Goaltending. :lol
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Goaltending. :lol
Didn't The game end with it being 19 Spurs 24 Miami?
No offense, but that may be the most abused myth in all of basketball. The officials reward the aggressors... except when they don't. When you're taking it to the paint, and getting the shit hacked out of you, you have two choices: either keep driving, and try to force the refs to blow a whistle, or take some outside shots and try to spread the defense. If you're not hitting the outside shot, you're sorta fucked.
It's no different than football. If the defense keeps stuffing the run, you have to prove you can complete a few passes before they back off. If you can't complete those passes, it's going to be a long day.
I've seen nights when Manu was relentlessly driving to the rim, and just getting mugged, and the refs wouldn't give him a call. And instead of kicking it out, he just kept taking it to the paint, trying to force a whistle. And they just kept proving that they weren't going to blow any whistles. Now... was Manu not being aggressive? Of course he was. So why didn't the officials reward his aggression?
Here's a twist on that old saying that I think can be just as appropriate:
Sometimes a team can afford to be more aggressive, because the refs are rewarding them.
Nice post, GSH. I agree completely. Implicitly what some people try to argue is that a team can drive to the basket all day without shooting a single jumpshot (="aggressiveness") and get free throws out of it and/or easy buckets.
There's a reason Sean Elliott was bitching for most of the game: no consistency. The info graphic at the bottom pointed out the FT disparity a couple of times before the half, and it was atrocious. I wonder if Stern will bitch at the FSN crew for daring to question the officiating.
Sean is a homer, granted, but he doesn't fail to point out questionable calls that go the Spurs way. The only instance I remember during this particular game was a very close goaltending call that favored the Spurs; Sean, after mentioning it was questionable, then said "he liked it". He refers to this as "Spurs goggles", but he's pretty much always on-point as far as foul calls, ESPECIALLY with replays.
That's why Mr. Elliott is a commentator for Spurs games; likewise for Mr. Tommy-Point for the Celtics and so on.
Well he doesn't bitch about calls when the Spurs just straight up get their ass kicked. That's the point of my whole spiel there.
The number got closer in garbage time but after the first half the damage was done. Not only did miami have the lead but the Spurs knew they would not get calls and had to resort to jumpshots, that were not falling. So in that circumstance I almost can't blame them if they gave up.
Some posters here think success in games falls on the shoulders of the players. But considering how the game was being played, the Spurs were just as aggressive going to the rim in the first half, they just weren't getting calls. On the other hand you had Miami getting the calls which was okay, because they were fouls on the Spurs, but the same wasn't being done on the other side.
It was evident.
Sure the Spurs played like Dog Shit, but a lot of it had to do with the officiating.