Locker room talk: rolling basketball thread

Leo

Well-known member
I think it's a slightly open secret. refs aren't keen on having important playoff games decided by fouls (and player fouling out) and free throws, so they let players be a little more aggressive on defense. they get away with things that they might not during the regular season.

There's one men's pro league, the NBA.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member

only appropriate post in this thread, although i'm not totally convinced this is the kind of drill used by NBA players
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I think it's a slightly open secret. refs aren't keen on having important playoff games decided by fouls (and player fouling out) and free throws, so they let players be a little more aggressive on defense. they get away with things that they might not during the regular season.

There's one men's pro league, the NBA.
But it doesn't have two conferences or whatever they are called? That's what happens in American Football isn't it?
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I suppose you can quite easily change things up by saying to refs that they should interpret rule x more strictly or rule y less so etc It's kinda the same thing that they do in the benefits system, they can send down a message from on high telling the staff to be stricter on certain things with the result that fewer people get their money and so a saving is made and the powers that be can - just about - legitimately claim that the rules for someone to get money have not changed. But that's sneaky and I think it's kinda sneaky doing it in a sport too. It certainly appears to happen in football, like maybe it's the world cup and there might be a feeling that there has been some kind of directive for refs to give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking player if they are not sure on what decision to make - cos that way you will end up with more attacking, more goals... more exciting games ultimately - or at least that's the idea. But for me you shouldn't need to work out what the rules you're playing under are as you play the game.

I think it's a slightly open secret. refs aren't keen on having important playoff games decided by fouls (and player fouling out) and free throws, so they let players be a little more aggressive on defense. they get away with things that they might not during the regular season.

But if the defenders can get away with more won't that make the game more boring? I suppose basketball still averages a thousand points a game though so in one sense t's not a problem, but it still feels as though you would be giving defenders a chance to clamp down on the moments of flair and invention that the fans will want to see. Sounds like the opposite of what you would want in a big ticket game... of course though, anyone reading or responding to this point should remember that I really have absolutely no idea whatsoever what I'm talking about.
 

Leo

Well-known member
But it doesn't have two conferences or whatever they are called? That's what happens in American Football isn't it?

The league: National Basketball Association (NBA)
The current league organization divides 30 teams into two conferences, of three divisions with five teams each.

Eastern conference: Atlantic division, Central division, Southeast division
Western conference: Northwest division, Pacific division, Southwest division

We are currently in the conference finals, Celtics-Heat in the Eastern and Warriors-Mavericks in the Western. The teams that win those series go on to play for the NBA championship.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
OK that's what I was asking - and more than that, is the standard of play and refereeing level across those two conferences?
Cos it's not like a first and second division is it? So at times one can be stronger than the other just cos of the way it shakes out. I assume.
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
This is interesting.
Which games are officiated differently, the normal season and the play-offs?
Is that just your feeling or is it a kind of open secret? Or is it even an acknowledged policy?

Do you have two separate leagues NBA? How is the refereeing consistency across them?
Did I say something stupid there?
 

Leo

Well-known member
OK that's what I was asking - and more than that, is the standard of play and refereeing level across those two conferences?
Cos it's not like a first and second division is it? So at times one can be stronger than the other just cos of the way it shakes out. I assume.

they are all on the same level, all first-division calibre.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
The refs or the players?
Same refs

American major sports run v differently from Europe. all have one parent major league w/two co-equal children conferences (NFL, NBA, and NHL call them conferences, MLB calls them leagues, but it's the same thing). all of major leagues have minor leagues with teams that are associated with major league teams, except the NFL wherein college football functions as a de facto minor league (which situation is a massive can of worms not worth opening here). there is no relegation or promotion. sometimes one of the child conferences in one of the sports will experience a period of relative dominance over the other but it's always temporary, and not systemic.

there's only one pool of referees - to my knowledge - for each league, they work games in both conference - and at this point every major sport has interconference play (MLB introduced it like, 20ish years ago? might be a bit off but something like that) in the regular season so it wouldn't make sense to divide up the refereeing crews anyway. qualities of referees varies as quality of people in any profession varies but it's not systemically different between conferences.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I always find this thing of two - I think we could say - parallel leagues quite interesting. Am I right in saying that a team from conference plays the teams from their own conference and also some from the other one, but in terms of league position they are only concerned about teams from the same conference? And by the end of the season, if you consider two random teams, they will have both played the same number of games but they will have played slightly different teams? Something that at first hearing always seemed very strange to me, but then you think about it and realise that the aim of the season is purely to get into the play-offs (and get a better draw?) which gives you a little leeway when compared to needing to come first so it is not quite so vital that everyone has precisely the same games. It kinda took me a while to accept that... it still doesn't seem entirely fair.
 

sus

Well-known member
Actually insane that Jason Kidd gets pulled away from his team during precious inter-quarter minutes in order to make small talk with a reporter
 

sus

Well-known member
Performative but vague "injury" from Luka—the classic sign of an embarrassed superstar
 

Leo

Well-known member
I'm starting to worry about the Celtics, with Smart recovering, Horford on COVID protocol and Robert Williams still not 100%. need to win tonight.
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
I'm starting to worry about the Celtics, with Smart recovering, Horford on COVID protocol and Robert Williams still not 100%. need to win tonight.
I thought they had a pretty good showing considering they had all of that going against them and they were on the road. even if they lose tonight I wouldnt count them out if can get healthy for game 3 and on
 
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