...be biased, taking over the game, blowing the whistle so much that they will affect the outcome of the game, picking on a repeat offender too much or singling a team out. If the team (or player in question) doggedly pursues their same course of physical play the refs will get uncomfortable continuing to blow the whistle or throw the flag and they will adjust their calls and let little things go. They won't adjust for something major like a targeting penalty as we saw when Nacua had the bogus targeting call in the Utah game last year.

Duke BBall used this approach with their defensive style in the early 90's with a lot of physical grabbing and holding on defense and using the body to slow a defender instead of moving their feet and beating the ball handler to a spot. Refs will never call 40 fouls on a team and will adjust their calls, maybe call 20 of the fouls committed and Duke gets away with the other 20. It gives the aggressive team a distinct advantage.