duncan228
06-01-2008, 11:45 AM
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/game-barry-lakers-2056878-officials-nba
NBA hangs refs out to dry
NBA might have set dangerous precedent by speaking out against referees.
MARK WHICKER
Sensing nothing but a hot-air blast from San Antonio and a blathering wind from those who talk on TV, the NBA could have bent over backward to support, or at least tacitly defend, Joey Crawford, Mark Wunderlich and Joe Forte.
Instead the league sprawled on its back.
It agreed with the armchair refs who thought someone should have called a foul on Derek Fisher when the Lakers guard bumped into San Antonio's Brent Barry at the end of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
A whistle would have sent Barry, one of the league's best all-time free throwers, to the line for two shots at the very least. The Spurs almost certainly would have forced overtime.
Instead the Lakers won, 93-91, then won the West championship Thursday night at home.
Somehow Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol managed to get up and down the court without stomping on any of the worms that escaped the can after the league tore the lid off it.
The NBA did not announce that it was contradicting the three little sacrificial lambs. Officials merely responded to questions. The league was promoting "transparency" when it hung its refs out to dry, because it wanted to make sure everyone knows the NBA does not arrange its playoffs to satisfy the popular plotline — i.e., Lakers vs. Boston. The antics of Tim Donaghy have something to do with that decision.
But when the league second-guessed Crawford, Wunderlich and Forte, it invited the world to trash its officials indiscriminately.
How retroactive are these apologies? Phil Jackson indicated he still had not received a Whitman's sampler as compensation for the 1993 second round, when Hue Hollins made a notable blunder that helped the Knicks beat Jackson's Bulls.
Utah's Jerry Sloan knows better to wait for the compensatory tie clasp that will show forgiveness for letting Michael Jordan push off Bryon Russell before The Shot in Game 6 of the '98 Finals.
Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich might petition for a dramatic re-creation of the final play of Game 6 of the West Finals in '97, when Karl Malone put up a screen so illegal that it cleared out four Rockets and Gilley's mechanical bull.
And Whitey Herzog is answering no phones, even if Don Denkinger's name shows up on caller-ID, from the '85 World Series.
What happens now? Do the Olympic Tower offices weigh in on every last-second controversy? And how about all the other seconds? Every call or non-call counts. If the Spurs had won Game 4 by two, someone might have reviewed Tim Duncan's first-half drive, in which he roamed from Waxahachie to San Antonio without bothering to dribble.
Without some loyalty from above, the officials might as well apply for real estate licenses. The game is ruled by their judgment. That is the higher power. When that judgment is undermined, so are they.
Fisher did run into Barry, and Barry initially pleaded for a whistle, until he took the high road afterward. But it's not the worst non-call ever made, not even this year. Ask Texas A&M about the NCAA second-round game with UCLA in Anaheim, and the picture that ran in most papers afterward, with a Bruin hand encircling the wrist of would-be shooter Donald Sloan.
Had Barry shot the free throws and had San Antonio won in overtime, the screaming would been redirected to the previous Lakers possession. Fisher's shot touched the rim, which meant the shot clock should have reset. The Lakers would have in-bounded the ball with about five seconds to go and the lead.
Instead the Lakers threw up something wishful, with the shot clock at :02, and risked a crucial loss. It's the very situation that cries out for replay.
Texans were outraged because Crawford was even there in the first place. He had ejected Duncan in Dallas last year, basically for laughing on the bench. Then he challenged Duncan to fight. Crawford was banned from last year's playoffs but is back this year, primarily because he remains one of the best refs.
The NBA's assessment of the Barry/Fisher encounter devalues Crawford the next time he works anywhere. The only comment should have been no comment.
Jackson never lets the officials slide. After Game 4 he called it "impossible" for Bryant to hoist 29 shots without ever visiting the free-throw line, and he also jabbed the officials in an in-game TNT interview.
But on Thursday he noted how tricky and demanding their job is. "I wouldn't want to do it," he said.
If the current zebras can't escape their rogue colleagues and their pass-the-buck bosses, Jackson might have to.
Meanwhile, the NBA indicated it would try to find ways to ban flopping, the practice of collapsing onto the floor to trick the refs into calling charging fouls. The NHL has a similar rule, against diving. The penalty is two minutes. One wonders what the penalty should be for diving underneath a desk.
NBA hangs refs out to dry
NBA might have set dangerous precedent by speaking out against referees.
MARK WHICKER
Sensing nothing but a hot-air blast from San Antonio and a blathering wind from those who talk on TV, the NBA could have bent over backward to support, or at least tacitly defend, Joey Crawford, Mark Wunderlich and Joe Forte.
Instead the league sprawled on its back.
It agreed with the armchair refs who thought someone should have called a foul on Derek Fisher when the Lakers guard bumped into San Antonio's Brent Barry at the end of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
A whistle would have sent Barry, one of the league's best all-time free throwers, to the line for two shots at the very least. The Spurs almost certainly would have forced overtime.
Instead the Lakers won, 93-91, then won the West championship Thursday night at home.
Somehow Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol managed to get up and down the court without stomping on any of the worms that escaped the can after the league tore the lid off it.
The NBA did not announce that it was contradicting the three little sacrificial lambs. Officials merely responded to questions. The league was promoting "transparency" when it hung its refs out to dry, because it wanted to make sure everyone knows the NBA does not arrange its playoffs to satisfy the popular plotline — i.e., Lakers vs. Boston. The antics of Tim Donaghy have something to do with that decision.
But when the league second-guessed Crawford, Wunderlich and Forte, it invited the world to trash its officials indiscriminately.
How retroactive are these apologies? Phil Jackson indicated he still had not received a Whitman's sampler as compensation for the 1993 second round, when Hue Hollins made a notable blunder that helped the Knicks beat Jackson's Bulls.
Utah's Jerry Sloan knows better to wait for the compensatory tie clasp that will show forgiveness for letting Michael Jordan push off Bryon Russell before The Shot in Game 6 of the '98 Finals.
Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich might petition for a dramatic re-creation of the final play of Game 6 of the West Finals in '97, when Karl Malone put up a screen so illegal that it cleared out four Rockets and Gilley's mechanical bull.
And Whitey Herzog is answering no phones, even if Don Denkinger's name shows up on caller-ID, from the '85 World Series.
What happens now? Do the Olympic Tower offices weigh in on every last-second controversy? And how about all the other seconds? Every call or non-call counts. If the Spurs had won Game 4 by two, someone might have reviewed Tim Duncan's first-half drive, in which he roamed from Waxahachie to San Antonio without bothering to dribble.
Without some loyalty from above, the officials might as well apply for real estate licenses. The game is ruled by their judgment. That is the higher power. When that judgment is undermined, so are they.
Fisher did run into Barry, and Barry initially pleaded for a whistle, until he took the high road afterward. But it's not the worst non-call ever made, not even this year. Ask Texas A&M about the NCAA second-round game with UCLA in Anaheim, and the picture that ran in most papers afterward, with a Bruin hand encircling the wrist of would-be shooter Donald Sloan.
Had Barry shot the free throws and had San Antonio won in overtime, the screaming would been redirected to the previous Lakers possession. Fisher's shot touched the rim, which meant the shot clock should have reset. The Lakers would have in-bounded the ball with about five seconds to go and the lead.
Instead the Lakers threw up something wishful, with the shot clock at :02, and risked a crucial loss. It's the very situation that cries out for replay.
Texans were outraged because Crawford was even there in the first place. He had ejected Duncan in Dallas last year, basically for laughing on the bench. Then he challenged Duncan to fight. Crawford was banned from last year's playoffs but is back this year, primarily because he remains one of the best refs.
The NBA's assessment of the Barry/Fisher encounter devalues Crawford the next time he works anywhere. The only comment should have been no comment.
Jackson never lets the officials slide. After Game 4 he called it "impossible" for Bryant to hoist 29 shots without ever visiting the free-throw line, and he also jabbed the officials in an in-game TNT interview.
But on Thursday he noted how tricky and demanding their job is. "I wouldn't want to do it," he said.
If the current zebras can't escape their rogue colleagues and their pass-the-buck bosses, Jackson might have to.
Meanwhile, the NBA indicated it would try to find ways to ban flopping, the practice of collapsing onto the floor to trick the refs into calling charging fouls. The NHL has a similar rule, against diving. The penalty is two minutes. One wonders what the penalty should be for diving underneath a desk.