The NBA Officials are making it hard to be a fan

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For David Stern he has some explaining to do because as a long time fan, the NBA referees are the worst in all major sports. I have no clue why they decided to bring them back, the NBA was better off with replacement referees.

After watching the last two Golden State Warriors games and the end of the Los Angeles Laker game against the Miami Heat, it's become very clear to me that the referees in the NBA are as incompetent as they come.

Each of those three games I have mentioned the NBA referees had a hand in effecting the outcome of the game. This should not be an acceptable level of performance in the NBA.

Yet, again fans saw that last year in the Houston Rockets and Lakers series. When Kobe Bryant threw an elbow at Ron Artest. The referees didn't call a flagrant foul and the league didn't even punish Byrant.

If the situation had been reversed if Artest had thrown an elbow at the chest area of Bryant he would have been immediately ejected and would have been suspended for at least a game.

Again it was seen in the NBA Finals with the Lakers taking on the Orlando Magic. Where a goaltending call should have been made, but no call was made. It's hard to claim these referees are competent when even Phil Jackson had stated that it should have been a goaltend.

Let's start with the first game I watched the Houston Rockets vs the Warriors at the Oracle Arena. Referees for that game were Derrick Stafford, Kevin Fehr, and David Jones.

Before half time on back to back possessions for the Warriors, Monta Ellis was called for an offensive foul. Before those two possessions Ellis had two fouls, by halftime he had four.

Each one of those foul calls took away layups for the Warriors. The first one should have been a no call because Ellis had already passed the ball by the time Battier got over trying to take a charge.

The second one was just awful! Battier was moving the entire time, yet because he fell down it meant that Battier had just gotten Ellis his fourth foul of the game. If you don't think that effects the outcome of the game then you're surely mistaken.

Ellis is the best player the Warriors have on the floor. What makes him so good is his ability to attack the basket, but because of this Ellis had to be extremely careful so he wouldn't pick up another foul in the second half.

There was another missed call on a goaltend that also effected the score. Ellis drove to the hoop and there was a clear goaltend by the Rockets, but the referees did not call it and instead Ellis had to shoot two free throws.

Those calls were enough to effect the outcome of the game. The Rockets ended up winning by a score of 111-109. If the officials had made the calls correctly the Warriors would have won 114-111.

As mentioned before I watched the end of the Heat game. Sure, Kobe Bryant made an incredibly lucky shot to win the game, or did he? The answer is that it still should have been a two point victory for the Heat.

Why? Because of the horrible three point play given to Bryant on a blocking foul call on Jermaine O'Neal. O'Neal is entitled to his space, Bryant came in and ran him over. Therefore it should have been an offensive foul, but since Bryant made the shot he also earned the one free throw which he made.

Now, I will say this though there was a horrible foul call on Lamar Odom that should have never been made. He didn't touch Dwyane Wade, but because Wade lost the ball a foul was called.

Odom had a right to be upset, he did deserve the technical he received. Yet, Bryant's reaction should have also been a technical as well.

That three points right there was the difference in the game. If that play is called correctly like it states in the rulebook, the Heat come away with the win.

Onto the game I watched tonight with the Warriors vs Magic. There were some terrible calls on both sides of the ball!

There was a foul on Mickael Pietrus on Stephen Curry that should have never been made. Curry was attempting to keep the ball from going out of bounds near the sideline and Pietrus was right there with him.

Pietrus didn't even touch Curry, but the whistle blew and Curry went to the line for two free throws.

There was another foul call on Vince Carter that should not have been a foul, but Corey Maggette acted like he was fouled. That also earned the Warriors two free throws.

On the other side of the ball Vladimir Radmanvoich got a steal taken away from him on Pietrus. Ramdanovich did an excellent job at anticipating where Pietrus was going to go and Pietrus just dribbled right into him, and Radmanovich stripped the ball away for what should have been an easy two points for the Warriors. Instead of two points for the Warriors it was two free throws for Pietrus.

Anthony Randoloph was called for a foul on Dwight Howard, when he didn't do anything, he didn't make any contact with Howard. In fact the only argument you could make is that Howard should have picked up his sixth foul on the sequence or a traveling violation should have been called.

You know it's an incredibly bad call when the Magic are running down the court expecting the travel to be called!

Just watching these games it makes me wonder why am I a fan of this game? When it seems like the officiating continues to decline. The question is there a fix for the referee situation?

C.J. Watson was called for a foul on Carter, when it should have either been a no call or an offensive foul. Watson was fighting over the screen made incidental contact which is allowed in the NBA and Carter used his arm to push Watson off, which meant it should have been an offensive foul, instead it gave Carter two free throws.

I mean even without watching games you can read about players like Rasheed Wallace being fined for blasting the referees. You have Josh Smith ejected for arguing a foul call for too long.

Last year a referee was punished publicly for his actions to Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers.

The problem is that these referees have too much power and too much control of games. When a player or coach calls them out, the NBA immediately tries to silence them by fining the players and coaches.

Well, I find that hypocritical! If these referees aren't doing their jobs any punishment they receive should be made public. I would love to see the crew of tonight's Magic versus Warriors game be suspended for more than just a game.

It was embarrassing as a fan watching the game to see how incompetent the crew of Scott Foster (who was a Finals official last year), David Guthrie, and Tommie Nunez were tonight.

My question is when is the NBA going to do something to fix the situation with the referees?