B

In the first couple games of this series, as was very obvious to many people, the officiating was horrible. There were way too many fouls being called, and they were being called on an extremely inconsistent basis. As the games have progressed, however, much more is being let go. Finally we are getting to see these two teams play against each other instead of every little contact being called for a foul.

In Game 5 I felt the refs did a good job. There is, has, and will always be questionable calls that come with such a fast paced game. As Brandon and I sit here trying to think of a "bad call" that took place in this game, it took a good 30 seconds to even think of a call that may have been questionable. The call that came up was the charge on Rondo when they said he extended his arm.. Even that was debatable and probably should have just been a no call. In games 1, 2, and 3, we could have ripped off about 10 bad calls in that same 30 second time period.

So clearly the officiating is getting to the consistency we as fans would like to see it as. Heck, if you want to say I am only saying this because we won, look at the FT differential - The Lakers shot twice as many freebies as the C's (26-13). I felt that was appropriate and never really found myself saying "YOU HAFTA CALL THAT!!!"

I won't thank the NBA yet, because the series isn't over with. We could see a complete debacle in Game 6, but for now, I like what I am seeing and can only hope the good work remains.

Also.. As I look for pictures to put with this post, I can't even find a picture with a ref in it.. The same could not be said after the first 3 games of this series..

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)