I just got through watching Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs NBA basketball series. I have seen a lot of bad refereeing in the NBA (heck who hasn’t) but tonight was one of the worst examples of bad officiating I have seen this year. The Phoenix Suns were playing the Spurs in San Antonio and it appeared as it they were playing five on eight for most of the game.

In between games Amare Stoudemire called out Bruce Bowen for being a dirty player. I believe that to be a true statement. The very calm Ray Allen, of the Seattle Sonics, has even exploded out towards Bowen on several occasions. The refs called Amare for ever tick-tack foul they could in this game as if his words had been directed against them.

Steve Nash had a horrible first two and a half quarters. A big reason for that is because Bruce Bowen was guy raping him the entire time he was guarding him. I thought the NBA had long gotten rid of the hand check much less the two handed hand check. When Bowen wasn’t fondling Nash he was tripping him up with his feet from behind.

The refereeing should never be the storyline after a game, much less a playoff game, but it more often is in the NBA than in any other professional sport.

It can be argued that the Suns Kurt Thomas did his fair share of hacking on Tim Duncan and that Manu Ginobili received a black eye from Shawn Marion, but if you review the tape you will see that Duncan constantly got away with fouling Stoudemire in the post and Nash on his drives.

I just want to see the better team win, not the better team with the refs on their side. Hopefully commissioner David Stern will lay into the referee crew from tonight’s game.

Even the usually cool Steve Nash was yelling at the zebras all throughout the fourth quarter. The Spurs won the game 108-101. Were the refs worth seven points in this game? ABSOLUTELY!