If there's one thing that was confirmed in the Miami game....

[Brown'sTown]

Slam, the idea that refs can't decide a game is insane. If a slew of bad calls occur that could cause a 10 point swing. If you've got a player who is important sitting on the bench all night because of bad calls it could be worse than that. You can't expect a team to always overcome that handicap, thats like saying "if you don't dominate them then you don't deserve the win". You're delusional if you really think teams don't occasionally outplay their opponents and come away with the L. As for Boris' push off, come on. His arm was hardly extended and O'Neal's momentum was going sideways, crashing his body into him. Calling it offensive was a terrible call. He made the bucket, then the heat hit a shot on the other end, that's a 5 point swing right there very late in the game. Then Boris got an offensive foul called on a play he botched, but I didn't see him do anything. It just looked to me like he pussed out under the basket as usual and pulled the ball out and the ref just punished him for being a puss. The Felton no call was terrible and those happen every single game, but again this time the game was on the line. We were up 2 or tied with less than a minute left and they let O'Neal give him a hard body check and block him on the way down. You can't allow 7 footers to give hard contact to 6 footers on a layup attempts, especially in a potentially game deciding situation. DJ certainly gets more love than Felton. But DJ tries less to finish and does more flailing and falling. Sucks that the league rewards that and Felton has to constantly absorb huge fouls.

[BRNC]

We almost doubled (30 vs 16) Miami in free-throw attempts last night...we consistently get to the free-throw line more than opponents...the refs are not costing us games...not hitting shots is costing us games...

[Slam]

Refs can have a huge influence over the outcome of a game. When the Bobcats have refs that don't let them use their aggressiveness on defense, it takes them out of their game.

Or maybe the defense is sloppy, players are forced to cheat, be overly aggressive and take short cuts so they commit fouls?

[Slam]

we left too many points by not hitting shots and free-throws...as someone else said "making our shots" makes the refs a moot point and I agree...

People who disagree should read this over and over and over again until they understand and stop looking for others to blame for losses.

[Slam]

Slam, the idea that refs can't decide a game is insane. If a slew of bad calls occur that could cause a 10 point swing.

Not as much as three consecutive empty possessions due to poor turn overs or shot selections.

If you've got a player who is important sitting on the bench all night because of bad calls it could be worse than that.

Then that shows a lack of depth. It's not like the important player is missing the whole game. Maybe he only plays 25, 27 or 30 mins rather than 35, 27 or 40. He still has an impact and you should build a team to that has depth to cover these times.

You can't expect a team to always overcome that handicap, thats like saying "if you don't dominate them then you don't deserve the win". You're delusional if you really think teams don't occasionally outplay their opponents and come away with the L.

Sure a team can outplay an opponent for a game, but maybe they turned the ball over more, maybe they missed FT's. Their general play might have been better, but their mistakes greater.

As for Boris' push off, come on. His arm was hardly extended and O'Neal's momentum was going sideways, crashing his body into him. Calling it offensive was a terrible call.

Totally agree. I thought that was a terrible call.

Of course if Boris had hit some bunny shots and not gone 4-11 or looked to score rather than pass on other posessions or Crash made a layup all game and didn't go 3-11 or we hit more than 73% of our FT's for the game then that call wouldn't have mattered.

It was ONE call Vs a HUNDRED (random number used for effect) of things we did wrong. I'd take that one bad call................so long as we did the hundred things right that we should have done right.

[Dcarnys]

We almost doubled (30 vs 16) Miami in free-throw attempts last night...we consistently get to the free-throw line more than opponents...the refs are not costing us games...not hitting shots is costing us games...

True that, but you have to admit the refs can have a huge impact on a game.

[GoBobs]

The offensive foul on Boris was a terrible call.

[Toocool]

I still disagree with you Slam. I understand where you're coming from, but if you get called a foul on every defensive play, how are you suppose to play defense? Your team might as well foul out (happened before with the GSW).

[Slam]

if you get called a foul on every defensive play, how are you suppose to play defense? Your team might as well foul out (happened before with the GSW).

And if a ref called a foul on every defensive play there would be around 150-200 fouls called in a game.

When was the last time that happened?

The reason that happened with the GSW's is because:

A) They suck on D and commit a lot of bad fouls.
B) They were only playing with 7 guys (maybe 8?) dressed because of injury

You are still glossing over the fact that the way a team plays and the mistakes they make has more of an impact on a game than any ref ever will.

[Slam]

True that, but you have to admit the refs can have a huge impact on a game.

Can they have an impact? Sure. The way they call a game can influence a player and how they play meaning the player has to adjust.

Do they decide the outcome?

Not a hope in hell.

Missed shots, turn overs etc do that.

Take the Clipps game. We lost that game because of Jax and therefore because of LB. Had nothing to do with the refs, no matter how bad the refs might have been.