Chip Clark

Tonight’s NBA Playoff Referee Assignments 🏀🏆 EAST SEMIFINALS – GAME 6 ⏰ 7PM ET 🏀 @DetroitPistons at @cavs 🏀 15 Zarba, 60 Williams, 3 Buchert Alternate Official: Ray Acosta WEST SEMIFINALS – GAME 6 ⏰ 930PM ET 🏀 @spurs at @Timberwolves 🏀 19 Capers, 58 Tiven, 64 Van Duyne Alternate Official: Brian Forte Replay Center Referees: Curtis Blair

@ZachEri61454045 @CraigMilkowski @bballbreakdown x.com/officialnbaref…

@ZachEri61454045 @CraigMilkowski @bballbreakdown x.com/officialnbaref…

Are you upset about why there was no foul called on this loose ball fight btwn Thompson and Allen at end of regulation?? @OfficialChipC breaks it down from last night's live show:

Great point! Fans don’t process or catalog plays the way refs do. Why would they? It’s not their job to do so. So I certainly understand their initial frustration over a no-call like this. Refs build recall through their daily film study. They’ll catalog thousands of plays over the course of their career. So when they see a similar play occur in their future games, they have recall, and are better prepared to officiate the play correctly. They are also incredibly knowledgable about their league rules & official interpretations, and the nuance involved in certain rules/interpretations.

@OfficialChipC @jasondwelsch And like u said, Chip, there are thousands of plays that prove this isn't a vague interpretation, and has been pretty consistently applied. But I also totally understand how fans aren't processing and noting all of these plays and so it would seem confusing and upsetting

I tend to agree with you on this specific play. I believe Mobley’s left hand on the shoulder disadvantaged Reed, and hindered his ability to jump for the shot. IMO, this could’ve been graded as an INC in the L2M Report. While I can acknowledge some specific examples of plays I feel are incorrectly officiated, I do not support some of the other gross generalizations you’ve made in this thread, regarding ref performance. NBA refs are the best 🏀 refs in the world. It doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes from time to time. They do. They’re human after all. But they are right way more often than players, coaches, & fans think they are.

@OfficialChipC @bballbreakdown L2M says he went straight up, but clearly the left arm is on the shoulder of Reed. Gaining Mobley a significant advantage. Again, the NBA rules are all about interpretation and subjectivity. They make things vague so they can defend things like this. This is a foul.

I strongly disagree with your first sentence. Those rule interpretations (“Control”, “Dribble”, & “Incidental Contact”) are the official interpretations of every 🏀 league in the world (NCAA, HS, FIBA, etc), and have been for decades. Players should’ve learned them by now. I completely understand how in the moment, and in the immediate aftermath, players would think this should be a foul on Allen! If they still feel that way after being presented with video proof of the initial incidental contact, coupled with the applicable rule interpretations, then they are simply incorrect.

@OfficialChipC @bballbreakdown I think this is a poor interpretation of the rule, which I think is set up by design, so that poor officiating can be defended. All former NBA players think this is a foul and should be called a foul. The only one I’ve seen say different is Perkins, which, yikes.

Sorry you feel that way, John. I’ve already publicly addressed & supported two other no-calls on controversial Harden/Harris contact plays during Harden shot attempts this series (GM 3, Q4, :27) (GM 5, OT, 3:14), where I believed Harden abnormally kicked out his legs to cause contact with Harris that may not have occurred otherwise. As for the play you’re referencing, I just saw it a little differently, but can appreciate other perspectives. I felt a shooting foul was warranted on that one since the leg to foot contact from Harris to Harden occurred just prior to Harden inevitably having his legs abnormally extended. No doubt Harden was trying to abnormally kick out his legs on this play, but I just felt he wasn’t too far outside his frame yet when contact occurred, unlike the other 2 plays I referenced. I believe reasonable minds can disagree on all 3 of those plays in question though, but I just believe one of these 3 pics below does not look like the other 2. That’s all. All the best, John.

@bballbreakdown @OfficialChipC You thought Harris committed a foul on the first harden 3. You're a retard who shouldn't have a platform to speak

@AC38529843 @bballbreakdown x.com/officialchipc/…

@AC38529843 @bballbreakdown I addressed this many times yesterday.

That’s a fair question, Jason! Thanks for asking. So the initial batting of a loose ball to the floor is rarely considered a “controlled dribble” (possession). There are circumstances where it could be, like a player throwing a long bounce pass just ahead of a wide open teammate on an uncontested fast break, and that teammate batting the bouncing ball to the floor directly in front of himself, to set up his finish. That could be considered a controlled dribble. However, in most other instances, like a player batting a loose ball to the floor during a rebound or while saving it from going OoB, or batting it away from other players attempting to retrieve it, or when a pass deflects off a players hand and falls to the floor. etc., that initial bat of a loose ball would not constitute a controlled dribble. On the play in question, there isn’t really anything Ausar could’ve done differently to have gained possession of the ball prior to the initial foot to foot contact between he & Jarrett Allen (video below), which disrupted the balance of both players. Ausar’s second touching of the loose ball could’ve possibly been considered a controlled dribble (possession) if not complicated by the fact that he was already starting to fall due to the incidental contact between he & Allen, as he batted that loose ball to the floor a 2nd time. The incidental loose ball contact (which disadvantaged both players) happens first, so the 2nd batting does not constitute possession. Hope this helps. I understand this is a tough pill for Pistons fans to swallow. I get it, and can even empathize. Hopefully they can take some comfort in the fact that this play was correctly officiated though.

@bballbreakdown @OfficialChipC What does Ausar need to do to “have possession”? Take a third dribble in the direction that he wants to go?

@Jeremy_Eckl01 @nickyspeeed @omarisankofa @CadesAttorney I know a few people who would agree with you. Not many, but a few. 😁

@OfficialChipC @nickyspeeed @omarisankofa @CadesAttorney your have a rock for a brain lol

Per the L2M, the no-call on Ausar with 0.4 seconds left was the correct call

@ayden_5_ @bballbreakdown @CraigMilkowski Incidental Contact (Marginal Contact) is not illegal (foul). No foul occurred on this play since the contact between Allen & Thompson was “incidental to an effort by (either) player to reach a loose ball”.

@OfficialChipC @bballbreakdown @CraigMilkowski So you can knock players down and foul them as long as they don’t have control of the ball 👍

@BFERGUSON14 💯

@OfficialChipC Getting the foul that causes the out of bounds or violation to occur, is a key takeaway here for every official.

The referee crew with a clean L2M Report from Game 5 of Cavs @ Pistons last night. Impressive for such a tough game, with plenty of difficult plays to adjudicate in the final 2 minutes of Q4 & OT.

@Jeremy_Eckl01 @nickyspeeed @omarisankofa @CadesAttorney I’m wondering if you know the difference between “accidental” & “incidental”. Most fouls are the result of accidental contact, but incidental contact is not a foul.

@OfficialChipC @nickyspeeed @omarisankofa @CadesAttorney Ok I swatted your entire face “sorry it was a accident” NO FOUL

@bballbreakdown @TheZeekFreak I really wish fans would watch these NBA POE videos! The answer is right there for them. They shouldn’t need us to explain why these plays are fouls, @bballbreakdown.

@TheZeekFreak At the moment of contact, knowing the direction Schroeder is going, can u really say AT beat him to the spot? Really look long and hard at the pic

That is good defense. You as a defender are quite literally supposed to take away their path and beat them to the spot which Ausar clearly does here

@JackVentimiglia @Rate_the_Refs x.com/officialchipc/…

@OfficialChipC @Rate_the_Refs Your name is “Chip” maybe sit this one out.

Pistons got called for a defensive foul on this...

@TulipsOnDetroit @Rate_the_Refs And you’re welcome.👇

@OfficialChipC @Rate_the_Refs You’re a dumbass

@Jeremy_Eckl01 @nickyspeeed @omarisankofa @CadesAttorney There is no such thing as an “incidental foul”. “Incidental Contact” (marginal contact), as seen in this Thompson/Allen play, is not a foul.

@nickyspeeed @omarisankofa @CadesAttorney incidental foul is a still a foul