The NBA has an officiating problem. That is, at least, if you listen to many of the head coaches around the association this season.
In a year that should be defined by stories like the Denver Nuggets’ pursuit of back-to-back championships, the rise of the young Oklahoma City Thunder, and Joel Embiid’s title pursuit with the Philadelphia 76ers, it feels like there’s a coach raging about skewed officiating seemingly every other night. Unfortunately, such a saga will often take precedence over more compelling on-court stories about some of the league’s better teams and brighter stars.
We’re over halfway into this NBA regular season, and we’ve already got more than a few doozies where coaches publicly ripped referees. Let’s take a look at some of the more high-profile incidents (so far).
1
Darvin Ham, Los Angeles Lakers
Any coach worth their salt will always stand up for their star players in public, regardless of whether they were right or wrong. Ham did just this for LeBron James after a tough Lakers loss earlier this season to the Miami Heat. Ham had received a technical foul for arguing a key no-call on James.
Here’s more from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:
“I’ve been around this league a long time, man. You have a crew chief, [he is] supposed to, along with his counterparts, have the game under control. And all I want is an explanation sometimes,” Ham said. “We just want balance and consistency, that’s it. I see Bron [LeBron James] shooting four free throws. And the amount of times he attacked the rim, the amount of times he was slapped on the arm, which I could see plain as day, for that not to be called, man … he’s not flopping. I’m watching him go to the hole strong.”
2
Mike Brown, Sacramento Kings
It wasn’t the main reason the Sacramento Kings fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in a mid-January thriller (hello, Damian Lillard), but Mike Brown felt that a few erroneous calls by the officials tilted the game in Milwaukee’s favor. Brown felt so strongly about this that he brought a laptop to his postgame press conference so he could demonstrate precisely which bad calls bothered him the most.
Talk about commitment to the bit.
Mike Brown lights into the refereeing tonight in the Kings loss in Milwaukee. Brings out a laptop in his press conference to show film of the non-foul and foul that has him ticked off. Here is the five minute soundbite. pic.twitter.com/Q8InpkFh8B
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 15, 2024
3
Darko Rajaković, Toronto Raptors
The Raptors had the Lakers on the ropes. The ball was popping, Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam were having their way, and it looked like Toronto might have captured a vital mid-season win. There was just one problem: the Lakers attempted 36 free throws (including 23 in the fourth quarter) to the Raptors’ 13. And Toronto fell by a single point in a 132-131 loss.
Needless to say, Rajaković was unhappy. REALLY unhappy. So unhappy that he delivered an all-time rant about the discrepancy in calls.
Raptors HC Darko Rajakovic was heated in the postgame presser, unhappy with the Lakers 23 free throw attempts in the 4Q pic.twitter.com/1xvoXrUM6k
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 10, 2024
4
Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors
The Warriors entered their Christmas Day road game with the Denver Nuggets hoping to right the ship on a tumultuous season. They gave the defending NBA champion Nuggets all they could handle before Denver eventually pulled away late in the fourth quarter for the win.
According to Kerr, the Warriors had no chance of earnest defense against the Nuggets because of a “parade” to the free throw line. Reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokić, in particular, shot 18 free throws. Kerr used this as a means to critique how poor officiating is gradually taking solid defense out of the league.
Steve Kerr sounds off after Nikola Jokic’s 18 free throws: “I have a problem with the way we are legislating defense out of the game.We're just enabling players to BS their way to the foul line. If I were a fan, I wouldn't have wanted to watch the second half. It was disgusting." pic.twitter.com/YBWuldi0Za
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 25, 2023
Here’s that quote in print:
“I have no problem with the officials themselves; all across the league, we have really good officials,” Kerr said, while not leaving any room for interpretation as he took aim at the NBA as a whole. “I have a problem with the way we are legislating defense out of the game. It’s what we’re doing in the NBA; the way we’re teaching officials — we’re just enabling players to BS their way to the foul line.”
5
Mike Malone, Denver Nuggets
During an early-season road trip to Detroit, Malone was ejected for arguing ticky-tack calls in the first quarter. Jokic followed him just about a quarter later, and suddenly the Nuggets were in danger of losing to the Pistons — the NBA’s worst team. At least they had each other in the locker room as the Nuggets pulled out a nail-biting 107-103 victory.
Here’s more on that from The Denver Post:
“I move around,” Malone said. “I can’t just sit there. I was in the back room, the training room, the locker room. And if (Detroit) went on a run, I’d go to a different room to see if I could switch the mojo up a little bit.”
But he re-congregated with Jokic and Vlatko Cancar in the locker room for the tail end. “When you make a good play, we’re pumping our fists, we’re excited, we’re hugging,” Malone said. “And when you don’t make a good play, I’m cursing in Serbian.”
6
Chauncey Billups, Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers had no business hanging around with the current West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, no less on the road. But there the Blazers were — one of the NBA’s worst teams — pushing the Thunder until the final moments.
While trying to protect a late 109-108 lead in the final minute, Billups called a timeout to prevent a double-teamed Malcolm Brogdon from turning the ball over. Except the officials, apparently, didn’t hear him. In a one-point game with just over 15 seconds remaining, Billups would get assessed a double-technical foul, leading to an automatic ejection. Oklahoma City made one of the two free throws and then, with possession, nailed a last-second jumper to steal away the win.
Blazers HC Chauncey Billups was given two technical fouls at the end of the 4th, ejecting him from the game. 😬 pic.twitter.com/AMHn5LXTWS
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 24, 2024
The Trail Blazers deemed this sequence so egregiously skewed against them — you rarely see double-technical ejections in close games unless it was something absolutely inflammatory — that they filed an official protest with the NBA’s league office to challenge the 111-109 loss.
ESPN Sources: Portland is filing a protest with the league office to challenge result of 111-109 loss to Oklahoma City on Tuesday. With 109-108 lead, Portland contends Chauncey Billups was clearly calling timeout prior to official whistling a Blazers double-dribble with 15.6…
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 24, 2024
