NBA officiating is a thankless job. On a nightly basis, NBA referees are an easy target of harassment from NBA players, fans, coaches, and even franchise owners, while good officiating often gets overlooked, and bad officiating can be headline news, depending on the time and the place.
It’s the nature of working in professional sports officiating, so in some ways, that harassment is just part of the job. Do players, fans, coaches, and owners take their criticism too far sometimes? Certainly, but at this point, if you’re going into the officiating profession, you should know what you’re getting yourself into. Besides, sometimes the criticism that doesn’t cross the line is deserved. NBA officiating, in particular, is far from perfect.
Former NBA All-Star turned ESPN analyst, Paul Pierce, was the latest member of the NBA world to lob some criticism in the referees’ direction. During an episode of NBA Countdown, Pierce talked about NBA officials’ halftime routine. A common NBA referee practice is that when or if they make a controversial call, they’ll tell the angered player or coach that they’ll go back and watch the film at halftime to determine if they missed something or got the call wrong.
On the topic of referees going back in the locker room at halftime to watch the first-half film, Pierce claimed, “A lot of them say they’ll look at it, but how many referees are at halftime looking at the call? They’re back there saying ‘can you believe T-Mac said something to me? You know what, if he says one more thing, I’m throwing him out of this game,’ they’re not looking at the play.”
It’s a bold claim from Pierce that NBA officials were understandably upset about. They are already subject to enough criticism, and they don’t need Paul Pierce insinuating that they are lazy and vengeful on national TV. In an effort to change the narrative around the NBA officiating routine at halftime, The National Basketball Referees Association released a video on Monday refuting all of Pierce’s claims.
Hey @paulpierce34 – you're "The Truth" right? Let's talk "the truth" about NBA referee locker rooms. We have video monitors, and replay capabilities…and use it. Plus, our official invitation to The Truth! (cc @MichelleDBeadle @Real_T_Mac @JalenRose @1MrBigShot @ESPNNBA): pic.twitter.com/vNBnAN5ZcN
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) December 11, 2017
Of course, it’s impossible to know what NBA officials do during halftime on a nightly basis because we just don’t have that kind of access. With that being said, NBA official Zach Zarba did a good job defending the kind of technology officials do have access to during halftime, so the physical locker room seems far more advanced than Pierce suggests.
