Playoff Rules And The Officials

The officials call the playoffs differently than the regular season. Beyond the ccurrent gambling scandal, this is one of the reasons why the NBA officials get so much criticism. No one knows what the rules are because they are not what is written in the regulations.

No rule is less consistently enforced than the rule against "hand checking". Hand checking is where a perimeter defender pushes the man with ball in order to obstruct his movement. This is permitted in international basketball, but is against the rules in the NBA "some of the time". Like the rule against grabbing players cutting across the lane, the hand checking rule was designed to opne the game up and permit a more free flowing style of game.

The problem with the hand checking rule is that defense oriented coaches hate it. Their strategy is to do hand checking from the opening whistle and dare the referees to call it. Some do, but most referees seem unwilling to foul everybody out so they eventually they let it go - most of the time.

One of the ways to get the referees to call fouls is by flopping. Manu Ginobili of the Spurs is widely regarded as the NBA's premier flopper in that he will fall over from the slightest contact. So while teammate Bruce Bowen will continually hand check and bump his man without calls, Manu falls at the slightest tap.

Some of Ginobili's flopping is just manipulation of the referees. But some of it is the inconsistency in the way the rules are enforced. In international basketball where hand checks are permitted, they actually outlaw flopping offensive players. (Taking charges is a different issue).

The NBA rules writers apparently wanted to eliminate hand checking, but international rules had the advantage that they could be enforced evenly. The NBA rules are not and it creates a tremendous opportunity for referees to manipulate the game. Something that is a foul according to the rules but only enforced in the exception makes it impossible to catch referees fixing the games or point spreads.

This inconsistency in enforcement of the rules is a double whammy on the Suns. First, allowing a large amount of contact on Nash really hurts the Suns offense. Second calling fouls on the Suns defenders for using the same tactics on Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili makes them very vulnerable to dribble drive penitration. Obviously the Spurs have more experience at using hand checks and lots of contact without fouls being called, but by calling games differently in the playoffs it is hard for other teams to learn what they can get away with.

As much as I would prefer the curernt hand checking rules to be enforced, I suspect going to the international rules might be preferable. It seems obvious that the NBA referees are incapable of enforcing the current hand check rules consistently. The NBA cannot afford to let referees have discretion which might very well be for sale.