{"id":496767,"date":"2026-05-14T07:49:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=496767"},"modified":"2026-05-14T07:49:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:49:51","slug":"nba-defends-referees-as-foul-calls-rise-11-during-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/nba-defends-referees-as-foul-calls-rise-11-during-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA defends referees as foul calls rise 11% during playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA<\/strong> is defending its referees after an increase in foul calls during the playoffs. According to ESPN, personal fouls per game are up by around 11% compared to the regular season.<\/p>\n

Monty McCutchen, the NBA\u2019s senior vice president of referee development and training, said postseason basketball naturally brings more intensity, physicality and pressure, but insisted officiating does not fundamentally change in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not putting our whistles in our pocket,\u201d McCutchen said, stressing that the goal is to reward aggression without allowing the game to become rough. The league remains under scrutiny amid complaints from players, coaches and fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Personal fouls are up compared to the regular season, but Monty McCutchen says the league is not changing its officiating standard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":278632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[399],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-496767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nNBA defends referees as foul calls rise 11% during playoffs - Sportando<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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