Being an NBA ref is a truly thankless job. Every night, the pinstripes have to deal with over-inflated egos while making split-second decisions in one of the fastest and toughest sports to officiate. That said, they should be held accountable, and the league has made efforts toward that endeavor with their Last Two-Minute Report, however problematic the results.
Wednesday night’s Mavs-Pelicans game offered a prime example of every officiating crew’s ultimate fallibility, and the fallout was rather stunning. During the second quarter, Devin Harris took a nasty elbow to the face from Jordan Crawford and was assessed a blocking foul.
Needless to say, he wasn’t happy about it and quickly earned two technicals and a mandatory ejection. But it didn’t stop there. Head coach Rick Carlisle and assistant Melvin Hunt both got T’d up as well, making a grand total of four technical fouls on a single play. It seems likely that the league will review it.
Again, referees have it tough, but the ultimate goal is to make the correct call, and with all that money poured into the state-of-the-art Replay Center in Secaucus, they probably should’ve taken a closer look at it. After all, they already spend an exorbitant amount of time reviewing all manner of ambiguous incidents.
