FanHouse Steve Javie

The latest details from the again broken-down referee labor negotiation come from ESPN's Chris Sheridan and Howard Beck of the New York Times. Beck reports that the executive board of the refs union initially approved the latest offer from the NBA on Sunday with a 3-2 vote, effectively endorsing the plan for the fuller population of refs.

But an impassioned plea from the two exec board dissenters -- identified by Sheridan as Bennett Salvatore and Steve Javie -- flipped a third exec board member -- identified as Bill Spooner -- and led to the eventual defeat of the deal on a vote by the full union.

When you take a look at just who makes up the leadership of the union, and you see what's at stake in these negotiations, you begin to realize why these negotiations are getting nowhere fast.

Let's face it, one of the reasons the NBA is trying to push out some of its older officials is because of the perception that some of those older officials tend to view themselves as bigger than the game or that they interject themselves too much into the action.

While there is no doubt most of the league's best officials don't lack for self-confidence, it's also true that this notion is overblown. Further, it's worth mentioning that the NBA always has had strong-minded and strong-willed officials ... and the league was better for it.

Great officials are just like great players in terms of confidence, competitiveness and wanting to be the best. To officiate at the highest level and for the world's greatest athletes, you have to have a presence and a tangible aura of authority.

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The officials were a non-factor in Game 1 of the Finals, and frankly, that's just how we like it. But that was largely because the Lakers were able to get out to a big lead and never look back, and there's no guarantee that the same thing is going to happen in Game 2.

Tonight's officials: Steve Javie, Monty McCutchen, and Tom Washington. For the Orlando Magic, this crew is about as good as it gets.

C'mon, man. Quit complaining about the refs.

Here we are, smack dab in the middle of the playoffs and instead of talking about Carmelo Anthony breaking through to the second round or the demise of the San Antonio Spurs, we're talking about officiating.

Hard foul here, flagrant foul there. That one is and that one isn't.

Should Rajon Rondo's last-second clubbing of Brad Miller have been a flagrant? Why was Dwyane Wade's virtually clean block on Maurice Evans' dunk attempt called a flagrant 1? Should Dwight Howard really have been suspended a game for his elbow on Samuel Dalembert?

We've been discussing the referees a lot lately, so something would be amiss if I failed to mention the assignments for this evening's Game 6. And here they are, in all of their controversial glory:

Joey Crawford, Eddie F. Rush, and Bennett Salvatore.

Wow. Where do I begin? All three of these guys have a history of being involved in their share of controversies over the years. Let's just hit on the most recent for each, shall we? Crawford was the one suspended last season for ejecting Tim Duncan for laughing, then was assigned to the infamous Brent Barry-Derek Fisher game in this year's Western Conference Finals. Salvatore was the one that basically gave the Miami Heat the championship in 2006 with about eight controversial calls that favored the Heat in Game 5. And Rush has been called out for his inconsistency as recently as last season.

With all this talk about the quality of the officiating in the NBA over the last few days, I thought we'd take a look at which officials have been assigned to work tonight's critical Game 4 in Los Angeles. Your winners are:

Joe DeRosa. Ted Washington. And finally, Steve ... Effing ... Javie.

There's a website out there that tracks the "homer-ness" of NBA officials (you know, for entertainment purposes only), and when you check out how tonight's crew stacks up, it would appear that the Lakers are in for a good time. DeRosa tops the list of home teams winning (and covering the spread) when he's on the floor, and Washington comes in at number four. Advantage Lakers, right? Not so fast.

While two of the officials are near the top of the homer list, Steve Javie is at the bottom of it. Not only does he rank 59 out of 62 refs listed, but Javie's the crew chief. Meaning, he's going to have the final say on any of the game's most crucial calls. Not only that, but Javie specifically has a reputation for making calls that could go either way (like a judgment block/charge call) against the home team. He's the only official I know of that gets booed by the entire crowd when he's introduced at Staples Center. (I know, real smart, right? Annoy the guy that already likes to make calls for the visiting team.)

So which team has the edge? It's probably a toss-up, especially with all of the Donaghy talk this week. But just remember if there's a call late in the game that goes horribly wrong for the home team, and Javie's the one who blew the whistle, don't say I didn't warn you.

You've gotta love Spurs' fans. So worried are they about losing to the Lakers in this series and feeling insecure about their chances in Game 4, one local writer is actually starting to complain about the officiating before the game has even started.

It's the news every Spurs fan has dreaded - the team is fighting for its season tonight in Game 4, and blowing the whistle will be one Joey Crawford. To recap, he was suspended for last year's playoffs ... after throwing Tim Duncan out of a regular season game because he thought Duncan was laughing at him on the bench. Then in Game 5 against New Orleans, he T'd up Gregg Popovich between the first and second quarters over an argument over a delay of game warning in which Pop was essentially correct.

Conspiracy! David Stern wants the Lakers in the Finals! Come on, people. Sure the Spurs and Crawford have a bit of a recent history together, but can we at least wait to see if there are actually any game-deciding calls made by Crawford before we begin with the histrionics?

Besides, as is noted in the same article, Crawford actually ranks eighth out of 62 officials in terms of making calls that favor the home team. Now if Steve Javie (who is a notorious anti-homer and number 59 on the same list) were to be working tonight, then you would have something to be seriously worried about.

[via Awful Announcing]

A lot has been made about the relationship between Flip Saunder and Rasheed Wallace in the past, and to the casual observer Rasheed's reaction to being pulled from last night's game might make it seem like trouble is brewing not-so-below the surface. But context helps understand the situation: as you can tell from Pistons announcer George Blaha reaction to the refs, the calls were of the ticky-tack variety, and Rasheed had just picked up his second personal and first technical less than halfway through the first quarter.

Despite what you may think about keeping a player in the game with two fouls, it's clear the refs were making a point to dictate the game early, and given how emotions were running high -- Steve Javie seemed to be egging the Pistons on with his, "you want more?" taunt -- it would have been dangerous leaving Rasheed in the game at the point. After the game, both Rasheed and Flip dismissed any idea of lingering tension:

"I'm not holding no grudge," Wallace said. "Sometimes it gets heated out there from both standpoints, from a player standpoint and from a coaching standpoint. But we're a veteran team, we're old enough to know, hey, that's not personal.

"Don't go home with that, telling your wife or your kids, man, I hate him! That's just not us. If we've got any problems, we'll air it out right there in the locker room. Hey, keep it moving, just because we have a little argument or are cussing at each other don't mean we hate each other." ...

"Hey, I yell at them, sometimes they yell at me," Saunders said. "That was one of those situations where I make decisions, and he doesn't. When he coaches, he can make those."

On a sidenote, Blaha's reaction to the calls is one of the best examples for why I prefer watching the local guys call the game as opposed to the national broadcast. Yes, he's a bit of a homer, but generally he calls the game fair. His reaction to the refs last night were actually somewhat out of character, which was an indication just how egregious they were. Nothing against Marv Albert or Steve Kerr, who did a decent job on TNT, but listening to those guys just sounds so sterile compared to hearing someone with a rooting interest.

Previously on FanHouse:
Rasheed Wallace Hates Chris Sheridan, Not Flip Saunders