National Basketball Association

NBA referees explain why they hate the league's Last Two Minute reports

Published Jan. 4, 2017 6:26 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

As angry as you might be when a referee misses a call, no one is more distraught than the official who made that same mistake.

Seriously, the NBA's officials understand. They want to call the game as cleanly as possible — yet the refs aren't convinced that the league office's current attempt at transparency in officiating actually works. And as more and more star players voice their own concerns with the NBA's Last Two Minute reports, the officials are sharing their perspective.

In response to a recent article on NBA officiating, the NBA Referees union listed their four major issues with the reports:

https://twitter.com/OfficialNBARefs/status/816749024019628037

1) [The L2M reports] have no impact on the outcome of a game.

2) They promote hostility towards officials because the focus is never on the percentage we get correct, only the percentage incorrect.

3) While the stated goal of the L2M is to promote understanding and credibility, after almost 2 years, we have seen no evidence of improved understanding or credibility.

4) A focus on stats promotes stats-oriented officiating versus game-oriented officiating that better balances game flow and fair play. We have no issue with being publicly critiqued; we simply believe the league's L2M platform is not the right way to do it.