Henry Abbott agrees...

[Supergirl]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-24-65/Phoenix-Got-the-Calls.html

Abbott agrees the Suns got the benefit of all the questionable calls in the 4th quarter.

I would go one step further and say the refs were calling the game in the Suns favor all game.

But the point is, even with that being the case, the Spurs were still up by 11 well into the 4th quarter. They let the refs give this one away. They could have stopped that. Manu missed key shots, Duncan let his aggressiveness slip and made key mistakes.

[Sweetey]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-24-65/Phoenix-Got-the-Calls.html

Abbott agrees the Suns got the benefit of all the questionable calls in the 4th quarter.

I would go one step further and say the refs were calling the game in the Suns favor all game.

But the point is, even with that being the case, the Spurs were still up by 11 well into the 4th quarter. They let the refs give this one away. They could have stopped that. Manu missed key shots, Duncan let his aggressiveness slip and made key mistakes.
There were at least three bullcrap calls on Duncan last night. And Thug RajaBell got away with everything. I HATE that guy. I just wish Horry would've whacked him (Bell) good and made his suspension worthwhile. I like Nash OK but he is a SERIOUS FLOPPER !!!!

[DDS4]

I really believe the refs squashed the momentum the Spurs had in the 4th quarter. That doesn't excuse the Spurs from not executing down the stretch, but it did affect them to some degree.

I think it also culminated in Horry's check of Nash. It was a frustration foul.

I give the Suns credit for fighting through and taking advantage of what they were given.

[Gros Membres!]

I really believe the refs squashed the momentum the Spurs had in the 4th quarter. That doesn't excuse the Spurs from not executing down the stretch, but it did affect them to some degree.

I think it also culminated in Horry's check of Nash. It was a frustration foul.

I give the Suns credit for fighting through and taking advantage of what they were given.
+1 :bang

[judaspriestess]

how does that saying go?

The squeaky wheel gets the oil. the suns might just be a tad worse than dallas. they are pathetic, its quite possible they can't win on their own merit.

[GrandeDavid]

The refs absolutely sucked often last night, but the Spurs still should have overcome that. I have flashbacks of Tim's dumb ass f-ing feet shuffling travels. Dumb scheisse.

[maddnezz]

You Shuffle Your Feet When You Get Pushed. Simple. You Give A Forearm Shiver When You Go Up For A Rebound And Raja Pushes You Out Of The Play.
Simple. You Lose The Game When Tony Tries To Be The Hero Again. Simple. You Have The Caps Locked On When Your Wife Uses Your Computer. Simple.

[Pistons < Spurs]

The refs absolutely sucked often last night, but the Spurs still should have overcome that. I have flashbacks of Tim's dumb ass f-ing feet shuffling travels. Dumb scheisse.
:clap :clap :clap

There's always going to be calls that go against you. But a Championship team is one that is able to play through that by playing smart clutch basketball.

Which is exactly what the Spurs DIDN'T do last night.

The players and coaching staff have a far greater accountability to this loss than any calls made or not made by the officials.

People bitch about the officials last night .... but yet the Spurs owned that game. It was all but put away till the last 5 or 6 minutes. The Spurs choked up and gave it away...not the refs.

[SAGambler]

Did anyone else notice D'antoni's demeanor last night. No grimacing, no arm flailing, no yelling at the refs all night long......

Almost like he had already been told. Keep your mouth shut. You are going to get all the help you need to win this one tonight.

Does anyone really think the highest rated of any of the series on T.V. is going to be allowed to be over with in 5 games?

When there is no other explaination for the one sided way that game was called, just follow the money.

Now that they are assured of at least 6 games, maybe the refs can quit showing bias.

[steppy]

When I saw Javie and Nies out there, I figured the Spurs would have to fight through it. The Spurs were winning despite the refs. Unfortunately, they just couldn't close the deal.

[T Park]

D'Antoni shure made alot of calls on the sideline.

There were things that would happen, the refs wouldn't do anything, hed whine his sstupid ass head off, then BAM, call made.


Last night's game ranks up there with games 3 and 4 last year.

[Strike]

I do feel that Phoenix got the benefit of the refs last night. But San Antonio didn't help themselves by missing shots and turning the ball over down the stretch.

I hope that with the series now being even, games will be called down the middle.

[Kori Ellis]

It's embarrassing how many threads get started here blaming the refs.

The Spurs frickin choked last night. They couldn't execute down the stretch. The Suns sacked up and the Spurs didn't.

Duncan choked, Manu choked, Tony choked, Pop choked ... team loss and it had nothing to do with the refs.

[Quiet Strength]

It's embarrassing how many threads get started here blaming the refs.

The Spurs frickin choked last night. They couldn't execute down the stretch. The Suns sacked up and the Spurs didn't.

Duncan choked, Manu choked, Tony choked, Pop choked ... team loss and it had nothing to do with the refs.

Totally agree.. spurs choked.

[Jimcs50]

It's embarrassing how many threads get started here blaming the refs.

The Spurs frickin choked last night. They couldn't execute down the stretch. The Suns sacked up and the Spurs didn't.

Duncan choked, Manu choked, Tony choked, Pop choked ... team loss and it had nothing to do with the refs.

:clap

[cheguevara]

Chokers!

[FromWayDowntown]

There are two different arguments here, I think.

The first is "Did the officials miss/blow calls?" I think the answer to that is probably yes. I thought there were some inconsistencies in the way certain issues were handled -- some plays that were fairly similar to each other that were called differently for no immediately apparent reason. I think it's fair to criticize officials who make bad calls or blow obvious calls or who are inconsistent in the way that they call a game.

BUT

I don't think that answers the second question, which is "Did the officiating affect the outcome of the game?" My answer to that is always No. Teams don't lose games because of bad officiating. Teams lose games because they fail to do the things that must be done to win, regardless of the officiating. In some circumstances, it might be more difficult to accomplish those things, but the opportunity to win the game always lies with the players. It's a pansy way out to bitch and moan about officiating or about getting "bad breaks," as D'Antoni euphamistically puts it. Teams win an lose basketball games -- and particularly, playoff basketball games -- based on their ability to overcome adversity and continue doing the fundamental things that are required to win. The Spurs didn't do those things in the 4th quarter of Game 4. The officials didn't stop the Spurs from rebounding the ball better. The officials didn't force the Spurs to travel, or to throw bad passes. The officials didn't cause the Spurs' offense to go stagnant and the Spurs' defense to go soft. The Spurs had control of all of those things -- and the Spurs themselves failed to do what was necessary to win the game. That's the bottom line and the only relevant question, as far as I'm concerned. Officials will always miss calls -- they do it in every single game. Players must ignore the officiating and just play the damned game.

If you want to win, play better.

[Supergirl]

It's embarrassing how many threads get started here blaming the refs.

Kori, that's not really fair. I started this thread, and in my initial post, I make it clear that I don't think the Spurs lost because of the refs - the calls were bad all game, and the Spurs were able to play through it for 3 and a half quarters.

We should do another podcast again sometime, so we can talk about this live.

[TDMVPDPOY]

that was some serious acting when nash fell down, seems like some BS he pulled out of tactics of the italian soccer team during the wc.

[ManuMagic]

There are two different arguments here, I think.

The first is "Did the officials miss/blow calls?" I think the answer to that is probably yes. I thought there were some inconsistencies in the way certain issues were handled -- some plays that were fairly similar to each other that were called differently for no immediately apparent reason. I think it's fair to criticize officials who make bad calls or blow obvious calls or who are inconsistent in the way that they call a game.

BUT

I don't think that answers the second question, which is "Did the officiating affect the outcome of the game?" My answer to that is always No. Teams don't lose games because of bad officiating. Teams lose games because they fail to do the things that must be done to win, regardless of the officiating. In some circumstances, it might be more difficult to accomplish those things, but the opportunity to win the game always lies with the players. It's a pansy way out to bitch and moan about officiating or about getting "bad breaks," as D'Antoni euphamistically puts it. Teams win an lose basketball games -- and particularly, playoff basketball games -- based on their ability to overcome adversity and continue doing the fundamental things that are required to win. The Spurs didn't do those things in the 4th quarter of Game 4. The officials didn't stop the Spurs from rebounding the ball better. The officials didn't force the Spurs to travel, or to throw bad passes. The officials didn't cause the Spurs' offense to go stagnant and the Spurs' defense to go soft. The Spurs had control of all of those things -- and the Spurs themselves failed to do what was necessary to win the game. That's the bottom line and the only relevant question, as far as I'm concerned. Officials will always miss calls -- they do it in every single game. Players must ignore the officiating and just play the damned game.

If you want to win, play better.

I agree except for one point. I think if you acknowledge that the officials did blow calls or miss calls that benefitted one team for no apparent reason then you have to say that it did affect the outcome of the game. It wasn't the sole reason the Spurs lost by any means, but it was a contributing factor. The NBA officials have been horrible for years and are only getting worse. I am seriously doubting the NBA's ability to get it straight and am worried that these last two years of extremely biased playoff officiating are beginning to render the game practically unwatchable.

[degenerate_gambler]

Did anyone else notice D'antoni's demeanor last night. No grimacing, no arm flailing, no yelling at the refs all night long......

Almost like he had already been told. Keep your mouth shut. You are going to get all the help you need to win this one tonight.


what a weak ass take...


you really believe your own bullshit?

The Spurs lost because:

a) duncan acted like the ball was a live grenade in the 4th qtr
b) ginobili acted like....a corpse
c) parker did his curly neal dribbling exhibition
d) SA's defense decided to dial it down a notch or 6.

[mabber]

It's embarrassing how many threads get started here blaming the refs.

The Spurs frickin choked last night. They couldn't execute down the stretch. The Suns sacked up and the Spurs didn't.

Duncan choked, Manu choked, Tony choked, Pop choked ... team loss and it had nothing to do with the refs.

Amen!!!

[degenerate_gambler]

Duncan choked, Manu choked, Tony choked, Pop choked ...


That would be a great title to your next article..

[FromWayDowntown]

I agree except for one point. I think if you acknowledge that the officials did blow calls or miss calls that benefitted one team for no apparent reason then you have to say that it did affect the outcome of the game. It wasn't the sole reason the Spurs lost by any means, but it was a contributing factor. The NBA officials have been horrible for years and are only getting worse. I am seriously doubting the NBA's ability to get it straight and am worried that these last two years of extremely biased playoff officiating are beginning to render the game practically unwatchable.

I don't think that's true at all. The Spurs still had opportunities to win the game last night, despite the likelihood that the officials may have made some mistakes. Those mistakes didn't affect the outcome, though, because they didn't affect the Spurs' ability to execute on either end of the floor. I don't think you could even argue that it was a contributing factor -- it happened; there were probably missed calls both ways and each team had to deal with that throughout the course of the game. The Suns did a better job of coping with it, while the Spurs folded.

Nothing the officials did forced Michael Finley and Brent Barry to launch fade-away jumpers with plenty of time on the shot clock on two different 4th quarter possessions. Nothing the officials did caused the Spurs to surrender rebound after rebound on both ends of the floor when they needed to crash the glass. Nothing the officials did caused Tim Duncan to travel on the block. All of those things were within the Spurs' control and they did none of them correctly in the 4th quarter of Game 4.

Even if the officiating was more inconsistent than in any other game in the history of mankind, that fact does not, IMO, determine (or even have an effect) on who wins or loses. Play better and you'll win.

[mabber]

Kori, that's not really fair. I started this thread, and in my initial post, I make it clear that I don't think the Spurs lost because of the refs - the calls were bad all game, and the Spurs were able to play through it for 3 and a half quarters.

We should do another podcast again sometime, so we can talk about this live.

If you or the dozens of other posters don't think the Spurs lost because of the refs then what is the point of bringing up the officiating???

This is exactly what many Mav fans did after the finals last year. They tried to qualify their bitching with "the Mavs didn't lose because of the officiating", BUT the refs gave Wade every call, etc.......

[Supergirl]

If you or the dozens of other posters don't think the Spurs lost because of the refs then what is the point of bringing up the officiating???

This is exactly what many Mav fans did after the finals last year. They tried to qualify their bitching with "the Mavs didn't lose because of the officiating", BUT the refs gave Wade every call, etc.......

I started the thread because I found another article online. That's all.