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The Knicks and the officiating controversy haven’t really kept quiet about themselves, along with a few seriously heated online very active discussions concerning a play between Tyrese Haliburton and Mikal Bridges. As far as the kid that is sent off by KnicksMuse, a double dribble was committed by Haliburton. The other half of the discussion immediately shifted to whether Bridges had fouled Haliburton several times before the violation even took place. It’s almost evenly split between the basketball fans on this one-the real question: was the call blown or was it rightfully not made?
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The slow-motion video seemed to reveal that Haliburton had lost control of his dribble after he had been seemingly contacted by Bridges. Others stated that it seemed to them like Bridges had slapped Haliburton’s wrist and made contact with his arm before the ball came loose. One commentator said, “Bridges fouled him like 3 different times before that. We can’t use that excuse lol.” The interlocutor was essentially conveying that bridges’ acts were so overtly physical that they could not remain uncalled as an excuse. Another observed, “First of all he was fouled and they let it slide. So not a double dribble if they play on,” meaning that the referees blatantly allowed the foul to be uncalled.”
Throughout the thread, the NBA’s officiating standards were condemned, with some users announcing their dissatisfactions about the unwilling enforcement of the league’s rules. “NBA is a joke. High school BB has better enforcement of rules,” one anguished fan said, among others who have expressed that they feel the pros have gone overkill in calling violations. Another user added, “They travel, double dribble, and do up-and-down violations with impunity all the time these days,” implying that this incident is just one among a plethora that highlight such inadequacies nowadays.
A few argued over technicalities while debating whether it is a fumble instead of a double dribble. One user commented, “It’s called a fumble if the player who lost the ball is able to regain it,” citing NBA rules that allow players to resume their dribble after losing control if there was defensive contact. With this interpretation, the no-call would stand on solid ground; even though, the others strongly disputed this opinion.
The discourse took on several forms, with one user joking that, “You know what Knicks rhymes with? I can help if you would like,” followed by, “Knicks haven’t got a call since 1972!” in a sarcastic tone. These comments brought forth the entrenched perception among some fans that for quite a while, the Knicks have faced their fair share of rather questionable officiating calls.
The words of more than a few commenters highlighted the irony of New York Knicks fans complaining when their team has benefited from a few questionable calls here and there. “Yessir he did but the knicks got away with a foul on Hardaway in the Piston’s series,” one stated in their own opinion, suggesting that every team gets good and bad calls every now and then. This was echoed by others who believe that, bad calls, on the whole, balance out by the end of a season.
The debate remains symptomatic of basketball fan frustration with the subjectivity of NBA officiating. While some argued the referees “got it right this time,” others believed the entire league should “retrain the referees” to consistently enforce the rules. Another facet of the discussion dealt with the influence of these experiences on the youngsters, with one voice expressing concern that “Kids see this BS and being rewarded with high paying contracts and it sends the wrong message.”
In all cases of officiating controversies, there’s generally a looming wonder if the referees were right. So many dualities took place in calls-worthy violations, fouls worthy of a whistle, or complex assessments worthy of regret within that brief period of seconds. What began as a query on a double dribble quickly descended into a discourse about fan bias, the state of NBA officiating, and days gone by in basketball.
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Now, due to the right timing of the incident, it puts a spotlight on the conversation with which basketball fans become very deeply connected in maintaining the integrity of the rules in their games and downside consistency of enforcement of these rules. Thanks to instant replay technology, some controversies do get cleared up, but plays like these remind us that there will ever be some contention around every judgment call. The debate is on, with fans dissecting every conceivable facet of this controversial event.
You can view the original article HERE.
