Embattled referee, Wang Zhuoping, breaks free from a reporter after a controversially officated Game Two in Xinjiang.

Just before All-Star Weekend a few weeks ago, we touched on the drop of quality in in-game officiating this season that was blamed largely on young, inexperienced refs rising through the ranks too quickly and a general lack of organization and leadership by both the league and lead referees.  But, instead of those problems being cleaned up in time for the post-season, increasing evidence of corrupt and biased officiating has made itself even more present for all to see under the bright lights of playoff basketball.

We say increasing evidence because this season especially, the fairness of officiating has been called into question due to some serious testimony that suggests officials heavily favor home teams over their road opponents.  This season, home teams enjoyed a 63% home winning percentage, a number which at first doesn’t jump off the page.  But, its the gap between winning at home and winning on the road that has people inside and outside of the CBA worrying about referee bias.  Only five teams out of 17 finished the season with .500 or above records on the road, and one team, Tianjin, finished the year 0-16.  The most troubling example of home-away discrepancy would none other than Bayi, the team that represents the People’s Liberation Army, who won 81% of its games at home (13-3), while winning only 25% (4-12) on the road.

This season in particular, clearly something has been up.  And right from the outset of Bayi’s first-round opener at home against heavily favored fierce rival, Guangdong, it became evident that the pattern was trying to repeat itself.  At the 8:37 mark in the second quarter, Guangdong’s Dong Hanlin, Zhou Peng and Su Wei had all received their third fouls and Bayi had already entered the bonus.  At 6:33, Su was called for his fourth foul and after incredulously leaning against a sideline billboard, was whistled for a technical foul. Up just five at the half over a team they were expected to beat handily, Guangdong head coach Li Chunjiang reportedly went into the locker room to tell his team, “Just play the game and not worry about other things.”  Guangdong eventually won the game 95-89 despite the questionable officiating.

More home-court bias followed into the first-round’s second set of games, the most egregious of which took place during first-seeded Xinjiang’s home match against eight-seed Beijing last Friday.  Up for most of the game, Beijing eventually fell victim to consistently questionable calls that ultimately led to the Ducks’ entire foreign roster, Zaid Abbas and Randolph Morris, as well as Chinese forward/center, Ji Zhe, fouling out by the end of the game.  Several phantom fouls were called on Morris and Abbas for highly interpretative infractions throughout the game, particularly in the fourth, and both appeared to be singled out for special treatment when Beijing went on runs.

To add, Xinjiang’s star import, Quincy Douby, also appeared to get away with several fouls in the paint as Beijing made it a point to force the former Rutgers standout to defend in post-up situations.  Douby finished with four personal fouls, a number that was deemed too low by both observers and players.

“If they called the game fair,” said an anonymous Beijing player after the game, “Douby would have probably fouled out pretty early.”

In total, 57 fouls were called on both teams in what was an extremely tense and physical game.  But in the end, it was Douby’s barrage of three-pointers inside of three minutes before Zhang Qingpeng finally put the Flying Tigers up for good with 2:25 left with a three of his own.  Once Douby put the finishing touches on the comeback with a slick scooping lay-up with under a minute left, Xinjiang squeaked out a 104-98 win.

During the broadcast on Beijing Sports TV, even the typically snore-inducing announcers went as far to question the integrity of the game, saying “The refs are really not calling this came fairly at all.”  So appalled by the clearly biased officiating, a reporter rushed the court at the conclusion of the game to ask lead official, Wang Zhuoping, “How do you evaluate your officiating for this game?”  Angered, Wang shoved the journalist aside, who then grabbed him in attempt to get an answer.  Wang eventually broke loose and stormed off the court.

On Saturday, Wang spoke to reporters saying, “I’ve reffed games for many years, and I’ve always been honest and open. This game was the same.”

Because of the incident with the reporter and the circumstances in which the game was called, what happened on Friday night has received a lot of media attention over the last week.  But, talking to reporters in the days following the game, nobody sounded too hopeful that lasting change would come from the top.

“What good is an appeal going to do?” asked Beijing general manager, Yuan Chao.  ”I’ve gone to the league to complain about the refs once before, and as a result they punished us for a bunch of years.”

Technical Director, Lu Ping, the person who is responsible for the scorer’s table during games, came under fire for not stepping in to put an end to the referee’s power trip after reporters saw Lu, along with the in-game supervisor, take a phone call with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter with the score 85-78 Beijing.  On the phone was Minister of the CBA Competition Committie, Bai Xilin, and though reporters who heard the conversation couldn’t hear what Bai was saying on the other line, they were able to get Lu’s side of the conversation.

“Minister Bai, both of us are in the lounge,” said Lu. “We’re coming out out now… I know, I know, you’ve said it a bunch of times already — this game must be called stricter without fail, we can’t be careless… Yes, yes, I’ve already said that the third quarter there were nine fouls called against [Beijing].  The first two quarters the two teams were going at it with each other the whole time.  Like I said, there is no logic to the way this match is going right now.  I’ll let you talk to Director Liu later, I have to back to the game now.”

But by that late point, the game and the refs were too out of hand to be reeled back in.  Lu, who has defended himself by saying he is only responsible for the scorer’s table, went on record as saying “This [search to blame someone] is ‘Chinese characteristics’.”

Controversy over in-game officiating continued into Sunday night’s Jiangsu – Zhejiang Chouzhou Game Three matchup on Sunday.  Down one with 2.2 seconds left at home against Zhejiang, Jiangsu’s Antoine Wright inbounded the ball on the near sideline to a cutting teammate a few feet outside the top of the three-point line.  Wright quickly bolted to the ball and after his teammate pivoted to seal off his defender, Wright took the hand off on his right foot, made a big step with his left towards the left three-point wing, and launched a rediculous near-impossible three-pointer off one foot with Chouzhou’s Marcus Williams in his shirt that somehow went in at the buzzer.

But the shot, which reminded us of a certain Kobe Bryant ridiculous near-impossible three-point shot over an outstretched Dwyane Wade last year in Los Angeles, came about under some pretty shady circumstances: The time keeper didn’t start the clock until Wright came back inbounds and grabbed the ball from his teammate.

The media attention and public outcry over these incidents — especially the Beijing – Xinjiang game — has ultimately led to the demotion of a lead official, Wang Zhuoping (who refereed Game Two in Xinjiang), to China youth league basketball.  The other two refs in that game were suspended for the rest of the playoffs.

It has also caused the CBA to put out a letter “On Further Strengthening Referees for the Playoffs,” that include such resolutions as “strengthening understanding,” “strengthening business learning” and “strengthening self-discipline and improving professional ethics.” Calls for technical directors to take more responsibility for their job were also mentioned, and a board of foreign referees will also be established after the semi-finals to participate in exchanges and hold seminars geared at increasing the level of officiating.  Referees must also limit contact from the outside world. Notifications and written reports must be handed into the CBA Competition Department by all referees who leave their hotel alone, and cell phones must be given to the technical director on gamedays.

Though not admitted by the league and never technically proven by anyone, its well known around the league that referee corruption is a rampant problem that has plagued Chinese professional basketball for years.  Home teams in particular are given opportunities to pay off refs before games.  The practice has become a common one in the regular season and practically a necessity in the playoffs, where the stakes are higher.

Speaking to Sina on last Friday, newly signed Houston Rocket, Mike Harris, who spent the entire season in the CBA with Shanghai this year, summed up what most people feel about the future of the league.  (Translated from Chinese): “I think the CBA really needs professional referees. There’s some games that they call unreasonably, they should be more like the NBA, they should go through training.”