NBA Referees and the state of the NBA: What to do?

Throughout the playoffs this season, the NBA referees have been consistently horrible. I have previously written about this issue, and just wanted to follow up. Some games, the referees are all over any kind of contact, calling a foul on seemingly every play. Other games, they let them play. Last night’s game between the Celtics and Lakers was a game in which, for the most part, it seemed the players were allowed to play.

Being at the game, I noticed there were fewer horrible calls than in the previous games. It would be foolish to say that the NBA ref’s are completely impacting the outcome of the games, but they do have the ability to have some effect. By slowing momentum of one team, they can stop scoring runs and reverse the flow of the game. Although they aren’t putting the ball in the hoop personally, they are having an impact on the game.

I hear a lot of people saying, “let them play.” I completely agree. When the game is stopping every two seconds, it completely takes away from my enjoyment (I don’t know about you). I like fast paced, hard-nosed games with lots of excitement. Not games that stop every two seconds so teams can’t get a real good flow going.

I know this is a drastic idea, but I don’t see any other solution. I feel that David Stern needs to assess the referee situation and do some type of overhaul. In my ideal world, it would be a complete overhaul, replacing all the referee’s. The bottom line is the ref’s are just not good at their jobs and it’s impacting the games. It also have an effect on the fans, who are tired of this.

Another thing is that the ref’s are buying into this new type of play with flops and screams, in an attempt to get calls. As a Boston fan, I can’t say we don’t do it, but there are certain players who are known for doing such. Being at the game last night, watching Pau Gasol was the most frustrating thing I have seen in a while. He complains on every call, flops, and screams to try to get foul calls. The worst part is the ref’s buy into it at times.

I don’t want to say it’s a European thing, but it kinda seems like a European thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love soccer and I have nothing against Europe. I’ve traveled there multiple times in my life and love the different areas. That doesn’t negate the fact, however, that they play a different style of basketball.

The game needs to be cleaned up to make it more enjoyable to watch. Half the time it isn’t who plays better, it’s who can act better. By flopping and getting fouls called against the other team gives an opponent the ability to remove certain players from the games by getting them in foul trouble.

What do you think? How should David Stern address the referee issue?