NBA referees calling games softer than two-ply toilet tissue on a cotton pillow

NBA referees haven’t had the best week in the association.

Multiple players have criticized officials for making egregious calls during games that have significantly impacted the outcome.

The Jazz were furious after their game last night against Philadelphia. Utah felt that there were a few calls late in the fourth quarter and in overtime that were questionable, to say the least. Donovan Mitchell was ejected with less than a minute left in overtime after going off on the refs. Mitchell is one of the most docile superstars in the league so when he storms off like that, things must be bad.

Mitchell continued to voice his displeasure in the postgame press conference after the loss.

His All-Star teammate Rudy Gobert joined the conversation by inputting his thoughts on how he felt the Jazz were officiated.

Philadelphia wasn’t the only place where there were problems with the refs on Wednesday. In Sacramento, Lakers forward Montrezl Harrell was given a tech after screaming “And-1!” following a basket he made in the second quarter.

In the postgame press conference, Harrell addressed the situation saying that the call was “soft.”

“What I said was, ‘And-1,’” Harrell said. “No cursing, no profanity, none of that. And she turned around and gave me a tech because she was in her feelings, because she felt like I was too loud with her or I belittled her when we were talking [earlier in the game]. Like, you can’t bring that into the game. I don’t care who it is; I don’t care what the situation is.”

“I think some of the referees -— and this is not bashing any referee in general — but there cannot be any instances of calling the game that soft, man.”

Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker would probably share that displeasure with the officiating after he was ejected on Tuesday against the Lakers for throwing a bounce pass to an official.

Some of these calls and ejections this season have been horrendous, and the officials deserve their fair share of the blame. Twitter has let them have it, for sure.

The quick technicals could just be a byproduct of the lack of fans in the stands and referees’ ability to hear more stuff throughout the game. Officials probably have a more sensitive ear since crowd noise isn’t drowning out players’ words. However, some of these calls made by these individuals are just flagrantly bad and have no place in the game.

No one watches a game to see the refs get air time.