James Williams (Ref) is having a out of control playoffs
After being called out by Booker by name a few days ago he unnecessarily ejected 3 players in Lakers-Rockets. Should be taken off games for the rest of the playoffs
That crew needs to be pulled from the playoff rotation. The officiating has been horrendous
Every game they have done has had some controversy and some terrible missed calls. Had Spurs/Blazers on Friday and don’t think either team was happy.
Vegas and Kalshi have their men
I don’t want to defend betting platforms, but Kalshi works differently. They don’t set odds, you are actually taking or offering odds against other users. Kalshi mainly makes money from fees on those trades.
You can still commit insider trading on these platforms. If you have insider knowledge (like being the ref). You bet large on an outcome and then force it. Kalshi is still happy for the trading volume.
Its still gambling
Kalshi has no incentive to bribe refs because they make their cut no matter what the outcome of the game is, he’s saying
They have an incentive if kalshi themselves make wagers since it’s anonymous and unregulated. Which they’ve been accused of.
gambling bad
correct
I watched a video from more perfect union on kalshi and other similar platforms like poly market. To sum it up, they are basically just gambling platforms with extra steps, so they can circumvent gambling state laws and taxes.
Apparently 90% of “odds” they let you wager on the kashi specifically are sports related anyways and something like 0.4% of people actually win like 70% of the money (mostly cause of insider trading).
I get what you’re trying to argue with the people setting odds, but that’s more of what it could potentially be than what it currently is right now.
Anyone trying to take this stance to defend Kalshi is incredibly fucking stupid. And that’s being nice.
That’s how all gambling houses make money. On the fees. They set up the odds so that the money is more or less even
No, some of them just offer a market where the users themselves tender bets at odds of their choosing.
All the prediction platforms offer odds at ask/bid from other users. That doesn’t mean Kalshi doesn’t have their man as movement back and forth during the middle of the game over the 50% mark genereates a magnitude more betting volume than a blowout in one direction.
With your comment, we’re gonna see them consistently.
They just locked in each game 7 for the remainder of the postseason
Dont be ridiculous, of course they will change something.
They will add Scott Foster
but they bring in millions of dollars in gambling, gotta let them keep rigging games
They do this anyway, usually pluck off the worse crews with each elimination and each round and then assembles the 12 best refs for the finals.
Problem is they’ll probably keep Williams around just for the “star” matchup ratings.
The lack of accountability for refs like this is exhausting. Allowing a ref to have an ego trip during the playoffs completely undermines the integrity of the game. Absolute momentum killer.
Eject the 3 officials
Who ejects the ejectors?
No no - it’s just the Thunder game only and that’s what gives them an advantage. Stick to the narrative! Don’t let others think this could be a non-OKC problem!
Honestly, I think it would be pretty easy to defend those techs to the league given the clear issues the two teams had following the game. The game was already decided, so the ref is probably just trying to stop it from turning south and doing what he can in that regard.
I thought the calls were really weird in the moment too, but I kinda get it now after a second thought.
found his burner.
I mean, I don’t necessarily love it either, but that is something the league really cares about, and the league is the ref’s boss.
I’m not even saying I agree with the take but what a silly comment to downvote. It’s not an unreasonable take
Is it even a take? I thought we all just sorta knew by now that over the years the league has instructed officials to take greater measures to prevent altercations because they don’t like the optics of fights breaking out in a basketball game.
But Jokic can sprint cross court to start an altercation and get zero repercussions while these two get yeeted for absolutely nothing lol
Jokic was ejected. After the game was already decided. The exact same situation the previous poster was highlighting.
Yes but see a timberwolves player scored a layup in regulation time which was against the “unwritten rules” of the universe and deeply offensive to an MVP candidate. So his action was not only warranted but required by the basketball gods to save this timeline.
Dude pushed Thiero harder than Holiday did
Gonna hurt me more than it hurts you or something
Is this the same guy that was doing spurs blazers game 3? Fucking ridiculous
Yeah. He was nuts in that game too.
Reddit sleuths with time on their hands should make this person their project
Wouldn’t be surprised they find some dirt on him may it be with fixing games or something
i saw a post on Instagram that dug up old tweets showing he’s an okc fan
For sure why the suns have been losing !
I haven’t been watching that series but im guessing by your flair that you have so I’ll take your word for it
it seems some of them already have
He’s a nice guy with 2 kids and a wife lmao
Bring out the pitch forks reddit. We found our new enemy.
Weird thing is I actually thought he’s been solid for the most part through the regular season. Horrendous recently no question though
The same guy who gave Booker tech for saving the ball.
meanwhile LeBron is full force spiking it into Rockets after the whistles already been called.
Also did our game 2 with 3 bogus techs
Yall commenting about refs is crazy.
Gucci mane on a power trip tonight
BRRR!
He need to get back to the mixtapes, wtf were those ejections
Snitch allegations gave him Targaryen madness
Gucci Ref
Gucci Main Character Syndrome
I was dying laughing when I heard Brooks call him that in a post game interview earlier this season 😭 I want to say he has a bias against the Suns but that ugly mf is just bad at his job PERIOD
Relentless like Radric
Ayo that guy looks like O.T. Genasis.
Happy cake day boss
What did Thiero even do? Move his arm in a dismissive manner?
For real I could see maybe a weak tech for the other guy, but all Thiero did was fight for position and then exist.
Didn’t want to give free points to Houston and affect the spread.
That’s hardly even a foul and somehow he gets a flagrant 2?
He didn’t get a flagrant 2. Just ejection
It’s a single technical ejection. It happens a lot at the end of games in situations like this, but people probably don’t know about it.
In this case it shouldn’t have been an ejection since they didn’t do much to deserve an ejection, but I know his reasoning clearly was he didn’t want there to be some kind of spillover later on into a bigger altercation so he gave it a single technical ejection to both players. This can happen, but it seems like no one knows this since everyone here assumes an ejection is either from 2 technical fouls or a flagrant 2, whereas that’s not the case.
It also doesn’t help with what happened to Booker, as all 3 situations were too excessive but in terms of strictly the rule rather than whether it was deserved or not, these single technical ejections occur a few times at the end of blowouts when the referees just want to move on and end the game without any altercations later.
I think he just didn’t want to risk any fight breaking out in garbage time. Kleber and Jabari Smith got into it right before this and tensions were clearly getting high
the witch in wicked 2:
Looked to me like the ref was reacting to what was said specifically, but who knows
That would be a tech not an ejection.
Not saying the ejection was deserved in this instance, but I just want to clarify that you can get thrown out for a single technical foul if the referee deems it’s excessive enough. A lot of people think you need 2 technical fouls to get thrown out but they can throw you out for a single one if they want.
you raise a good point lol
Investigate this fool. Holy hell, what a disasterclass
He’s just doing his job, per the Sportsbook handbook
Had me in the first half
Genuine question. How do you make the league listen and start an investigation on the guy? Although we all know Silver is not one to admit mistakes on the officiating but that really was disastrous and cannot be overlooked at this point.
He did what he had to do. Extend this to game 5. More games more money.
Wild you think the rockets weren’t winning this game by halftime. Refs were bad but not extend the series by giving a game away bad.
I thought the rockets were winning with 6 up in the last 30 seconds of game 3. I thought Spurs would lose yesterday being down almost 20. Anything can happen in 2 quarters.
They’ll investigate him right after they’re done investigating kawhi and ballmer, but before they’re done with that they’ll have to investigate scott foster and donaghy. Any day now!
All Refs Are Bastards
[removed]
Careful now
Seriously, it’s insulting having your race associated with NBA referees.
You’re about to get the Proud Boys pissed off and charging in here dude relax!!!
Kebab?
Hey don’t you disrespect the boys in stripes! That job ain’t easy being blind
It’s tough on the knees blowing so many calls.
*except Bill Kennedy
Man that acronym though is a little too war hawk for me
I’m not racist, but all refs are ARABs because I hate them
What’s the alternative? I am okay with robots but we are gonna be upset by the free throw rates when every foul gets called lol.
Robo refs that call every single little thing may be the quickest way to turn every basketball fan against clankers
Call games like they were called in the Olympics. There wasn’t a free throw parade, the refs didn’t reward offensive players for pretending they got fouled - and didn’t give them calls when the offensive player was forcing the contact, and I didn’t hear about a single game in the entire Olympics that had folks mad at the refs.
The players adjusted and we got great basketball without the nonsense.
Every Olympics or recently? I feel like they play a lot harder in our league tbh, injuries are much more prevalent etc.
Most recent Olympics.
And they play harder because the refs suck. Some teams get favorable treatment, some players get favorable treatment, and you get the reverse of both. Games can be called differently at each end of the floor, where the team that started playing physical first gets away with more. And there’s tons of examples of refs refusing to call off-ball fouls or non-shooting fouls.
Playing more physically happens because the NBA refs let it happen.
The Olympics also isn’t 82 games plus playoffs, so that’s going to make it seem like players don’t get injured as much.
I feel like players wouldn’t try as hard if the game was that rigged, but human beings are fallible and make mistakes and bad calls for sure.
I also think it would be poor form in their product to have actual favoritism involved, and defeat the purpose of finding talented ballers from around the world and paying them hundreds of millions of dollars to risk their health and well being on the court wouldn’t it?
I am all for improving the game but I don’t know how to if we think the refs are corrupt and unpoliced as it is unless we drastically change the contact rules or automate. The owners of the 30 different franchises certainly have a financial interest in a fair and competitive league, and that’s more money than a lot of countries.
(Edit: reread your post, I understand what you are saying and agree it’s a kind of push the envelope on defense sometimes where a team is either feeling out the calls and getting away with it or they run into foul trouble so the other team is the avoiding those, a very distinctly human element of playing the refs, also sometimes not getting away with something that was previously allowed.)
Step one is having every review be conducted by a third party and not the same refs who made the call in the first place
I’d be okay with that, if the 3rd party could be seen as impartial or fair.
They’ll ask /r/nba what the ruling is.
It’ll be even more helpful as /r/nba reaches the top of r all.
Perfect impartial and fair. No issues. None at all.
Is Some Refs All-in Everything Lottery?
gonna need to workshop this acronym
Don’t disrespect zebras 🦓
ARAB!
I hate how we get to know fucking refs’ names because of their shitty officiating. J.T. Orr, I still remember your dumbass.
except bill kennedy
Theres two types of refs you know the names of, legends and the shit ones. I know the name of many nba refs, none of them legends.
bill kenedy?
Dick Bavetta.
Jason Goble, fucking Hills Have Eyes looking motherfucker
I remember Joey “don’t laugh” Crawford and Knick Bavetta
That was insane. Ejection for laughing.
I mis Bavetta
Kane Fixgerald
Pull this crew from playoffs
Why do think they’re there in the first place 😂
He’s on a power trip
We are Devin Booker!
Two guys literally just battling in the key for a board like any other possession, and tossed em both. Wild stuff.
The Ayton ejection I understand more, an elbow to the head is pretty straight forward at least a flagrant 1, and not surprised to see a 2.
It’s at most a flagrant 1 and super surprised to see a 2.
I agree. Where was the infamous “wind-up and follow through”
Yea both players were smiling and talking shit. You can’t call that
The ayton one was such a nothing play. Maybe a weak 1 but it’s just a completely normal post play, just the forearm happened to slide up his back.
wtf was that double ejection!
him ejecting Theiro is all the evidence i needed to know his head ain’t right rn.
no idea if this is normal for him but he’s overly emotional during these playoffs
Are you equating ref emotions and shenanigans with mental illness? Or is this you giving refs some sort of out? Gtfoh, they’re all corrupt at this point when gambling is front and center in this league
needs to join vrabel in “counseling” because he really seems to be struggling… bizarre refereeing
Pooh Shiesty pissed him off
The D.O.D. should give Booker a purple heart medal, and the NBA should allow him to wear it on his game uniforms for taking this one for the whole league. Booker potentially the Gavril Princip of NBA revolt.
Instead Booker will average 1.4 FTA less per game next season and James will be knighted for his efforts
The medal can feature the half of Avdija’s tooth that got knocked out in the game they reffed Friday.
I thought Booker was Stalin, though 😢
If that’s a flagrant 2 I have no idea what anything is anymore
I don’t wish for anyone to lose there jobs but this team has been disgraceful.
Like it’s not even like it could be potentially rigged this genuinely just seems to be pure incompetence.
Ever since Gucci was labelled snitch he fell off also
Trying to get into S Tier with The Extender and friends.
This set of ref needs to be investigated
He just wants to go home
You say that but they extended this game by like 5 minutes with the ref show
All teams should file complaint together
It’s really unfair to Thiero to have his first playoff game stained with an ejection, when he didnt even do anything out of the ordinary.
Brother is on pace to work the finals! Us ref fans won’t tolerate such slander.
He’s doing his best as an employee of the NBA. He’s doing what the bosses tell him.
blud has completely lost the plot
ref unions will protect these shit stains. Silver won’t do anything about it because they’re under his control. Fuck Silver, and fuck the refs.
Wow there’s more than one ref crew directly impacting games and outcomes?
That was all-star ref ball out there tonight. Terrible, ego driven bullshit.
this MF
We are here to watch the refs!!! They are the important part of every game!!
All-time performance by James Williams. And we’re just in the first round!
Franchises should get the option to reject one referee per postseason, and there should be an option for head coaches to come together and vote on removal of one referee every 5 years.
we’d see refs clean up their act REAL quick.
start with foster, he is the worst referee ever.
Not the first time he’s done it.
Probably trying to fix the games for sportsbetting and prediction markets
Refs can do anything they want in the league. Just a part of the product now. 0 accountability for these crooks
Im from Europe and I always were looking forward to waking up early or even staying up in the nights watching playoffs. But the refs made me just not want to care about NBA as much anymore. I follow the results but actual games are just pain to watch
Is Ben Taylor still reffing? I remember Fred Vanvleet called him out by name a couple years ago for fucking the game up
Not sure if he’s worked any playoff games, but he was the ref that got injured in the Warriors play-in game
Maybe he’s going through a personal crisis as seen in the motion picture classic, “Forget Paris,” starring Billy Crystal.
this guy’s an asshole
legendary run
That game was nothing but watching replays towards the second half
He needs to be investigated by the FBI. It seems so obvious.
I watched the first quarter and thought to myself “wow this officiating is dogshit compared to the first 2 games of the series” so many soft shooting fouls while simultaneously missing all the little physical shit players do like shoving for position or holding etc. and that was even before the ejections.
Gucci Mane ref
He was the favorite ref of a lot of us before this playoffs but I don’t think that’s the case anymore
Doing his job extending the series.
Pablo needs a new exposé this off season, or June, whatever works.
You are becoming very unpopular Mr. James Williams
Just James Williams? There is not a single decent nba ref. almost all of them just follow who Adam Silver wants to win or to extend the series for more nba ratings or for betting on games.
The only reason i’m still watching because there are times some teams can actually outplay what these crook refs are doing.
L
Please dont be in our game 5 please
An*
It doesn’t seem like Silver or the NBA care about the quality of the product as long as the money is there.
Regardless of how shitty he’s been, Aytons ejection was deserved. That was a flagrant to the face with intent.
*an
is okc or the problem or is he just a shit ref
Out of control? He’s in full control.
#BURR
Boo hoo bandwagon on the ref hate train.
I think the back and forth that happened after the game showed that he was probably just trying to stop a fight from breaking in what was already a decided game.
you don’t get to eject people because you think something might happen.
I’m fairly certain that the league does in fact view proactive avoidance of altercations to be part of a game official’s job.
Yea but you don’t get to eject people before they do something. A ref has so many other tools they can use beforehand
They did technically do something though, even though it was a relatively light something compared to the punishment it received. I don’t really love it either, but I’m pretty sure the league would rather have that call as opposed to a fight breaking out.
Yeah. Those ejections don’t happen if the game was still close.
i mean ayton did slap tho? idk if it should be ejected but it was a flagrant
It for sure was a flagrant, but not taking any context into account is silly. Sengun pump faked which got Ayton on his toes. Sengun then goes to make contact with Ayton’s body while bent over with his head below Ayton’s chest. Ayton puts out an arm bar like every single player in the post has ever done, and gets around his shoulder. The arm slips off his shoulder up into his head.
It was a flagrant, but throwing someone out of a playoff game for that is ridiculous
laker players getting mad down 20 lmaooooo
maybe try harder in game
without dirty refs your team doesn’t make the playoffs, least surprising thing to see that a thunder fan is chill with shit officiating LMAO
big mad
Weak rage bait
Pretty normal Thunder comment
average thunder commenter tbh, if they smart they wouldn’t defend mvpusher and dirty dort