The Warriors should not let officiating bother them

The Golden State Warriors will look to take a 2-0 lead with a poor officiating crew.

The Golden State Warriors have a great opportunity to go up 2-0 in the NBA Finals.

The Finals are a great time of year. The league’s top players and superstars face off to see who gets crowned a champion. To go along with the elite talent, the NBA also tries to use the best officials possible to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

Unfortunately, the NBA, for as great as it is as a league and organization, is still struggling in this department.

Game 2 of the Finals will be officiated by Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, and James Capers.

There’s a sense among Warriors fans that Foster and, to a lesser degree, Brothers have some sort of bias against them. While the NBA has had a dark history of crooked officials, it doesn’t really seem to be the case anymore. But the eye test and some of the numbers would suggest that perhaps it’s more than just a coincidence.

The Warriors have struggled with these officials and, especially, Foster. In the Steve Kerr era, his team has gone 25-6 in the playoffs without Foster and 4-4 with him. The Warriors have also lost both home games that were officiated by him.

After Golden State defeated Cleveland in the first game of the series, there was a silver lining for Cavaliers fans: LeBron James has won his last nine Game 2’s after dropping the first game.

So, if you believe that there’s some conspiracy against the defending champs, then this all makes sense. The pieces are actually there to reach that conclusion. But it’s not likely. The NBA’s new aim to be as transparent as possible has been a positive thing, for the most part.

The issue with Foster is that he’s not that great of an official and he’s in the Warriors heads.

The NBA trusts both Foster and Brothers, despite the complaints from fans that they aren’t making the right calls. From what I’ve seen, it feels like the miss more than they should, calling fouls that aren’t there while missing blatant ones. It doesn’t look like they’re the best options for the most important games of the season.

After he misses a few calls, the Warriors have let it get to them. The mild-mannered Shaun Livingston was ejected for the first time in his career in Game 4 against the Portland Trail Blazers. Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson both struggled with him in the Western Conference Finals as their good defense was, at times, penalized.

Guys like Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James are going to get to the free throw line more than the average player. That’s just a reality of the NBA. Stars get preferential treatment. When that happens, though, the Warriors cannot let it change how they’re approaching the game.

The Warriors at at their best when they’re playing loosely and having fun. When a few calls don’t go their way, Draymond Green and co. press and try to do too much, making silly mistakes. They start hunting for the whistle instead of playing their own game. They don’t transition quickly from offense to defense, giving up easy buckets.

Sometimes it’s tough to persevere when you feel like you’re playing 8-on-5. But it’s a cycle. If you continue to complain and show the referees up, they’re going to pay more attention to you. It’s the difference between Rasheed Wallace and Tim Duncan.

There are going to be some really bad calls tonight. Not because Foster and Brothers have some intense agenda against the Golden State Warriors as a whole, but because they’re bad referees. And guys like Green have shorter leashes when it comes to technical fouls.

The Warriors can break James’ streak and overcome Foster’s incompetence by playing well. For as much as the early foul calling hurt them in those blowout losses against the Oklahoma City Thunder, they also didn’t play well.

If the Warriors do what they do and not focus all their energy on the whistles, they’ll fly to Cleveland with a two game lead.