Here Are Your Referees for Game 4: Which Team Has the Edge?

With all this talk about the quality of the officiating in the NBA over the last few days, I thought we'd take a look at which officials have been assigned to work tonight's critical Game 4 in Los Angeles. Your winners are:

Joe DeRosa. Ted Washington. And finally, Steve ... Effing ... Javie.

There's a website out there that tracks the "homer-ness" of NBA officials (you know, for entertainment purposes only), and when you check out how tonight's crew stacks up, it would appear that the Lakers are in for a good time. DeRosa tops the list of home teams winning (and covering the spread) when he's on the floor, and Washington comes in at number four. Advantage Lakers, right? Not so fast.

While two of the officials are near the top of the homer list, Steve Javie is at the bottom of it. Not only does he rank 59 out of 62 refs listed, but Javie's the crew chief. Meaning, he's going to have the final say on any of the game's most crucial calls. Not only that, but Javie specifically has a reputation for making calls that could go either way (like a judgment block/charge call) against the home team. He's the only official I know of that gets booed by the entire crowd when he's introduced at Staples Center. (I know, real smart, right? Annoy the guy that already likes to make calls for the visiting team.)

So which team has the edge? It's probably a toss-up, especially with all of the Donaghy talk this week. But just remember if there's a call late in the game that goes horribly wrong for the home team, and Javie's the one who blew the whistle, don't say I didn't warn you.