What I'll never understand is why Tatum (and Brown to a lesser extent) get hacked with no call on plays where Jimmy might be getting a flagrant 1 called.
For me, persistent refereeing disparities come back to David Stern and what he was willing to do to make the NBA profitable. The major pieces go like this:
1) In 1980, the NBA was struggling, tape delay and so forth. Then they had Magic and Bird come into the league. Stern does everything in his power to feature Magic and Bird -- Finals MVPs, Rookie of the Year awards, etc. Sure, they were the best teams and all, but it's worth noting that every Finals in the 1980s has either Magic or Bird (or both) playing in it. That's ... interesting.
2) In the 1990's, Michael Jordan is the undisputed superstar. Stern sees the gap left with Magic and Bird retiring and delivers a message to his referees that they should allow Jordan to be Jordan. This is the Rubicon being crossed but no one really pays too much attention because Jordan is already the best player on earth and he probably wins 9/10 times anyway.
3) In the late 90s/early 2000's, a new influx of stars come into the league -- Shaq/Kobe/etc. The refs, now empowered, begin to operate with impunity with the commissioner's support -- helping some stars, but hurting a player like Iverson who Stern doesn't like and worries is a bad influence on the game. The whole thing grows to the point where something like Donaghy scandal was almost inevitable and almost blows the lid off of the whole thing, but Stern contains it enough to more or less one bad apple.
4) Today ... Stern is gone but most of the big wheel refs are still around--Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Marc Davis--and the ridiculous whistles continue for players like Giannis, Harden and Butler. These guys continue to operate with the assumption that part of their job is to help stars be stars and to keep players they don't like from getting the same whistle -- and last night showed they'll use even replay to do it.
Why do Tatum or Brown not get the treatment other guys do? Not sure ... it could be as simple as some of these refs don't like them personally. My sense is that Silver probably isn't as much of a fan of this old refereeing system but has been there too long to actually do much about it -- if any of this stuff came out now, he's as complicit as anyone.
If someone can tell me otherwise, I'm willing to believe them. But NBA officiating has been too suspect, too consistently and for too long -- and has directly helped the game grow, for better or for worse. It's too bad because the league 100% doesn't need it anymore. But it is what it is, for now anyway.