Is it time to stop watching the NBA?

Before I start in on the Alaska trip (tonight or tomorrow), I feel i ought to add some thoughts on the NBA Finals.

1. The NBA officials are terrible. I understand that experience matters, but when 60 and 70 year-old men are officiating a bunch of 20 somethings, experience might be overrated. In this postseason we had one official (I can't remember his name) admit that he didn't hear timeouts being called at critical moments (Game 4 of the Lakers-Suns series). I can think of 4 distinct games where officials called at least one 'phantom' foul-- that is a foul when the defensive player didn't actually touch the offensive player (Games 5 and 6 of the Finals, Game 4 of Bulls-Heat, Game 6 Spurs-Mavs), and I only probably watched half the games. Why do phantom calls happen? They happen because officials see a jerky movement, or an awkward shot, and assume that contact must have taken place. At least, that seems most likely. I guess it is possible that the officials are involved in some kind of conspiracy.

2. Dwayne Wade is the Man. I hate his team (more on that in a minute), but I love his game. Tremendous shot selection, drives the lane constantly, finds open teammates, perfect jumpshot. If D-Wade adds a three pointer to his arsenal in the offseason, then he'll be in Jordan territory (offensively). On the other hand, his defense isn't very good. He's very atheletic, and he can block shots, but he doesn't really guard his man very well. He seems to lack some defensive presence. But I'm quibbling here. The officials are threatening to turn Wade into the new Kobe (much hated), but it isn't Wade's fault. If I had his talent and ability to get the refs' love, I'd do so.

3. Diggler. Forget the numbers, he had a decent Finals. The numbers weren't there because the Mavs have just one other consistent offensive option: JTerry. I think the Mavs forgot about him a lot too, following the Spurs series. Against the Spurs the Mavs didn't really run their offense through Dirk the way they did in the regular season. Instead he did things in spurts. And he was incredibly efficient. The Heat, however, have better defenders (Posey and Haslem over Bowen and anybody other Spur), and the Heat defenders aren't thugs who commit fouls on every play. Dirk was the best player in the first 3 rounds of the playoffs, and the 2nd best player in the Finals. I think he'll get another chance.

4. Haslem. I really love Haslem's game, even though his great play means that Wayne Simien will probably never get significant minutes with the Heat. Haslem hustles, gets boards, and makes the 12 foot jumper. He's kind of an idiot sometimes (the stupid snarl), but hey, who isn't. I really wish the Mavs had Haslem instead of Dampier.

5. Josh Howard. He just needs to get better.

6. The Miami Heat. I've really grown to loathe this team. Bill Simmons just wrote an article about the Finals, and he really hit the main reasons I hate the Heat. Nevertheless I'll recap them here:
- Pat Riley almost ruined the NBA for good when he was with the Knicks and the early Heat teams. The thugball he practiced damaged the game.
- Alonzo Mourning, as evidenced by his dealings with the Nets and Raptors, is a selfish, arrogant braggart who should not have been given another NBA contract.
- Antoine Walker played for the Mavs two years ago. That was the only year in the past 5-6 that the Mavs didn't make it out of the first round. Why? Because Antoine could understand that he wasn't Kobe Bryant. Now? Suddenly he gets it. And that 'on-my-back' shimmy he gave in the third quater was the most aggravating thing I've ever seen.
- The Heat rely on the officials all the time. Games where they get calls, they win, games where they don't they lose, games played without a major official effect they do ok.
- James Posey. I'm not going to forget the knock-down of Kirk Hinrich in the first round. The league is honestly telling me that Stackhouse's hard foul on Shaq's layup is as bad as Posey just knocking Hinrich to the ground? Surely you jest!

7. The whole NBA. I'm a little sick of it at this point. For the past few years the NBA has been plagued by poor officiating. I'll trot out as the prime example Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and Kings. Lakers fans might remember this as the game where Big Shot Rob made that big shot. The officiating in that game was so bad (and so astonishingly one-sided) that the very game itself was different. And if that happened once ever blue moon it would be merely frustrating, and that's it. The past 3 years I have watched a lot of NBA games. Here's the reality: Each NBA game operates under a unique set of officiating conditions. Officials interpret the rulebook differently based on things like home v. away, star status, time left in the game, and the score. Take the ridiculous traveling violation by the Heat at the end of Game 6. Haslem and Posey (I think) grab the board and tie up the rebound. I didn't see any traveling violation, but it could have been there. Looked like a thousand other routine wrap-ups of a loose ball. If the game was in Miami there would be no call. If the lead was 15 there would be no call. If that was the 1st quarter there would be no call. If it was Shaq or Nowitzki who grabbed it there would be no call. But the game was close, at Dallas, with no STAR involved and Dallas needing a 3 to tie. This isn't speculation, just watch a couple dozen playoff games. This is just how the game is officiated.

Frankly I'm sick of it. I'm losing interest. Why should I care? I don't watch the WWE, and I don't really need to watch the NBA if the officiating is just this bad. Every game has a different set of rules, and often one set of rules or another is beneficial to one team or the other.

So I may be done with it. I'm not sure I can care much about a league like this. The NBA has had its chances to change this. We saw it coming with the way Jordan got calls, and it got really really bad with those Kobe-Shaq teams. The league could have done something, but they didn't. Instead it has continued to get worse, and now we have an NBA Finals where the pivotal Game 5 was completely tainted by the officiating. We have a league where every single time a guy goes into the paint he expects or will get a foul call.

I feel like I'm losing interest.

Is it time to stop watching the NBA?

Maybe.