Spurs trying to track down the 2/3/4 seed

[FromWayDowntown]

They do let him chirp about every single call, tbh. Dude never shuts up out there.

The fact that he only has "15" technicals throughout 82 games is the real mind-boggling part.

No doubt. With all of the defense of Westbrook and his being unfairly impugned by Ed Malloy's technical on Sunday night, one wonders how many times he was told by the officiating crew to cool it. I'd agree generally that there wasn't anything obvious in that particular moment that appeared to justify a technical foul, but assuming that's true, there was almost certainly some sort of warning to Westbrook earlier in the game and the T was just the culmination of an evening's worth of pointed chatter.

I also wonder, if the league is rescinding technical fouls at such a high rate, what consequence is being imposed upon the officials who give out these erroneous Ts. Surely, if the league is having to act that frequently to correct those sorts of mistakes, its officials aren't doing a very good job in assessing whether conduct that is worthy of a technical foul.

[hater]

Unless the Clippers finish with a better record than everyone, the West's No. 2 seed will be the winner of the Southwest Division, currently led by the Spurs because of that extra game. If all three division contenders tie each other, then the Spurs take the le because they split four games with the Grizzlies and won three of four vs. the Rockets. The Grizzlies take any tiebreaker over the in that same scenario because of their better in-division record.

If the Spurs tie just the Grizzlies, though, then they lose the tiebreaker because Memphis cannot lose the next tiebreaker (in-division record, where their 9-7 beats San Antonio's not-yet-finished 8-7) and have clinched the one after that (in-conference record). Houston can only take the No. 2 seed if they finish with a better record than Memphis and San Antonio and at least tie the Clippers.

Things get really complicated if all four teams finish with the same record. The Southwest Division still takes the No. 2 seed, but the Clippers would have an opportunity to finish third ahead of both runners-up if they maintain their half-game lead over the Grizzlies for the best in-conference record.

The important thing to remember here is that some tiebreaker is going to be invoked to decide seeds Nos. 2 and 3 or Nos. 5 and 6. The latter battle is especially notable, because whoever wins that is going to hold homecourt advantage in the first round over the No. 4 Blazers.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ba...081530288.html

[SASdynasty!]

Unless the Clippers finish with a better record than everyone, the West's No. 2 seed will be the winner of the Southwest Division, currently led by the Spurs because of that extra game. If all three division contenders tie each other, then the Spurs take the le because they split four games with the Grizzlies and won three of four vs. the Rockets. The Grizzlies take any tiebreaker over the in that same scenario because of their better in-division record.

If the Spurs tie just the Grizzlies, though, then they lose the tiebreaker because Memphis cannot lose the next tiebreaker (in-division record, where their 9-7 beats San Antonio's not-yet-finished 8-7) and have clinched the one after that (in-conference record). Houston can only take the No. 2 seed if they finish with a better record than Memphis and San Antonio and at least tie the Clippers.

Things get really complicated if all four teams finish with the same record. The Southwest Division still takes the No. 2 seed, but the Clippers would have an opportunity to finish third ahead of both runners-up if they maintain their half-game lead over the Grizzlies for the best in-conference record.

The important thing to remember here is that some tiebreaker is going to be invoked to decide seeds Nos. 2 and 3 or Nos. 5 and 6. The latter battle is especially notable, because whoever wins that is going to hold homecourt advantage in the first round over the No. 4 Blazers.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ba...081530288.html

These are the scenarios for the last game of the season for each team after last night's games.

• We get the 2 seed with either a win OR a Clippers AND Rockets loss.
• We can still get the 3 seed with a Clippers win AND Rockets loss (if we lose).
• We get the homecourt 5 seed with a Rockets win AND Grizzlies loss (if we lose).
• The only way we don't get homecourt is with a Rockets AND Grizzlies win (if we lose).

[cjw]

I also wonder, if the league is rescinding technical fouls at such a high rate, what consequence is being imposed upon the officials who give out these erroneous Ts. Surely, if the league is having to act that frequently to correct those sorts of mistakes, its officials aren't doing a very good job in assessing whether conduct that is worthy of a technical foul.

Surprising that the league didn't send out an edict to those officiating that game not to T up Russ unless absolutely deserved. Better to not have the T from a PR perspective than have to go rescind it.

[spurs10]

These are the scenarios for the last game of the season for each team after last night's games.

• We get the 2 seed with either a win OR a Clippers AND Rockets loss.
• We can still get the 3 seed with a Clippers win AND Rockets loss (if we lose).
• We get the homecourt 5 seed with a Rockets win AND Grizzlies loss (if we lose).
• The only way we don't get homecourt is with a Rockets AND Grizzlies win (if we lose).

Thanks SASdynasty! this is very clear cut. Wednesday night is going to be a big one!

[Ditty]

Just a small thought, maybe the Clippers lose on purpose tonight to have an easier match up in Portland and have a chance to knock off GSW is the second round again plus less travel. Clips match up pretty well with GSW imo.

[hater]

well we gonna have to go out and win our game cause no way Houston or Clippers lose. they have home games vs. lottery teams.

Spurs will have to go and try to win unfortunately.

[ElNono]

36th technical the league has rescinded this year. It happens quite a bit.

How many of those were the 16th T for the same player in a season? It's ridiculous. This guy basically had a T every 5 games.

EDIT: thanks for the info FWD!

[BillMc]

These are the scenarios for the last game of the season for each team after last night's games.

• We get the 2 seed with either a win OR a Clippers AND Rockets loss.
• We can still get the 3 seed with a Clippers win AND Rockets loss (if we lose).
• We get the homecourt 5 seed with a Rockets win AND Grizzlies loss (if we lose).
• The only way we don't get homecourt is with a Rockets AND Grizzlies win (if we lose).

Cheers! Many thanks! (And I like the le "Bloodbath of Death!" How true!)

[FromWayDowntown]

Surprising that the league didn't send out an edict to those officiating that game not to T up Russ unless absolutely deserved. Better to not have the T from a PR perspective than have to go rescind it.

I'm all for anything that makes Ed Malloy look like a bad official because, frankly, I think he's a bad official. If the league's decision on Westbrook is the recognition that Malloy made a significant mistake, I'm all for that -- his continued inclusion among the elite officials in the game is bad for the league and bad for the teams who must play high stakes games in which he is involved, and if enough mistakes will cause him to get fewer of those high stakes games, the better. Still, I'd feel better about the T being rescinded if we knew more about why it was rescinded; beyond simply "the cir stance didn't warrant a technical."

But I agree with this point: if you're going to take a lax view to technicals once a player gets close to the suspension, then either tell officials not to hand out T's to those guys unless the situation is outrageously bad or stand by the T's your referees hand out and let the rule serve it's purpose. As it is, the league has now developed a lot of precedent to suggest that once a player starts getting close to a suspension for aggregated Technicals, it will frequently step in to rescind where the player might face suspension:

1. Rasheed Wallace in 2009:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3936906

2. Dwight Howard in 2009 Playoffs:

http://niketalk.com/t/179775/nba-res...ul-of-playoffs

3. Amare Stoudemire in 2011:

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/kni...ntry-1.1641640

4. DeMarcus Cousins in 2012:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/n...#__federated=1

5. DeMarcus Cousins in 2013:

http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/...eason-1.111313

6. Kobe Bryant in 2013:

http://www.lakersnation.com/lakers-n...ed/2013/02/26/

7. Kevin Durant in 2014:

https://twitter.com/darnellmayberry/...90874760454144

8. Russell Westbrook in 2015

[FromWayDowntown]

By the way, here's a complete list of ac ulated technicals for the 2014-15 season and all of the rescinds:

http://mediacentral.nba.com/media/me...TechStatus.pdf

[cjw]

7. Kevin Durant in 2014:
8. Russell Westbrook in 2015

But not Z-Bo last year... Thunder always league office favorites.

[beirmeistr]

too dumb to understand the meaning of the question

[hater]

too dumb to understand the meaning of the question

pretty much

one or 2 variable questions, he can answer.

add 3 variables and he will pound his chest and show his teeth

add 4+ variables and the poop will start to fly

[Aztecfan03]

By the way, here's a complete list of ac ulated technicals for the 2014-15 season and all of the rescinds:

http://mediacentral.nba.com/media/me...TechStatus.pdf

SO spurs players had 8 total and no rescinds . Baynes-2, parker-2, joseph,diaw,duncan,ayres all had 1. Popovich also had 8 and no rescinds.

[will_spurs]

How many of those were the 16th T for the same player in a season? It's ridiculous. This guy basically had a T every 5 games.

Don't forget this 16th T has been rescinded twice in the last seven games.

Obviously the league prefers the "Westbrook as the ultimate hero-mode chucker" narrative to allowing us to watch AD grow...

[SASdynasty!]

Cheers! Many thanks! (And I like the le "Bloodbath of Death!" How true!)

Grabbed this from the internets...CBS Sports I believe.

[daslicer]

Don't forget this 16th T has been rescinded twice in the last seven games.

Obviously the league prefers the "Westbrook as the ultimate hero-mode chucker" narrative to allowing us to watch AD grow...

It seems like the league in general tends to favor marketing perimeter players over bigmen all the time.

[Malik Hairston]

The NBA has rescinded like 40 technical fouls, this year..

The refs are a bigger problem than any alleged marketing bias IMO..I also find it kind of stupid that the league even considers suspending players for accrued technical fouls, considering the officials play a substantial part in issuing them..they could increase fines after the player reaches the 16th T, but I don't agree with suspending them..

[Malik Hairston]

For example, look at the Technical foul that was issued to Aron Baynes vs. Dwight Howard the other night..immediately following that play, Jason Terry did the same thing to Marco Belinelli, yet he wasn't given a T..

I don't think you should suspend players for something that is controlled by incompetent NBA officials..

[apalisoc_9]

For example, look at the Technical foul that was issued to Aron Baynes vs. Dwight Howard the other night..immediately following that play, Jason Terry did the same thing to Marco Belinelli, yet he wasn't given a T..

I don't think you should suspend players for something that is controlled by incompetent NBA officials..

I agree.

Does anyone know What's the ruling on flagrant fouls ?

IMO, three flagrant fouls = one game suspension...

At least flagrant fouls can be reviewed in game.

[Cloud786]

Was Baynes' tech rescinded?

[MultiTroll]

Does Phoenix have any incentive lotto pick wise to try to win vs the Clippers?

[apalisoc_9]

Suns have a bunch of weird players..They have two/three players that can get hot and really compete.

At home, after a spurs loss...

Imo, there's a chance they lose. Would have been nice if Houston plays their last game today..

[SpursFan86]

Suns have a bunch of weird players..They have two/three players that can get hot and really compete.

At home, after a spurs loss...

Imo, there's a chance they lose. Would have been nice if Houston plays their last game today..

Are they still as injured as they were against us? I'd like their chances more if they had more than 7 or 8 active players on the roster

But yeah, here's to hoping Markieff and Bledsoe go off and manage to steal a win...LAC played a tough game last night, so who knows.