NBA Happy With Use of Three Referees

More fouls. Longer games. Confusion.

That was the worst-case scenario when the Board of Governors voted last spring to have three referees at NBA games rather than two.

Instead, the league and its players and coaches appear to be pleased with the experiment one month into the 1988-89 season, although the new rule hasn’t brought about a quick reduction in on-court fighting.

“They’re learning and we’re learning and it’s a matter of getting used to each other,” Dallas’ Rolando Blackman said of the three-official system. “It takes a while to see what an NBA referee is going to do. But the system should work out in the long run.”

“I had some apprehension in the exhibition season, but the regular-season games have worked out well,” New Jersey coach Willis Reed said. “I’m happier than I thought I would be. It’d gotten to the point where I don’t notice there are three refs on the floor.”

Last season, the NBA averaged 48.2 fouls per game. Through 148 games this season, the average was 49.7, but Rod Thorn, the NBA’s vice president in charge of operations, said more fouls generally are called early in a season.

“At this point last season, there were 52 fouls a game being called, so there are actually fewer fouls being called although we anticipated there would be more,” Thorn said. “But we are seeing more fouls being called on rebounds because there’s a referee right there. Pushing and shoving on the weak side is being caught.”

One of the biggest motivations for adding a third official was to have an extra pair of eyes to spot physical play away from the ball. The league theorized that when pushing and shoving went unnoticed by officials, it caused frustration and, ultimately, fighting.

In 1986-87, there were 24 fights in the NBA, and 14 last year. Including exhibition games this season, there have been four fights, none of them serious.

Several big men said the extra official has not reduced the physical nature of the NBA.

“There’s not much difference from last year,” Nets power forward Buck Williams said. “There’s still a certain amount of pushing out there. The league is making so much money now, I guess they needed something else to spend it on.”

“It’s just as physical as ever,” Boston center Robert Parish added.

But Dallas center James Donaldson and Los Angeles Lakers forward James Worthy have noticed the difference.

“I think they’re seeing more stuff away from the ball, especially on the weak side when the ball is in the air,” Worthy said. “The new guys are a little inconsistent, but it will take awhile for everyone to adjust.”

“They’re watching the contact closer and at the same time they’re trying to find a happy medium and let the game flow,” Donaldson said. “They’re doing a decent job.

“We get a few calls that we used to get away with, especially the big guys down low, banging bodies and throwing each other around. That’s what they’re trying to clean up.”

Of the four fights so far -- Parish and Bill Laimbeer and Larry Bird and Washington’s Harvey Grant during the exhibition season and Rick Mahorn versus Dave Feitl and Steve Johnson against Michael Cage in the regular season -- Thorn said that only the Johnson-Cage fracas was the result of built-up frustration.

“The others were spontaneous outbursts that you can never completely control,” Thorn said. “Theoretically, you would like no fighting. But that won’t happen.”

While the response to the three-referee experiment has been generally favorable, it’s not surprising that the inexperienced new officials brought in to staff the system have come under some criticism.

“The new favorite expression around the league is ‘It’s not my call,”’ Los Angeles Lakers coach Pat Riley said. “But it’s like having new players. Some of the new officials are better than others. It just proves there are enough good officials to go around.”

Houston’s Eric “Sleepy” Floyd said the third referee is not always positioned where he should be.

“They are going through an adjustment period,” Floyd said of the first-year officials. “It creates a lot of indecision as to who is going to make a call. But it probably will work out in the long run.”

“A lot of times they don’t make calls and a lot of times they make what I call ‘college’ calls, little ticky-tack calls,” Blackman said.

Blackman believes that three referees ultimately will benefit stronger teams.

“The worse the team, the more pushing and holding you have,” the Mavericks guard said. “They are the ones who will be caught by the third man. I’m talking about the blatant holds that two referees can’t see because of the angle.”

Seattle coach Bernie Bickerstaff hinted that the new referees are somewhat in awe of what they are seeing and will need an adjustment period.

“In college, they see no more than two to four superstars,” Bickerstaff said. “In the NBA, every night they will see 10 guys who are the best they ever saw.”