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By rule Jason Witten Jersey Womens , any substitute checking into an NBA game must first report his intentions to the scorer’s table. Denver’s Jamal Murray was on his way there during a game last month, then got derailed when an errant pass came flying his way.

That’s when referee Jason Phillips intervened.

Phillips could have easily been a stickler for rules and told Murray – who never made it to the table – that he had to wait until the next stoppage of play. But Phillips knew Murray was on his way to checking in long before the play was dead and allowed him to enter the game.

”Thank you,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, and Phillips nodded.

There were moments of civility like this between referees, players and coaches this season. They just were overshadowed way too often. Now everyone is watching to see how things unfold in the playoffs.

The league wants to avoid more headline-grabbing confrontation with the playoffs starting Saturday and stakes and emotion becoming even higher, so officials met with all 30 teams , the last of those on Monday.

”We all make mistakes,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. ”It’s a game. We’re all a part of it. We’re all in the NBA. The officials are part of the NBA. So we have to understand that we’re all under the same corporation.”

There have been instances where they have looked more like combatants.

Referee Courtney Kirkland was taken off the floor for a week for getting too aggressive with Golden State’s Shaun Livingston. Warriors star Kevin Durant – who’d been ejected once in his first nine seasons – got kicked out of five games. Even LeBron James got tossed for the first time in his 15-year career.

It all led the NBA to announce in late January its plan to improve how players and referees get along. Former referee Monty McCutchen, now an NBA vice president overseeing referee development and training, and NBA senior vice president Michelle Johnson met with clubs to listen to their perspective.

McCutchen’s biggest hope is finding a way to make communication better, on all sides. He stressed to teams that he wasn’t meeting with them solely to defend and protect officials.

”Our league needs strong officials Kerryon Johnson Youth Jersey ,” McCutchen said. ”What we’re trying to shoot for is this idea that you can have strength without arrogance and you can show humility without having to give into weakness. And that sort of Goldilocks moment, where the porridge is just right, is the balance in which we can start to disagree about the play without being demeaning or condescending or arrogant to one another.”

That hasn’t been the case at times this season.

It’s rare that a call will truly decide a game, and the NBA is sticking to its pledge of transparency by continuing to release reports about calls made in the final two minutes of close games. The Last 2 Minute Reports have been widely panned by players and coaches, especially when those reports show that a big call didn’t go their way in a close loss.

For the 400-plus games that have met the criteria for such a report being publicly issued this season, the NBA has said 97.4 percent of the calls made – in other words, 39 out of every 40 – are correct. When factoring in no-calls, what the NBA defines as ”event accuracy” drops to 93.9 percent.

But there have also been some difficult moments.

Livingston and Kirkland butted heads in a game at Miami, earning the Warriors guard a one-game suspension and Kirkland’s discipline after the league determined they were both in the wrong in their argument over a non-call. Through Sunday, there were 79 ejections this season – up considerably from the 61 last season. The NBA said 902 technicals were called last season; that figure has also been topped this season, albeit only by about 30.

Draymond Green Jaguars DJ Chark Jersey , who isn’t shy about getting technicals, has complained. So has Chris Paul, the president of the National Basketball Players Association.

”To be honest, we need to kind of just go out there and play, and not worry about anything but that,” Toronto guard Kyle Lowry said. ”We can’t worry about what happened, even legitimately. We have to just go play and not say anything and just do our jobs. I think that’ll be a focus for the rest of the season for our team.”

But Lowry knows, starting Saturday, everything gets magnified.

”You can’t get distracted or obsess on the officials or things that happen during the game that you can’t necessarily control,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”You can’t cross the line consistently and expect to develop the right mental toughness that you need to win.”

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鈥?A former NFL player was sentenced to two years in federal prison Thursday and ordered to repay nearly $1.6 million in bogus worker’s compensation claims.Marcus Buckley, 46 Andy Dalton Youth Jersey , of Weatherford, Texas, submitted numerous fraudulent claims after the New York Giants initially agreed to a $300,000 settlement in 2010 for cumulative stress injuries from playing football, federal prosecutors said.Buckley played for the Giants for seven seasons between 1993 and 2000.He filed false invoices, false credit collection notices for late medical bills and false statements from medical providers to receive additional compensation beyond the initial settlement.A co-defendant, claims adjuster Kimberly Jones, then arranged for about $1.59 million in worker’s compensation insurance payments to Buckley.Buckley’s attorney, Scott Cameron, declined comment. However, he said in court documents that Buckley “has a rich history of providing for others and is deeply remorseful about his criminal conduct Authentic Bradley Chubb Jersey ,” as shown in part by 14 letters to the court from his loved ones. He has no prior criminal history aside from traffic tickets.Buckley once was an award-winning player for Texas A&M. The court documents say he is not only physically damaged from years of football but suffers from short-term memory loss. Moreover, he had an unspecified surgery in July and was rear-ended during an automobile accident in mid-December.Buckley and Jones were indicted in 2013. She pleaded guilty in 2015 and he in 2016, both under plea agreements.Federal probation officers had recommended an 18-month sentence for Buckley. Prosecutors sought 33 months in prison, calling it a “significant insurance fraud scheme” and noting that Buckley also engaged in money laundering. They said Buckley can receive medical care in prison.Jones is set to be sentenced Feb. 8. She worked for Gallagher Bassett Services Inc., which handled worker’s compensation claims in California for the Giants and the team’s insurer, Pennsylvania Manufacturer’s Association Insurance Group. Copyright ©2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed..