NBA playoffs

Let's face it, with basketball you are always going to have a certain amount of controversy regarding the officiating since there are so many plays which are far from clear-cut. This isn't tennis, with a simple in/out decision.
Bennett
No, basketball features ten players moving simulataneously with all kinds of incidental contact along the way, a variety of obscure and seldom enforced rules, and it's all played out from end to end at blazing fast speed.

It's a tough game to call on many occasions, and reasonable individuals can agree to disagree on the appropriate ruling on a play, even after seeing it in slow motion replay multiple times! It's clear then that referees should be extended a margin of error and can't be held accountable for the occasional missed call, just as we can't fault a player for missing a shot every now and then.

And the tone they set Sunday was one of inconsistent effort, flashes of individual brilliance undermined by petulant indifference, selfishness and ego. Examples? I have examples.

There was the play early in the second quarter when LeBron drove the lane and tried a shot in traffic and missed it. He thought he was fouled, and he complained, and then he kept complaining. He was hopping and spinning and the ball was going the other way, ending in a transition bucket for the Spurs. San Antonio led by 12, then 14, then 17. LeBron wanted that foul called. He wanted those free throws.

There was the play early in the fourth quarter when Wade attacked the rim and missed a layup. Wade has been on his best behavior for the NBA Finals, not flopping or playing dirty or doing any of the unbecoming stuff he has been known to do, but this was the old D-Wade. He missed the shot and came to a dead stop when he realized the official wasn't blowing his whistle. The Spurs were going the other way, but it was more important to Wade -- in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals -- to demonstrate his disappointment with the quality of NBA officiating.

A few seconds later Kawhi Leonard had the ball in the corner. Wade was supposed to be defending him, but he was the last player down the court. He was too late. Leonard hit a 3-pointer to make it 92-75.

The Heat didn't fold. Give them -- well, give Ray Allen -- credit for that. Allen scored in bunches, clumps of two, three, even four points at a time, and his explosion -- he scored 15 points in the fourth quarter -- put the Heat within striking range. It was 109-101 with 1:37 left, not a good place to be but not a hopeless place to be, either, when Tony Parker beat Wade to the rim for a bucket. It was 111-101.

And then came the moment that should define LeBron James' leadership.

James drove, missed a shot, and wanted the foul. He didn't get it. He was under the rim, and he stayed under the rim in disbelief while the Spurs went the other way. By the time Danny Green was hitting a 3-pointer, LeBron was still 75 feet away. The Heat called timeout. LeBron was the last to reach the huddle, seeing how he was still on the offensive side of the floor.

decided by the players than a predetermined outcome leading to more advertising, gate reciept, and concession revenue for the league...

You're accusing the league of game fixing.