should make every effort to move past the Tim Donneghy scandal, questionable internal politicking, and governmental investigations into our professional sports, we have an NBA Playoffs that is utterly and completely decided by the shrill tweet of the referee.

Yesterday's Game 2 was an abomination. A whole lot of stop, with a little basketball thrown in. There was a time when the NBA prided itself upon its "let them play" mentality in the playoffs, a time when a no-call was always preferred over an iffy touch-foul. Instead of whining, there was effort, for whining lost its purpose after the first few calls never materialized.

Alas, how the times have changed.

* * *
GAME 2

There were 51 fouls called in Game 2. 28 against the Lakers, 21 against the Celtics, 2 technicals against Kobe and KG. All told, it made a Finals game with two of the most talented basketball teams we've seen in years about as fun to watch as a hangnail.

51. That's quite a number. But that's not even the worst of it. Amongst those 49 calls, I can personally remember at least 10 missed calls and botched calls, both against the Lakers and Celtics, that very well could have (and DID) impact the outcome of the game.

Calls made were actually no-calls, touch fouls and complete whiffs sold by flailing appendages within high-traffic areas. But yet, no-calls were also called, as when Kobe sneezed on Ray Allen and was hit with a foul, then clapped his hands and drew a technical. Basically, if the refs pulled a George Costanza and made the exact opposite officiating choices, there would be no contention. Invert the game, and we have no problem.

If only.

The first quarter was officiated completely differently than the fourth, a fact thoroughly noted in the telecast by the greats Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy. It was so bad out there that players felt helpless, afraid to make any move, lest they even think about fouling.

Perhaps the refs got a "Stern" talking-to at the third-quarter mark. Perhaps that's what led to the worst no-call in the history of mankind, a dunk by Radmanovich where he took no less than five steps after hip-checking Ray Allen into the scorer’s table.

Perhaps the whole game was an endurance test for a whistle manufacturing company. Who knows.

In a nationally-televised ballgame, it is completely incomprehensible that the referees are the story. It is inexcusable, and unless it is addressed publicly and quickly, it will absolutely happen again.

* * *

If you think back over the previous six weeks of playoff action, you would expect to remember glorious "playoff moments", high-caliber stars dueling and butting heads over every inch of hardwood available, diving for loose balls and hitting game clinchers.

But no. Not this year. This year, it was the calls.

The offensive up-fake by Pierce. The Derek Fisher “Sit” on Brent Barry. The Kobe 26-Free Throw game…then 9-Free Throw series. Countless Spur flops...ah yes, those happen every year.

But, by God, these referees are robbing us of potential memories. How dare they.

Which is more classic: two free-throws to ice a game? or a last-second contested jumper and a frenzied dash around the arena? ESPN Classic doesn’t show a weekend of clinch free throws, do they?

* * *

As impartial as I may try to be, I am most obviously a Laker fan. My anger over last night’s performance was only half due to officiating. The Lakers were truly horrendous on defense, and deserved to be losing the game. But after a frenzied comeback in the last several minutes, one can’t help to think how the landslide of calls may have affected that outcome. Say Kobe does not get those two ridiculous calls in the first…does that equal the spread? Who’s to say it wouldn’t?

I will admit that the calls affected the Lakers and the Celtics both, but not equally. The free throw comparison was laughable: workingman Leon Powe had nine times as many free throws as the entire Laker squad in the first half. (Now how is that possible. Leon Powe shouldn’t out-free-throw Kobe, not to mention Pao, Lamar, and the rest. You might as well give Doc Rivers free throws.)

Sadly, this was the pivotal game in this Finals, and it has been tainted. I would much rather swallow a Celtics victory had it been an honest match (though I wouldn’t enjoy it.) The fact of the matter is, what we saw last night was not basketball. It was not even sport. It was three stripe-clad professionals making the game about them.

And boy, was it windy.