Blatant mistakes are ruining EuroBasket experience / News - Basketnews.com

After controversies in games in Cologne and Tbilisi, BasketNews takes a look at the problems EuroBasket 2022 is facing.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

When it rains, it pours is probably the most accurate way to describe the weekend for FIBA after various incidents, including blatant referee mistakes and failing to ensure a safe experience in EuroBasket 2022.

Ever since EuroLeague and FIBA relationship went south and EuroLeague referees were (not officially, of course) banned from FIBA competitions, the quality of refereeing in international tournaments has been a huge topic.

Unfortunately, EuroBasket 2022 is no exception. Even more, two hardly imaginable mistakes happened in the span of a few hours.

Refereeing mistakes

During the Lithuania vs. Germany game in Cologne, Lithuanian star Jonas Valanciunas drew Maodo Lo's foul and was rewarded with 2 free throws. Seconds later, Germany's head coach Gordon Herbert received a technical foul.

According to FIBA rules, the free throw for the technical foul is supposed to be attempted before the two shots for the shooting foul.

However, only the two free throws for the regular foul were taken, with Valanciunas missing both of them and the Germans grabbing the rebound.

At first, three missed free throws were recorded on the official scoresheet of the game. Later, the supposedly missed free throw for the technical foul was deleted.

Before:

Credit screenshot

After:

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Lithuania lost the game 107-109 after a double-overtime thriller, meaning that one free throw could have changed the game's outcome.

Lithuania forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas confirmed that Lithuania's staff tried to warn the officials, but nothing was done.

"Their coach or their bench received a technical, and we did not receive that shot," Lithuanian forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas said after the game. "After our coaches started protesting, the commissioner just sat there all red and did nothing."

Italian referee Manuel Mazzoni shows a technical foul gesture:

Meanwhile, Marius Grigonis confirmed that the referees admitted their mistake.

"So what? It cost us the game. They will go home now, and that's all," Grigonis continued.

Panathinaikos OPAP Athens newcomer also recalled the 2019 World Cup incident. In the Second Round of the main tournament, Rudy Gobert illegally tipped off the ball after Valanciunas' free throw by touching the rim first.

"The last time, it was Gobert. Now we don't get a free throw for a technical foul. If these referees continue their job in the EuroBasket, I don't even know what to say about FIBA," said the Lithuanian guard.

After the game, Lithuania filled the protest, but FIBA deemed it inadmissible as the protest was delivered outside the designated time of 60 minutes after the game.

However, according to the FIBA statement, if the protest were admissible, it would have been rejected because the reason presented is not one of the reasons a protest can be filed.

However, German fans might have their own arguments. With 6.2 seconds remaining in the first overtime, Grigonis was called for an offensive foul.

Yet, Grigonis committed the foul against Niels Giffey after releasing the ball, meaning that the possession of the ball didn't belong to Lithuania anymore. Therefore, Germans should have been awarded two free throws instead of a possession. This was confirmed to BasketNews by a couple of refereeing experts.

Credit screenshot

Meanwhile, the game between Georgia and Turkey was unprecedented for many reasons.

First of all, the umpire crew did not correct the game clock. Duda Sanadze made a hard foul on Furkan Korkmaz (which later developed into a scuffle and ejections of both players) with 4:48 left on the game clock. However, when the play was restored, the game clock was showing 4:26.

Just like Lithuania, Turkey filed a protest for this reason and still awaits the result of it. Turkey's reasoning falls into a category for which protest can be filled.

According to Protest Procedure section article C.1, a team may file a protest if its interests have been adversely affected by:

An error in scorekeeping, timekeeping, or shot clock operations, which was not corrected by the referees. A decision to forfeit, cancel, postpone, not resume or not play the game. A violation of the applicable eligibility rules.

The last moments of the game are also up for debate. Cedi Osman was given an unsportsmanlike foul after trying to commit an intentional foul on Rati Andronikashvili with 21.6 seconds to go in the second overtime.

Osman, in fact, did not make contact with the ball and, in theory, committed a foul, which falls into the unsportsmanlike category. However, knowing the context, it's debatable whether the decision wasn't too harsh.

After that, the hell broke loose as Ergin Ataman lost his temper and was ejected, allowing Georgia to shoot four free throws and put the game to bed.

Although not in such blatant cases, FIBA referees received some criticism in other cases as well.

After a convincing victory against Great Britain, Croatia's star Mario Hezonja claimed that the refereeing in the game was 'terrible.'

Croatia finished the game with a crushing win; both teams were separated by only 6 points at halftime (37-31). A tense fight on the court transferred to the emotions outside of basketball.

Mario Hezonja was not satisfied with the referees' calls, and at the end of the first half, he had a long discussion with one of the match officials.

"It's terrible; I would have liked to attend their [referees'] meetings this summer. I don't know if I'm even allowed to talk about this so that I don't get punished, although I'm not afraid. But the referee tells me at halftime, 'Sorry, I wasn't in a good position,'" Hezonja recalled.

"I don't know how I can prepare for the match for two or three hours, to come, to die on the court, while officials don't prepare for the game. They have to do scouting too. The referee apologized to me at the end, but we shouldn't get into disputes about that.

We get nervous, and it takes away momentum from our game. I would like to see what their mentality is and how they talk because the criteria are not clear to me," concluded the star forward.

Meanwhile, Croatia's and ALBA Berlin guard Jaleen Smith also talked about the differences between FIBA and EuroLeague referees.

"This tournament has been really physical," Smith told BasketNews' Giorgos Kyriakidis. "It might be more physical than the EuroLeague. It's because FIBA refs let you get away with a lot of stuff. They don't call a lot, like EuroLeague."

"For the superstars, they might cater to them. In EuroLeague, every contact that looks like a foul, they call it. But here, it's got to be a hard foul for them to call it. I'm a physical player, and I like it. I know they're not going to call all of them. You had to learn that too," Smith added.

Credit FIBA

EuroBasket 2022 was presented as one, if not the greatest European championships of all time because of its talent pool, while FIBA representatives praised its calendar system that contributed to the star players' decisions to participate in the tournament.

At the same time, it also gives once in a lifetime opportunity for European basketball to be visible on the highest stage of basketball and receive so much wanted attention.

Yet, the disparity between players' and referees' talent has been exposed again. Unfortunately, these crucial mistakes overshadow the main reason why everyone is tuning in EuroBasket – to see the highest level of basketball. So far, not everyone can enjoy it.

Safety problems

Although Turkey's game against Georgia involved a blatant referees' mistake, somehow, it wasn't the worst thing in the match.

After the mentioned scuffle between Korkmaz and Sanadze, some fans managed to throw objects onto the court, most of them being cups filled with drinks.

Although none of the players were hurt, it caused a 10-15 minutes delay while volunteers cleaned the court.

However, Turkey's staff made even more serious accusations after the game. According to Turkey's assistant coach Hakan Demir, after Korkmaz left the court following his ejection, the Philadelphia 76ers star was attacked by three Georgian players and security staff.

"On the court, there is always tension, and the atmosphere was very good. Okay, something happened between the players," Hakan Demir said. "But after that, our player went to the locker room, and three Georgian national team players and security got involved in a fight. It's unacceptable."

"Players can have arguments on the court, but off the court, they're friends. But if security or police [got involved], I don't know, we'll watch the footage.

These kinds of things are a big disappointment. Unfortunately, it happened. Georgia won the game, and we congratulate them, it's not a problem. The problem is what happened in the corridor," Demir added.

According to beIN SPORTS' Ismail Senol, the trio that allegedly attacked Korkmaz was Tornike Shengelia, Goga Bitadze, and Sanadze.

Moreover, the Turkish basketball federation (TBF) asked for camera footage of the incident. If TBF's request won't be met, Turkey is threatening to withdraw from EuroBasket.

"If the security camera footage doesn't come to us, we will leave the tournament," TTBF vice-president Omer Onan said in an official statement.

Decisive referees' mistakes are one thing, but not being able to ensure players' and fans' safety is another and much more concerning matter.

The wait for FIBA's decision continues, but the much-hyped EuroBasket has a rough start because of its inability to fulfill such mandatory requirements as competent refereeing and safety.

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