Are NBA Referees Getting Out of Hand?

The NBA always has their fair share of bad calls and late whistles. They also have their share of ejections and player argument throughout the season. The referees get blamed a lot for their officiating. This is not anything different then any other NBA season.

Although, the issue of referees seems to be much larger than the normal pouting this season. There have been a few instances now where players have spoken out about the referees. This includes the players from the game as well as players around the league.

Devin Booker

Devin Booker was ejected from the game on Tuesday night. The Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers were playing that night and the second half got quite messy. Both LeBron James and Frank Vogel got technicals for the Lakers. Then, Devin Booker is seen leaving the floor and the announces find out that he had been ejected. Booker received two back to back technicals to force his ejection. The first technical was pretty standard, Booker was frustrated at the officials and was telling them about it. The second technical came from Booker throwing a bounce pass to the referee. Although the Suns ended up winning the game, that questionable second technical caused the Suns’ leading scorer to be out the rest of the game.

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Montrezl Harrell

On Wednesday night, the Lakers face the Sacramento Kings. Early in the second quarter, Montrezl Harrell received a technical. This technical came after Harrell yelled “And-1” after scoring a lay up Harrell was obviously confused how he received the technical. During his post game interview, Harrell still was pretty upset with the call. He’s quoted saying, “If I’m going to get a tech for saying and-1, man, then they might as well just tech me up all year, man, because I’ve said way worse than that and haven’t been given a technical.” Harrell knew that the call was ridiculous. Harrell will probably be fined for his remarks but he was obviously upset.

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Donavon Mitchell

Also on Wednesday night, the Utah Jazz faced the Philadelphia Sixers. It seemed like the Jazz would win. Then, the Sixers pulled off a fourth quarter comeback to force overtime. In overtime, similar to Booker, Donavon Mitchell was assessed with back-to-back technicals that resulted in his ejection. The Jazz then went on to lose the game. Mitchell was quite upset after the game and let the reporters know about it. Mitchell said, ” I’m never ever one to blame the refereeing, but this is getting out of hand. We continually get screwed. We won this game in my opinion…”

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Obviously, these calls seem ridiculous and a little bit suspicious. The three instances named above all happened this week. It seems as though these questionable calls are becoming quite common during NBA games. This could be referees trying to control the game and be more forceful. By setting examples through Booker, Harrell, and Mitchell, these referees might be trying to warn players to be careful about their complaints. There will always be disagreement with the referees. It’s part of the game of basketball.

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