Do you remember that play from a few weeks ago between the Lakers and Celtics? Well, it is having its consequences. That day LeBron James received a clear foul from Jayson Tatum in the last one that none of the referees saw. The consequence was that the game went into overtime when El Rey had to have two free throws to seal the victory for the Angelenos. To make matters worse, in overtime it was Boston that took the victory. It was a scandal, one that the NBA now explains that it had its consequences, like other referee errors throughout the course.
The NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, has explained that they exhaustively monitor the work of the referees and that they are “punished” or “rewarded depending on their successes and errors.”
«We do not publicize the measures we take with the referees because we do not believe it is appropriate, but their assignments are affected by the quality of their signals; that makes them or they don’t advance to the playoffs and then, round by round, they are equally affected by the accuracy of their decisions and their behavior on the court. So there’s a system to monitor and make those judgments about them,” he explains in an interview with Sage Steele of ESPN a SportsCenter.
Focusing on the play in question between LeBron James and Jayson Tatum, he believes that it is a mistake to focus on coaches having more options to claim and refereeing decisions being reviewed.
“I know some people on that particular signage were upset that there was no opportunity to review it. A lot of people focused on the coach not having another challenge. But remember that in our league, it’s not something you can do without limit. If so, could you suggest each time that a fault be reviewed. In any case, it is something to study », he sentences.
It should be remembered that the NBA referees union published a public apology a day later on its official Twitter account for making a mistake in that signage. The criticism, beyond the mistake, focused on the fact that there was no mechanism provided to solve such a resounding error.
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