It's time to complain about the refs. | Sledgehammer's Jazz Fans's Blog

The First Amendent allows us to petition the government for a redress of our grievances. While not a governmental body, the NBA, as basketball's governing body, also needs to be petitioned. So here are my grievances with the NBA and its referees from Game 2 of the Warriors-Jazz series:

GRIEVANCE 1

The second foul called on Deron Williams 52 seconds into the game. The first foul was a pretty weak call as well, but the second foul Deron Williams did not even touch Baron Davis. Two phantom fouls on D-Will in the first minute of a game where the Jazz ere missing their regular back-up point guard (for the first three quarters, at least). Those calls would definitely impact the game, and no doubt the refs had to know it. Was it blatant cheating? ... I'll let you decide that.

GRIEVANCE 2

Late in the game, Jason Richardson's hit an important 3-pointer yet replays clearly show that his foot was on the line. Minutes later, in a similar situation, Okur clearly stepped on the line, and the refs made the correct call there. That one extra point they awarded the Warriors made a huge difference in this game. It's the difference between overtime and a regulation Jazz victory. It would have meant the Jazz still had a chance if Petri Dish had made both of his free throws.

GRIEVANCE 3

Kirilenko's sixth foul. Early in overtime, Kirilenko was playing defense against Stephen Jackson when Jackson, clearly in trouble, just stuck his foot between Kirilenko's feet and then feigned like he had been tripped. The ref bought it. Kirilenko, who had had a monster game, fouled out on a clear flop. That could have been a disastrous, game-ending call.

We're fortunate we won Game 2 because the refs did everything they could to hand it to the Warriors. This wasn't a surprise. As soon as I saw that Jazz-hating referee Steve Javie was one of the refs I knew we were in for a long night. I'm not saying there's a conspiracy (I'm not saying there's not either); I'm just saying that all the critical, game-changing calls went against the Jazz.

So props to the Jazz for winning when it was 5-on-8.