2022 Playoffs Round 1, Game 6: 76ers @ Raptors, Thur April 28, 7:00pm EST, TSN

[slaw]

I disagree with this. It's really only noticeable in the NBA. Your reasoning is patently unfair as well. This guy is popular so we should call the game differently for him to give his team an advantage. The refs can't cause a disproportionate impact by calling the game the same for all players on both teams. They only make a disproportionate impact by calling the game differently for certain players than others.

It's noticeable in the NBA cause the officials have far more decisions to make than in any other of the 4 major sports where they are officiating thousands of interactions. In baseball, all star pitchers get more favourable calls. And if you don't think in the NFL and NHL that certain players get the benefit of the doubt then I don't know what to tell you.

And it happens at all levels, not just pro sports. Anyone who has played, officiated or coached anything at even a grassroots level has seen this.

[KeonClark]

I disagree with this. It's really only noticeable in the NBA. Your reasoning is patently unfair as well. This guy is popular so we should call the game differently for him to give his team an advantage. The refs can't cause a disproportionate impact by calling the game the same for all players on both teams. They only make a disproportionate impact by calling the game differently for certain players than others.

I do agree stars get a better whistle, but even though there is overlap, it's direct link is not for rigging games.

The league prefers it this way, because for the first 40 years it was hardcore defense, it was all about big bruising centers, it was plodding, and they never produced any national stars on par with baseball or football, let alone global stars.

It all changed with Jordan. They focused on being a perimeter oriented league, and they decided the individual superstar needed to be coddled and marketed. And they produced more global stars, they surged past baseball in popularity, and everyone continues to get richer and richer.

Actually, I think you're right that nba does it and nhl doesn't, and this an nhl PROBLEM. the nhl is still stuck in the past and does nothing to promote or allow its superstars to thrive. Baseball too does a horrible job marketing it's players. Fans connect with the personalities and the story lines.

[Kagemusha]

I disagree with this. It's really only noticeable in the NBA. Your reasoning is patently unfair as well. This guy is popular so we should call the game differently for him to give his team an advantage. The refs can't cause a disproportionate impact by calling the game the same for all players on both teams. They only make a disproportionate impact by calling the game differently for certain players than others.

Fans want to see the superstars play.
I can see the refs preserving the stars on the defensive side as much as possible.

[Jclaw]

The funniest comment in the replies is something like "What did Orlando do to get involved in this?"

[chris]

It's noticeable in the NBA cause the officials have far more decisions to make than in any other of the 4 major sports where they are officiating thousands of interactions. In baseball, all star pitchers get more favourable calls. And if you don't think in the NFL and NHL that certain players get the benefit of the doubt then I don't know what to tell you.

And it happens at all levels, not just pro sports. Anyone who has played, officiated or coached anything at even a grassroots level has seen this.

i don't watch enough baseball or hockey to understand how the strike zone gets called differently for star hitters/pitchers or how some hockey players might get away with more or less contact, but i don't see too much of what you're talking about in football at all. at least not to the degree of the NBA. a star edge rusher isn't allowed to get off the line quicker or put his hands in the face of a lineman, i don't think star tackles are getting away with more holds, or that star corners are allowed to be handsier, etc. there's been an effort to protect players and QB's in particular so maybe star QBs get babied a little bit and get more roughing the passer calls than they would have 15 to 20 years ago, but overall i don't really see it. and bad QB's get protected too. there's still a fucking shitload of bad calls but i attribute that more to incompetence and/or it being a really hard sport to officiate rather than any sort of star calls. there's definitely some bias towards the home teams which has been proven, but that's not what you're talking about.

quite possibly i'm just oblivious but i've followed both leagues pretty closely since the late 80's and have not noticed it much in the NFL.

[G__Deane]

Yeah, they do. The number of 100% phantom fouls is pretty much zero. The common bad whistles are the ones where there's minimal contact that doesn't impact the play, but gets called anyways.

You're joking right?
Google NBA phantom fouls; returns 140,000 results.

lebron gets at least one virtually every game and that's beyond the incidental contact calls he gets by the boatload. Embiid gets them regularly too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMFXiuxiYl0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B99W_grvG_c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTkMnBsrvyA

No need to micro-critique the links, there are hundreds of examples.

Man, look how many 3 point fouls are called when there was no contact, floppers get the call with no contact, I'm not talking minimal contact. They come because the refs are not in position and react to what they think might have happened mixed in with star reputation.

[Kagemusha]

The funniest comment in the replies is something like "What did Orlando do to get involved in this?"

Doc even using not having homecourt advantage as an excuse. Lol
Over rated.

[Primer]

I do agree stars get a better whistle, but even though there is overlap, it's direct link is not for rigging games.

The league prefers it this way, because for the first 40 years it was hardcore defense, it was all about big bruising centers, it was plodding, and they never produced any national stars on par with baseball or football, let alone global stars.

It all changed with Jordan. They focused on being a perimeter oriented league, and they decided the individual superstar needed to be coddled and marketed. And they produced more global stars, they surged past baseball in popularity, and everyone continues to get richer and richer.

Actually, I think you're right that nba does it and nhl doesn't, and this an nhl PROBLEM. the nhl is still stuck in the past and does nothing to promote or allow its superstars to thrive. Baseball too does a horrible job marketing it's players. Fans connect with the personalities and the story lines.

This is honestly the perfect setup for rigging games for certain teams without having to instruct the refs to do it. It's built in. Stars get favorable calls. Teams with more stars or bigger stars get more favorable calls than opponents with less stars. The game gets tilted in one team's direction by the refs without the NBA top brass having to say anything. This is the thing I dislike most about the NBA. Just do your best to call it the same for every player. Letting stars get away with bullshit and not calling fouls for rookies who just got hacked sucks and makes me like the NBA a lot less. If the star players are better then they don't need special treatment.

I really enjoy NHL hockey because they don't do this. The great players are great because they're actually great. Not because the refs are giving them an unfair advantage.

[Kagemusha]

This is honestly the perfect setup for rigging games for certain teams without having to instruct the refs to do it. It's built in. Stars get favorable calls. Teams with more stars or bigger stars get more favorable calls than opponents with less stars. The game gets tilted in one team's direction by the refs without the NBA top brass having to say anything. This is the thing I dislike most about the NBA. Just do your best to call it the same for every player. Letting stars get away with bullshit and not calling fouls for rookies who just got hacked sucks and makes me like the NBA a lot less. If the star players are better then they don't need special treatment.

I really enjoy NHL hockey because they don't do this. The great players are great because they're actually great. Not because the refs are giving them an unfair advantage.

Can't wait for the day when AI / robots officiate the games

[JimiCliff]

You're joking right?
Google NBA phantom fouls; returns 140,000 results.

lebron gets at least one virtually every game and that's beyond the incidental contact calls he gets by the boatload. Embiid gets them regularly too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMFXiuxiYl0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B99W_grvG_c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTkMnBsrvyA

No need to micro-critique the links, there are hundreds of examples.

Man, look how many 3 point fouls are called when there was no contact, floppers get the call with no contact, I'm not talking minimal contact. They come because the refs are not in position and react to what they think might have happened mixed in with star reputation.

In this series, for both teams, I've seen maybe two.

[G__Deane]

Doc even using not having homecourt advantage as an excuse. Lol
Over rated.

[G__Deane]

In this series, for both teams, I've seen maybe two.

OK that's a long way from you saying "The number of 100% phantom fouls is pretty much zero"

I'll take it

[Shredder]

You know what worries me about this game? James Harden. He hasn't really played like James Harden in this series and I think he's due. Embiid called him out the other night. All the American media keeps talking about right now is James Harden. I expect him to come out guns a blazing tomorrow. Raptors have to prepare for that. Embiid is going to put up numbers no matter what. We can't allow other guys like Harden to have big games.

Remember peak James Harden? Do you know what happened when he hit a Younger OG? He had one of the worse games of the season.

Since then we still have OG, Pascal is better, Barnes is here. Harden can go off, I'm more worried about Maxey. Regardless the momentum is swung in our directions and all dirty laundry and skeletons are coming out of the Philly closet.

[RaptorsVictim]

Raptors haven't done anything crazy that isn't unsustainable either. They haven't shot well from 3 and has still beaten the Sixers. The first 2 games weren't the Raptors we were used to, the last 3 games have been.

I totally disagree with you. Maybe we did nothing in game 1,2, but from game 3 we could find the proper way to shut down both Embiid and Harden, and in game 5 our defence reached its peak when we could put Maxey totally under check.

There are alot of things the stats do not show.

[The Great One]

The funniest comment in the replies is something like "What did Orlando do to get involved in this?"

I haven't watched the whole interview but did Doc mentioned how he had PRIME Tracy McGrady in Orlando? T-Mac's absolute prime was when he played for Orlando.