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They need to get someone that can guard Baron Davis.
Randy Galloway: Has letter of the law opened door to thugs?
NBA refuses to factor sanity into its rule on leaving bench
By RANDY GALLOWAY
Star-Telegram staff writer
Has letter of the law opened door to thugs?
The cruel reality of a long summer just got easier for Avery, Donnie and anyone else in Mavsville who is part of the reconstruction process for a suddenly broken basketball team.
Take a read off the San Antonio Spurs, forever a "model" NBA franchise, plus an organization the Mavs were already attempting to copycat in all areas, hopefully even the rings at some point.
But Coach Pop and his San Antonio people are now laying out a new blueprint:
Continue the longstanding tradition as the league's biggest whiners, while adding a new twist of thugging it up.
Whatever works, right?
Whine and cheap-shot whacks are the way to go.
The NBA rewards you for that. The Spurs are currently giving us the proof.
(Side note: The whining part only applies to coaches and players. Owners need not apply. Does anyone even know what the Spurs' owner looks like, much less sounds like? The NBA does NOT reward whiny owners.)
I spent Wednesday night watching the playoffs. Actually, I was waiting to see the Game 5 high drama from Arizona, which had the usual late-night start, preventing anyone with a real job from seeing it.
But I also got trapped into viewing the earlier Eastern Conference contest between the Cavs and Nets, which was maybe the worst display of basketball in the history of the NBA playoffs.
The almighty LeBron James? He was LeDirk James in this game, although at least Dirk doesn't fake injuries to take a late fourth-quarter hike.
Anyway, the main event from Phoenix finally tipped off, and the Spurs were so bad in the first half I'm thinking this is a team playing ashamed. (Sir Charles on TNT said the Spurs were on a guilt trip.) But ashamed to have benefited from what some veteran NBA observers are calling the biggest injustice in league history. And if not that, then at least the injustice that has caused the most national heat ever for commissioner David Stern.
Listening to a radio-gold interview of Stern by Dan Patrick on local ESPN that afternoon, it was by far the most defensive I've heard the commissioner. But being nuclear-defensive is what happens when you know your position is wrong.
Stern had to be praying the Suns could defy the odds and win that Wednesday game. Instead, the Spurs rescued a "W" in the final minute, and then Coach Pop reportedly awarded Stern the game ball for his contributions.
Whining and thugging it up paid off big time for the Spurs, now up three games to two in an edgy series, and back home for the possible closeout in Game 6 tonight.
All the details of why the Suns lost Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw to one-game league suspensions have been properly chronicled.
But please spare me the e-mails saying what part of the rule do I not understand.
Leaving the "vicinity of the bench" in a potential altercation situation is an automatic suspension, no matter the cir stances. I know that.
Mark Cuban himself defended that rule and wants it to remain unchanged, or so he wrote in a Wednesday blog.
Yes, the rule should stand, except there should also be a common sense application.
There is not ONE on-the-floor interpretation of NBA rules that is not subjective, except this one. All other rules are based on judgment calls by the refs, or the league office, including flagrant fouls.
Why was Jerry Stackhouse suspended for a Game 4 hit on Shaq last June in The Finals? Because he wasn't going for the ball, and his arm swung in the vicinity of Shaq's head.
Why was Golden State's Jason Richardson not suspended for the exact same hit on a Utah player? Because Stern's high sheriff of discipline, Stu Jackson, was not consistent with his ruling, and probably because Shaq doesn't play for Utah.
For Amare and Boris, the "vicinity of the bench" suspension rule was a letter of the law, no exceptions verdict from Stern and Jackson.
By now, everyone knows the particulars of the scene that caused all this. But why wasn't common sense applied? Look at the film of the incident. It tells you everything.
Where did Amare and Boris go when they left the bench? Did they charge the floor? No, not even close. Once both players were grabbed on the sideline by Suns coaches, did they attempt to break away? No.
Did either cause any kind of disturbance? No.
Look at the film, it tells you what the "intent" was. Like everything else, suspensions for "vicinity of the bench" violations should be judged on a case-by-case basis, and also on the cir stances involved.
Cuban disagreed in his blog, saying the subjective nature of NBA rules is what causes most problems, therefore it is better to keep this one hard core.
No, Mark. Not when the Spurs benefited from thugging it up. Common sense, my man.
But if Cuban is right, then that confirms what the Mavs' basketball people must do as they now pick up the pieces from a shattered season.
Copycat the Spurs. Find a Bruce Bowen. Go dirty, dirty, dirty. And whine like over everything.
And then even Mr. Cuban may suddenly discover he has a friend and ally in David Stern.
Randy Galloway's Galloway & Co. can be heard weekdays 3-6 p.m. on ESPN/103.3 FM.
Finding trouble
Whether through thuggish behavior or questionable judgment, here are the players remaining in the NBA playoffs who could be the center of the next postseason controversy:
Bruce Bowen (Spurs) His physical defense -- and inspired kicking game -- rankles opponents, and he spends a lot of time guarding Steve Nash.
Raja Bell (Suns) Another fearless, physical defender, he's always involved when something happens, just like in Monday's incident.
Rasheed Wallace (Pistons) He's emotional, volatile and racks up technical fouls like they were missed 3-point attempts. He leads all remaining players with three playoff technicals.
Drew Gooden (Cavs) Nothing malicious about this power forward, but it's his lack of focus and judgment that could spark something.
Mikki Moore (Nets) Enforcer picked up a flagrant foul Monday after hammering the Cavs' Aleksandar Pavlovic.
They need to get someone that can guard Baron Davis.
Galloway must just avoid the post-game press stuff. That, or he's got to be the worst sort of myopian to claim that the whining in this series is emanating from the Spurs. Pop works officials, Duncan disagrees with calls too frequently, and Manu has the bug-eyed "who me" look down. But nothing that the Spurs do can even come close to rivaling Mr. D'Antoni's sideline antics. And there's no doubt that D'Antoni has been winning the press conferences from a whining, ing, moaning, and complaning standpoint.
Call the Spurs dirty if you like, Galloway. But you're pointing the finger in the wrong direction on the whining in this series.
No greater whiner than Mark Cuban. Except for this guy.
I love it!
especially this part:
No, No! Owners don't count when it comes to whining.Whine and cheap-shot whacks are the way to go.
The NBA rewards you for that. The Spurs are currently giving us the proof.
(Side note: The whining part only applies to coaches and players. Owners need not apply. Does anyone even know what the Spurs' owner looks like, much less sounds like? The NBA does NOT reward whiny owners.)
Whining on the court is one thing. Doesn't bother me much when our players do it, as they seem to do it in a respectful manner. It bothers me when people pitch fits, throw temper tantrums and are still arguing calls plays later. Get over it. Spurs don't do that. Anyone claiming the Spurs whine more than the Suns was clearly listening to the game on the radio.
And that whining that our team does (and everyone else does too, so him)? Stays on the court. Our players and coach have a lot more class than to whine to the press, unlike many other teams in the league.
No credibility whatsoever for this er.
lol, trust me, Galloway doesn't watch the games a lot, and especially considering the late hours of this series (I'm guessing dude's in bed by 9:00 every night), most likely he's just going by what he hears from ESPN (for whom he has a local show in Dallas) and what he knows from past Spurs/Mavs games.Galloway must just avoid the post-game press stuff. That, or he's got to be the worst sort of myopian to claim that the whining in this series is emanating from the Spurs.
That article sounded pretty damn whiny to me.
Did any of these people watch basketball during the 80's or 90's?
Does anyone remember Juwan Howard taking out Derek Anderson with a flagrant foul? THAT foul actually caused a severe injury, but I STILL don't think Howard was trying to hurt him.
I agree the Mavs should pick up dirty players rather than tough, hard-nosed defenders like Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse.
80% of the bench players knew to keep their asses on the bench. There is no need for interpretation of common sense. Common sense and knowing the rules kept all those Veterans on the Phoenix bench and every Spur reserve home as well.
Oh and Randy Newsflash...you a have a Bruce Bowen, his name is Josh Howard and offensively, he is better than Bruce.
Howard now has a lengthy history of flagrant fouls...
So Randy "10 Drink Minimum" Galloway hasn't dried out yet?
I may be myopic about the Spurs but ...like the soft label...the whining label is thoroughly unwarranted to the extent it is given.
I know i'm preaching to the choir..but I can't believe more people are not aware of the lack whining or criticism the Spurs display off the court.
And is there any more laughable place this article can come from. The mavs are more deserved of any soft or whining or dirty label than the Spurs.
It just makes their first round nuclear implosion that much sweeter...it is like the cherry on top of their monumental finals collapse.
The whining on the court label the Spurs had was valid for a time, but it's becoming outdated. There was a time when Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Bowen would get incredibly bug-eyed any time a call went against them, and a lot of times replays showed those calls to be valid. This rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way.
From what I've seen, they've improved recently in this respect. But like I said, Galloway is not exactly an NBA League Pass subscriber.
Not much left to talk about with the Mavs. The leak about Dirk's MVP award meant that most of that discussion had taken place before he received it.
We got the soft label in like 1993... We changed owners, coaches, two arenas, every player on the team, the uniform and won three championships and we still get called soft...
How long do you think they will call us whiners beyond the point of it actually being true?
What's he talking abput?
Both Stackhouse and Terry have Doctorates in Thugology.
Meh, I don't really care. The thing that bothers me when the Spurs complain about calls during the game is that it hurts their focus and they start playing like victims.
In the 4th quarter of Game 5, the Spurs played with a " it, we know we're getting jobbed but we're going to win this one anyway" approach and they won. If they approach every game with that at ude I think the additional trophies will comfort them in the face of any whiny reputation they still have.
Stay near the bench.
The Nuggets and Mavs love this false perception that somehow the Spurs whine or hard foul more than they do. It would explain why they are so quick to pile on. It's also hardly shocking that they want the NBA to bypass the rule just to screw the Spurs.
It'll make tonight's win all that much more satisfying.
When I saw the le I thought it was going to be a discussion on the Elson/Jones situation, and how under the current rules if Jones had been thinking quick enough he could have slugged Elson and gotten Tim and Bruce suspended. For my money that's the thing that's convinced me the rule might need some revision. Turns out it's yet another ignorant writer who watchs ESPN instead of actually watching the events he writes about.
P.S.-When did Chump jump on the Hawks bandwagon?
They should've stayed near the bench.When I saw the le I thought it was going to be a discussion on the Elson/Jones situation, and how under the current rules if Jones had been thinking quick enough he could have slugged Elson and gotten Tim and Bruce suspended.
I actually believe this is why the Nuggets and Mavs never won anything, it's because this at ude they have that blames on things they cannot control rather than look internally for improvement opportunities.
As a result, the same mistakes gets committed over and over again, and the team fail in the same manner over and over again.
Is it really a bandwagon if it is up on blocks?
Spurs have whined a LOT for years. Calling Suns whiners is ridiculous when you look at what Bowen even does (aka - the hands off to his side, and yelping when he gets screened)
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