SUGOD, AKMAD A.

BSED-Biology_Year2 PED004-SFEM

Reflection

Basketball can be best played with referees. The referees are there to make the
game better. They are the one who give calls for every fouls or violations committed by
the player. Without officials the game would be no fun at all. Thus, it is important to give
respect on them and in their decisions regardless of whether you agree with the call or
not. Subsequently, I watched game 6 of the 2002 N.B.A Western Conference Finals in a
goal of spotting the calls of the referees, both major and crucial calls and reflect to it.

The game started peacefully but while it lasts, it’s getting more intense as both
teams are eager to win, the Lakers to advance to Game 7 or the Kings to finally bag the
championship. During the game, I thought it would be a game of fairness but as I get to
watch it and observe deeply, what I discovered was a master class in bad calls, missed
calls and miscalls that was sloppy enough to undermine the notion that it was planned
ineptitude. I used to believe that unfair treatment and injustices are only exiting in the
Philippines but I proved to be wrong. As a fan and a viewer, you can look at any play or
any game and say the referees did a good job here or a bad job there. I can say that I
have never seen officiating in a game of consequence as bad as that in Game 6.

In the third quarter, after the Kings’ Mike Bibby was knocked to the floor and got
no foul call (a foul refers to illegal personal contact or unsportsmanlike conduct on the
court or sidelines of a game), Walton praised Sacramento’s aggressiveness (the Kings
were ahead by 5 points at the time) while “the whistles are in the pockets of the
referees. Jones wondered how the referees ignored a “clear foul” against the Lakers’
Derek Fisher a sequence ending with a layup by Kobe Bryant yet called a foul on
inconsequential contact by the Kings’ Scot Pollard that led to Bryant’s 3-point play.
Walton echoed Jones’s viewpoint, questioning why Pollard’s minor infraction was called
and not the “rake across the arm of Mike Bibby” by Fisher. Also, also noticed when
Vlade Divac picked up his fifth foul, Walton said that if the officials had kept their eyes
on O’Neal’s plus-sized feet, they would have found him guilty of traveling (a violation of
the rules that occurs when a player holding the ball moves one or both their feet
illegally). Later, a blocking foul by Webber, on a Bryant drive, stunned Walton.

In conclusion, there were still so many violations or calls that could be observed
in the game but due to long-time duration, it was more than 2hours, I couldn’t take note
each of those but what I highlight is the most common call of the referee in the which
are fouls and traveling. As a viewer, I could say that there is something nefarious is
happening but as I have said that referee’s decision is final so we have to listen whether
we agree on it or not. We just have to apply spirit of the game and remember that
referees too have their bad game. They are also human capable of making mistakes.