Cleveland Cavaliers fans who have been upset with the officiating in the NBA Finals thus far, or any hoops fan looking to voice their displeasure with the officiating, can look forward to chirping at the refs directly during tonight's Game 3.
As part of the #RefWatchParty, a team of NBA referees (via the @OfficialNBARefs account) will take to #NBATwitter throughout tonight's game to engage with fans in real time and explain specific plays and interpret rules. According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, there will be a team of referees answering the questions, but they will not be identified individually. Refs who will be on the court actually calling the action in Game 3 include Marc Davis, John Goble and Zach Zarba.
The referees' union has used the official twitter account to respond to controversial calls and give the officials' point of view and rule interpretations throughout the playoffs in an effort to connect fans more to the referees. For instance, most recently, the @OfficialNBARefs account admitted that officials in Game 2 should have called a foul when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson knocked LeBron James off balance.
Tonight they'll be answering such plays in real-time which should get very interesting, especially given the amount of complaints about the officiating throughout the playoffs.
Tonight's Game 3 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland is scheduled to tipoff at 9:00pm ET, airing on ABC.