kick-balls

[TE]

Watching the game again, I counted five plays that could've been called a kick-ball...kinda reminds me the OKC series were Ibaka got away with like 8+ goal-tends throughout the series. Going forward now that the games are in San Antone, hopefully the Spurs get that 50-50 call (really a 100-0 call), tbh...if they don't call that the scorekeepers might as well count two points for Miami seeing as that they are damn near unstoppable in the open court.

[ace3g]

Have to agree, seems like there is a grey area for kick ball, and Heat take advantage of it. They always seem to get a loose ball from a pass bouncing off their shin/leg.

[LakerHater]

I was yellin the same thing!

[pikkiwoki]

There was no way the refs were gonna let unimportant things like rules get in the way of some good highlight reel fastbreaks for the Heat.

[NRHector]

Was really anybody expecting that the Spurs were going to get any 50/50 calls?

[TE]

Have to agree, seems like there is a grey area for kick ball, and Heat take advantage of it. They always seem to get a loose ball from a pass bouncing off their shin/leg.
From: http://www.nba.com/.element/mp3/2.0/sect/podcastmp3/NBA/PDF/2012-13_NBA_Rule_Book.pdf

Section IV—Strike the Ball
a. A player shall not kick the ball or strike it with the fist.
b. Kicking the ball or striking it with any part of the leg is a violation when it is an
intentional act. The ball accidentally striking the foot, the leg or fist is not a violation.
c. A player may not use any part of his leg to intentionally move or secure the ball.


Calling a kickball depends on whether it was intentional...It must seem like a grey area at game speed.

[crc21209]

Yup. At least 5-6 of the 17 turnovers in Game 2 were because of no-calls on balls that were kicked by the Heat. Some were pretty damn obvious. There was one that was so obvious that Tony stopped playing because he assumed play would be stopped and instead the refs ignored it..

[ThaBigFundamental21]

Yup. At least 5-6 of the 17 turnovers in Game 2 were because of no-calls on balls that were kicked by the Heat. Some were pretty damn obvious. There was one that was so obvious that Tony stopped playing because he assumed play would be stopped and instead the refs ignored it..

I remember this one.

[TE]

Yup. At least 5-6 of the 17 turnovers in Game 2 were because of no-calls on balls that were kicked by the Heat. Some were pretty damn obvious. There was one that was so obvious that Tony stopped playing because he assumed play would be stopped and instead the refs ignored it..
I think the worst part about repeatedly uncalled kick-balls is that the offensive rhythm is disrupted a bit. Of course, the same can be said for other uncalled violations like goaltends, obvious hacking, etc. But the effects of an uncalled kickball are greater in this case because it ruins a possession for a structured offense that relies heavily on a pick n roll system.

[elmanutres]

this series has been badly officiated but good thing the bad calls have be even for both teams

[chapnis]

Generally, if the offending players leg is on the ground it won't be called, but if their leg is in the air it will.

[sammy]

That was a disgrace! A kick ball automatically stops game & shot clock is reset to 14 seconds if shot clock is less! The travesty of these crooked refs showed how one-sided they were in favor to their darlings Miami! The continued hacking on the wrist and they call that defense, really! That's a foul you dumbass crooked refs! i could officiate that game better than these bought & paid for refs! This why I hate the Miami heat who have a sense of entitlement & have never earned anything on their own because the refs always help them! I will never have any respect for a team that is coddled & protected!

[HI-FI]

glad I'm not the only one who had a problem with this. I understand shit happens, but at some point it becomes intentional and part of a team's strategy. OP brought up a good point about last year with Ibaka, exact same thing. These are literally some of the most basic things to call in basketball.

[siraulo23]

i thought there was 3-5 plays that looked like kick balls, not sure if they were

i know a couple of them could very well be because the spurs stopped playing and EVEN the heat paused for a sec then once they realized the no call, easy layup

[polandprzem]

You could see bit of frustration on the spurs side. I mean really those kick-ball was so obvious. But then again. It's not that much a controversial call so they let it go.
Also a new standart for the fouls. I mean all season long they do whistle things they do not in the Finals now.
Example - James block on TD was with contact.

[heyheymymy]

what really got me was not the 3 kickball TO's the heat turned into fastbreaks, but the ONE time the spurs recovered a kickball off their own player and started to turn down court with it, the refs called it.

oh, now you see a kickball? pretty clear that the non-calls were gonna go down all night.

we were not winning game 2 end of story. just wasnt part of the 'narrative' for the heat to go down 0-2. still pretty impressive that even with the help, the hapless heat looked like shit through 3.5 quarters and spurs stayed competitive despite that.

[therealtruth]

The Spurs have to play through it just like the Ibaka goaltends last year.

[Slomo]

I thought you were proposing a new winning strategy.

[urunobili]

That took Parker's mind away from the game...