The biggest referee call of the day

[CTWarrior]

Very early in the game, right after Hibbert picked up his first foul, he bumped Fitz and knocked him out of bounds.  I thought it was an obvious foul, but the refs just called a turnover for Fitz going out of bounds.  That would have been two on Hibbert and forced him to sit awhile.  And frankly, we were easily the better team whenever he sat down, just as they were easily the better team whenever he was on the floor.

The reffing was pretty bad per usual with the home team getting most of the calls, though I certainly wouldn't blame officiating at all for the defeat.  The much more deserving team won.

[TJ]

I saw that.  I didn't think it was as obvious as you, but it certainly could have been a foul.  I can't remember it completely - if Hibbert was there first and Fitz was just trying to run through him then I can see the no call.  Although it really would have helped to have Hibbert in foul trouble.

[NotAnAlum]

The call you refer to was pretty obvious.  You can debate hand checking, blocks vs charges etc in the open court BUT when a guy turns the ball over, in this case by going out of bounds, the ref needs to ask himself.  "Did the player go out of bounds on his own or did the other player move his body out of bounds"  In this case Hibert moved contacting Fitz pushing him out of bounds.  Beyond that Hibert walked a number of times in the lane, these were called last year in Milwaukee but were not called in DC.  Of course we had our share of drives that could have been called charges (and would have been had Higgins refed the game).
Bottomline the refs didn't decide this game, the failure of our big 3 to have big games decided this game.

[LastWarrior]

The refs did not cost us this game.  You sound like a Pitt fan... we lost with piss poor shot selection and no direction on offense.

[NotAnAlum]

nm

[LastWarrior]

then why even bring it up?  Yes, the better team TODAY won but ONE blown call did not cost us the game or alter the course of the game.

[NotAnAlum]

I didn't bring it up.  I was supporting CT Warrior's statement that it was an obvious incorrect call which it WAS.  It would have been Hibbert's 2 foul early in the 1st half so I'm not sure it had no effect on the course of the game.  I didn't realize that there was a rule that all board discussion had to be limited to just those plays that altered the course of the game.  Lazar had a couple of great rebound baskets in among the Trees.  It didn't alter the course of the game, can we still discuss it?

[CTWarrior]

then why even bring it up?  Yes, the better team TODAY won but ONE blown call did not cost us the game or alter the course of the game.

I stated in my original post that the much more deserving team won the game.  I know, our guards played poorly and our defense was lousy.  But if you don't think that if Hibbert sitting out an extra 5-10 minutes in the first half wouldn't have had a significant impact on the game, particularly given how the game went whenever he took a seat, you are mistaken.  I brought it up because I thought it was the most significant call of the game.