duncan228
05-12-2009, 12:12 AM
NBA fouls itself, and for no reason (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/NBA_fouls_itself_and_for_no_reason.html)
Buck Harvey
If Doc Brown is still waiting for Brent Barry, and if they get into the DeLorean and fire up the flux capacitor, then the Spurs could still return to Los Angeles as the Rockets are.
Tied 2-2 in the series.
It might violate a few league rules for Barry to go back in time now. For one, he's with the Rockets.
But his humor of a year ago still applies. It shows how the Spurs handle disappointment differently than the mom-baiting Mavericks, and it shows, again, how futile this new age of NBA transparency is.
A year ago, league execs admitted the refs had made a mistake, just as they did Saturday, and no one feels better about any of it.
So why does the NBA continue to do this to itself?
For the Spurs, nearly everything they see now is a bad memory. The Rockets, for example, just lost their own star to a foot injury; Yao Ming was as determined as Manu Ginobili to play in Beijing last summer while recovering from injury.
Even without Yao, the Rockets overwhelmed the Lakers on Sunday, evening a series that most thought was over. But Kobe Bryant, ever confident, said last week he welcomes such a challenge. He said the Lakers struggled against the Celtics a year ago, in part, because their path to the Finals had been “a cakewalk.”
The series against the Spurs sure seemed like one, since the Lakers only lost one game. With Ginobili limping, the Lakers would have likely prevailed no matter how long the series went.
Still, the Spurs led by 20 points in the opener and lost, and led by 17 in the final game and lost. Then there was Game 4.
Derek Fisher jumped on top of Barry in the final seconds, with the Spurs behind by two, and no call was made. Barry finished with 23 points that day, one of his best games as a Spur saved for one of his last, and he likely would have made the free throws to tie the game.
A referee working then, Mark Wunderlich, was the same one who didn't call a foul on Antoine Wright on Saturday when Wright tried to foul Carmelo Anthony. But the more notable official a year ago was Joey Crawford.
Still, even with Crawford hovering, even with the defending champs losing a vital conference finals game, Peter Holt didn't push a cameraman and confront anyone's mother. No Spur had to be pulled off the floor, and afterward, Gregg Popovich surprised everyone.
“If I was the official,” Popovich said that night, “I wouldn't have called that a foul.”
By doing this, Popovich took the steam out of those ready to rage. Later, when the league admitted the no-call was a mistake, Barry expressed sarcastic joy and shared his “Back to the Future” plan.
Rick Carlisle had the same kind of perspective in Dallas, and here's another similarity. Whereas Barry could have sold the foul and didn't, Wright could have hung on to Anthony and made sure the foul was called.
Either way, it was a judgment call. These happen a hundred times a game, and sometimes the refs are right, and sometimes they are wrong.
Only now does the league feel the need to correct itself, and a year ago, there was some motivation. In the aftermath of Tim Donaghy — with everyone knowing the NBA wanted the Lakers to play the Celtics — maybe such transparency made sense.
But Saturday? Did it help anything?
“If I was the league, I wouldn't say that,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “I don't think it makes anybody feel better. We don't get the last seven seconds back.”
No one does. Unless Doc Brown and the DeLorean pull up.
Buck Harvey
If Doc Brown is still waiting for Brent Barry, and if they get into the DeLorean and fire up the flux capacitor, then the Spurs could still return to Los Angeles as the Rockets are.
Tied 2-2 in the series.
It might violate a few league rules for Barry to go back in time now. For one, he's with the Rockets.
But his humor of a year ago still applies. It shows how the Spurs handle disappointment differently than the mom-baiting Mavericks, and it shows, again, how futile this new age of NBA transparency is.
A year ago, league execs admitted the refs had made a mistake, just as they did Saturday, and no one feels better about any of it.
So why does the NBA continue to do this to itself?
For the Spurs, nearly everything they see now is a bad memory. The Rockets, for example, just lost their own star to a foot injury; Yao Ming was as determined as Manu Ginobili to play in Beijing last summer while recovering from injury.
Even without Yao, the Rockets overwhelmed the Lakers on Sunday, evening a series that most thought was over. But Kobe Bryant, ever confident, said last week he welcomes such a challenge. He said the Lakers struggled against the Celtics a year ago, in part, because their path to the Finals had been “a cakewalk.”
The series against the Spurs sure seemed like one, since the Lakers only lost one game. With Ginobili limping, the Lakers would have likely prevailed no matter how long the series went.
Still, the Spurs led by 20 points in the opener and lost, and led by 17 in the final game and lost. Then there was Game 4.
Derek Fisher jumped on top of Barry in the final seconds, with the Spurs behind by two, and no call was made. Barry finished with 23 points that day, one of his best games as a Spur saved for one of his last, and he likely would have made the free throws to tie the game.
A referee working then, Mark Wunderlich, was the same one who didn't call a foul on Antoine Wright on Saturday when Wright tried to foul Carmelo Anthony. But the more notable official a year ago was Joey Crawford.
Still, even with Crawford hovering, even with the defending champs losing a vital conference finals game, Peter Holt didn't push a cameraman and confront anyone's mother. No Spur had to be pulled off the floor, and afterward, Gregg Popovich surprised everyone.
“If I was the official,” Popovich said that night, “I wouldn't have called that a foul.”
By doing this, Popovich took the steam out of those ready to rage. Later, when the league admitted the no-call was a mistake, Barry expressed sarcastic joy and shared his “Back to the Future” plan.
Rick Carlisle had the same kind of perspective in Dallas, and here's another similarity. Whereas Barry could have sold the foul and didn't, Wright could have hung on to Anthony and made sure the foul was called.
Either way, it was a judgment call. These happen a hundred times a game, and sometimes the refs are right, and sometimes they are wrong.
Only now does the league feel the need to correct itself, and a year ago, there was some motivation. In the aftermath of Tim Donaghy — with everyone knowing the NBA wanted the Lakers to play the Celtics — maybe such transparency made sense.
But Saturday? Did it help anything?
“If I was the league, I wouldn't say that,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “I don't think it makes anybody feel better. We don't get the last seven seconds back.”
No one does. Unless Doc Brown and the DeLorean pull up.