My first question asked to Pistons connoisseur and proprietor of Detroit Bad Boys, Matt Watson, in regards to Detroit’s Game 2 victory was, “was that a foul by Rip on LeBron?” You figure someone with a natural bias like his would flat-out say no, or say it was questionable. Or say it was just good defense. Instead, he pointed out something else — the opinion that the refs hadn’t been calling those fouls all game long. And you know what — he’s right. It doesn’t matter if the refs call it a foul, or let the guys play. What matters is that they’re consistent.
See, the officials meet with the teams before each series. They make their policy well-known way in advance — notifying players and coaches what will fly and what won’t. And if teams know they will be allowed a lot of wiggle room on defense, then who’s to blame them for taking advantage of it? All I know is that the refs were consistent last night, and that’s all we can ask of them. On another note, why wasn’t more of a deal made about this questionable elbow by LeBron in Game 1, as noted at DBB via True Hoop:
hmm, looks pretty bad to me.
