The Lakers just finished off the Bucks on a last second shot by Kobe Bryant in overtime, and as one could predict, the Bucks hashtag on Twitter is a alive with allegations at the NBA is rigged, or at least Bryant is heavily favored. The call the anger is centered around is a blocking foul called on Andrew Bogut that turned into a three-point play for Kobe Bryant putting the Lakers down one.
So the question stands, is the NBA rigged against Milwaukee? I have to say no. I just can’t believe it. Maybe it’s denial because I simply love the NBA too much, but I think there is also plenty of evidence to support that the NBA is not rigged against Milwaukee.
The Lakers in Milwaukee routinely brings out a large number of casual fans. Enough that it annoys Andrew Bogut (a tweet from last year that I believe started his progression towards making Squad Six). Those casual fans are going to judge a book by its cover, and tonight was the night for which they’ll likely base their opinion of the NBA for the year (with the exception of watching highlights of Jennings’ 55). Regardless if that’s right or wrong, there are a few things they will certainly miss.
- The Bucks routinely give up more free throws than they take. Yes the spread was a lot tonight, but the Lakers are good team that can get to the line. The Bucks, as a product of their Scott Skiles style of defense, are a team that commits a lot of fouls. The stats on 82games confirm that through 22 games the Bucks have committed 100 more shooting fouls than their opponents which results in at least a 200 free throw deficiency. The Lakers taking 16 more free throws than the Bucks isn’t that astounding, considering that usually give teams at least 9 more free throws a game. Not to mention how many times the Bucks get in the penalty early in a quarter, turning non-shooting fouls into free throws. No sign of the game being rigged because of the free throw discrepancy.
- The Bucks had chances to win, despite any rigging by the refs. Bogut could have made the free throw near the end of regulation. Michael Redd could have had a better shot selection. Ersan Illyasova could have made at least one of his free throws in the closing minute.
- The block/charge call is the hardest call for a ref to make. It just has to be. It’s often enough a split second decision, not to mention a call that quickly result in a five-point swing (two points the other way vs the three point play). It’s simply not a call you can make correctly every time down the court.
I think the ref made the wrong call on the play, but I don’t think the game is rigged. It’s simply a call refs get wrong, frequently.
But does the casual fan care? Probably not. It’s easy to pass off that the game is rigged in the post-Donaghy era. It’s easy to hate the NBA if you live in Milwaukee right now, the Bucks haven’t been a great team for a lot of reasons since 2001. And famous ESPN writers are suggesting the series against Philadelphia to get to the NBA Finals might not have been completely honest.
Brandon Jennings gave the casual fan in Milwaukee a reason to care this year, just enough of a push to finally leave home on a frigid night and see the Bucks take on the defending champs. With that, the Bucks still couldn’t fill up the arena, drawing only 16,309. The casual fan in Milwaukee has been so put off by the team’s struggles of the past few years that the Bucks couldn’t manage to sell out the arena against either of the game’s biggest stars (drawing 16,625 against Lebron). Disheartening for a team that has given fans so many reasons to care this year. So many reasons to believe things are headed in the right direction.
Unfortunately the casual fans that came out for their first game of the year tonight were treated to what had to be the nightmare scenario for Bucks’ management, a closing seconds lost after a couple close calls. One has to assume it would have be better for future sales had the Bucks been blown out by 20, but Brandon Jennings matched Kobe basket-for-basket.
The complaining about the refs and the NBA playing favorites on Twitter are pale compared to the choice words I heard on my way out of the stadium tonight. Fans vowing never to come back, and asking themselves why they paid attention to the NBA at all this year seemed to be everywhere to be found. This depressed attitude amplified by the fact that they live in a city where it’s a Wednesday night with a temperature below 20 degrees, nearing the end of a Christmas shopping season where more people than ever in my lifetime don’t have the financial wherewithal to buy something for their loved ones.
And it’s a shame that there is a good chance they won’t come back. Now more than any season since Andrew Bogut was drafted, the Bucks are holding up their end of the bargain. Night-after-night they’re playing hard, looking more and more like a complete team, and giving fans a reason to come to the Bradley Center. In a city that can’t seem to get its act together around schools, transit, or jobs, the Bucks are finally providing a welcome escape. In a city that’s bitterly cold every winter, the Bucks are providing a welcome distraction.
It would be a shame for the casual fan to miss this year’s Bucks team because of a bad call. The game surely wasn’t officiated at a level that is the pinnacle of the profession, but it’s certainly not the world Tim Donaghy says it is.
See you at the Bradley Center.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Jeremy // Dec 16, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Well done. Hard to rig the NBA, but not hard to influence it.
It’d be a lot easier for everyone to believe in the honesty of the NBA if that ref didn’t take ten minutes to make that call and then really pound his hips with it.
Sigh.
2 Luke Uriniuk // Dec 16, 2009 at 11:12 pm
You know… it’s calls like that one, that make me think that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to introduce the instant replay for tough close calls, just in the final 2 minutes of a competitive game. I mean anyone could see that not only was the call bad because it was a charge and not a block but also because Kobe clearly traveled before getting the shot off… two missed calls that would have severely changed the outcome of the game. You can say what you’d like about the Bucks having the opportunities to win it themselves earlier or at the end but Baseketball is full of momentum swings and game changing shots, but the fact remains that a bad call in the closing seconds takes something away from the game and leaves a bad taste or feeling in its wake. The scenario of two competitive teams battling all game long only to have a crappy call dictate which team may win or lose certainly ruins the outcome of any kind of game, IMO. This is why instant replay was introduced to football, baseball (in the little bit it has) and even basketball (in the little bit it has too). Why not extend it for instances like that of which occurred tonight.
3 DRJ // Dec 17, 2009 at 1:42 am
Actually, it is the world Donaghy says it is. It’s exactly that world. Months ago, he wrote down exactly what we saw in this Bucks game. (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/10/disgraced-ref-says-kobe-bryant-gets-star-treament-on-foul-calls.html)
Donaghy didn’t say that every game is fixed. He did say that superstars like Kobe get calls they shouldn’t get because the refs are fundamentally unfair, because the CULTURE of refereeing in the NBA is fundamentally unfair. In the NBA, it’s about (a) money, (2) whatever the refs feel like doing. There is no cultural mindset of “getting it right”, or fairness. And that does ruin the game.
The solution is much more video involvement. I’m in favor of having a separate video booth that reviews ALL calls… why not? The technology is there for that to happen with no drag on the game whatsoever… so why not? Do they want to retain the ability to unfairly influence games? I don’t know… but it smells like it.
4 arlen // Dec 17, 2009 at 5:27 am
Just two things:
a) I think the last time traveling was called in the NBA was last century. NBA refs either don’t recognize it when it happens, or they’ve been told not to call it.
b) It’s been fairly well demonstrated over the years that name players get the calls (providing they’re not unpopular with the refs). In any collision between Bryant and another player, the calls will go 90%+ to Bryant. This is partly favoritism, and partly due to my previous point. The action is fast, the ref misses what happened, so gives the benefit of the doubt to the player thought to be more skilled. I won’t even argue that this thought process is conscious; it’s just The Way It Is.
As for me, personally, I stopped watching NBA games because of inept or crooked (I won’t insist on one over the other, as the net effect of either is the same) refereeing decades ago, before the Donaghy affair ever came along. And nothing I’ve heard about since has convinced me it’s changed.
5 Brian // Dec 17, 2009 at 5:28 am
I have to agree with Luke on this one, although while I’m not an expert, or do I have an NBA rulebook, I believe that play could have been reviewed had any ref believed Kobe travelled before the foul. I just don’t think any ref ACTUALLY believed that, which is the one negative thing about the NBA. It’s not rigged against the Bucks or the “small market” teams, it the fact that the superstars and the winning teams get the benefit of the doubt 9/10 times. “The foul” was the turning point in the game, and it was the wrong call. Sure the Bucks still had a chance but it was all too poetic by then.
As for “fans” claiming they’ll never come back, that is kind of a surprise. I was on the edge of my seat at home, and was devastated as if I had spent my families’ Christmas money on courtside seats. But I’ll be in attendance on Saturday. I think, that there is more than just the game that affected those people’s state of mind because this was a phenomenal game against the world champs where the better team one and the scrappy young team just got snubbed. Still a great game.
6 Jeffery Ellis // Dec 17, 2009 at 11:29 am
it has nothing to do with the free throws we give up… we stayed with them cause we were consistent from behind the 3 line… it has nothing to do with what we didnt do or what we gave up… it has to do with a call the refs made against milwaukee, which affected the game extremely because Kobe bitched enough. The NBA refs have already made statements saying they will give the stars of the league more calls than not. So the NBA is rigged to a point, and the NBA has already admitted it…
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