We've seen terrible reffing before and last night's game was right up there with the "best" of them. We all know that they're not going to be perfect and that there are a lot of subjective calls that are going to go either way but there are games like last night where the officiating dominates the game and ruins it.
Realistically, what can be done about it though? Is it the combination of certain referees that makes a bad game? I believe that there is an alternate ref that travels in case of injury or something likewise. Couldn't they rotate a ref after every quarter to mix things up? Or perhaps as they're evaluated, you remove the weakest link at the half and bring in the alternate.
If they're serious about the refs, the NBA needs to do something to at least show that it's a concern for them. If they will release a statement on a missed call, can we get a press conference for a blown game?
I'll have a recap of last night's action later tonight (those 8:30 games kill me). I did want to touch on Sloan though briefly. It's too bad that the COY voted are already in because last night's game shows just what kind of coach Sloan is. Maybe we need to take away two contributors every night for as long as he coaches. Most teams go to a shortened rotation for the playoffs anyway but when a coach has to use players like Koufos, Jeffers, not to mention Fesenko for an extended period, in a playoff environment like that, you're looking at one of the best of all time.
NBA writers that have put fly by night coaches as their COY ahead of Sloan should be ashamed.
So far this series remind me a lot of the two Houston series. They've been tight ball games with Boozer and Deron having some big games.
This was going in my recap last night before I crashed but I don't think you can question this team's desire anymore. They let their 14-point lead disappear and it looked like Denver was going to pull away again late in the fourth.
It wouldn't be uncommon for the Jazz to get frustrated with the refs and let the game get away. Heck, for as bad as that game was officiated, I think I only saw Deron go after a ref once and that was when Billups fouled him right before the half.
And it's nice to see Sloan back animated on the sidelines. The Jazz really feed off of him.
I don't think many had the Jazz coming back home with the series tied. I just wanted them to have a good showing and not get embarrassed. That has all changed now. Now They have to win this series. If they can play like that for two games in Denver, there's no excuse why they can't take care of business at home.
Here's to hoping that they don't lose their focus that they've had in these first two games.
Tuesday poll