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Are you surprised? They're a bunch of ing hacks.Horribly unprofessional. Found on the front page.
Horribly unprofessional. Found on the front page.
Are you surprised? They're a bunch of ing hacks.Horribly unprofessional. Found on the front page.
Wojiwhoski?
The guy who wrote the article despises the Spurs.... ing prick.
Translation: San Antonio reached the Western finals Friday night. Congratulations, now ESPN's ratings will be down 47%. Here is the breakdown on our financial losses, read now.
Blame Nash. If the b1tch would have stopped milking it after getting eliminated, he could have ended it. But he had to continue. Memo to Sun Nation, teams lose games all the time in a seven game series due to cir stances out of their control. If you truly are the better team, you find a way to make up for one game.
Steve Nash > Karl Malone
But not by much.
At least Fish didn't write it
Here's the article, by the way.
For shame! - Series merited better than early fadeaway
By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com
Archive
SAN ANTONIO -- A moment of silence, please, on the premature death of the best playoff series NBA school principal David Stern -- and the rest of us -- will see anytime soon.
The hoops drama that was the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Phoenix Suns should have lasted seven games. And if Maximum Dave and his curiously reasoned form of punishment hadn't made an appearance this past week, we might be counting the nanoseconds until Sunday's series finale between the two best and most compelling teams in the league.
Instead -- and this is going to come out the wrong way -- we get Game 1 of the Western Conference finals with the Utah Jazz. Nothing wrong with that, except that the Spurs-Suns got jobbed. We all did. In fact, I could have watched these two teams play a best-of-17 series.
But Stern's decision to suspend the Suns' Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for the pivotal Game 5 compromised the integrity of a series that deserved better than kneejerk justice. The Spurs beat the roster-challenged Suns that night in Phoenix, and then advanced to the conference finals with Friday evening's 114-106 victory.
The Spurs were the better team Friday, but thanks to Stern, we'll never truly know if they were the better team for the series. This isn't a rip on the Spurs. They did what they had to do, and they did it with cool, heartless efficiency. But this will be forever known as the What-If Series.
What if Robert Horry hadn't temporarily lost his mind, channeled the Hanson Brothers, and thumped Suns' guard Steve Nash into the scorer's table during the waning moments of Game 4? What if Stoudemire and Diaw hadn't left the bench area? What if Stern hadn't turned the series upside down when he suspended Stoudemire and Diaw for one game and Horry for two?
It was a dumb decision then. It's a dumb decision now. It will remain a dumb decision no matter how many times Stern tries to justify it.
"I can sit up here and complain about it after the fact... I guess cry about it after the fact," said Nash. "But it's tough not to just think forever what would have happened if this stupid rule didn't get in the way of this series. There's no guarantees of anything, but to come this far and put this much into a season and for us to be without two key guys for Game 5 for nothing we instigated -- and for not either one of them having a malicious tone in their offense -- will forever haunt us. But I don't want to cry about it after the fact. The Spurs played great."
The Spurs did play great. They led by 20 points early in the fourth quarter. They kept the Suns from stepping on the clutch and shifting their offense into third or fourth gear.
"Frankly, I'm going to try to figure out how we did this," said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich.
Here's how:
Manu Ginobili filled up the boxscore with 33 ponts, 11 rebounds, six assists, four steals and four three-pointers. Tony Parker had 30 points. Tim Duncan added 24 points, 13 rebounds, nine blocked shots and, when double teamed, always managed to find an open teammate.
And then there was Bruce Bowen, who likely will have to miss Sunday's game after undergoing surgery to remove himself from Nash's hip. A clearly frustrated Nash finished with 18 points, but he only had one field goal through the first three quarters.
"He can't be Superman every night," said Suns coach Mike D'Antoni.
Imagine spending an entire series running into open car doors. That's what Bowen did, caroming off a thousand different screens and picks set for Nash. Sure, Bowen is physical, maybe borderline chippy, but it was a matchup worth staring at.
"Bruce had the toughest job on the team, without a doubt," said Popovich. "I don't know how he does it."
If there was such a thing as a basketball coroner, he would have said the game's time of death came at exactly with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter. That's when Bowen found his usual spot on the baseline, just inches behind the three-point line, and hit a trey that stretched the Spurs' tiny lead to 66-61. Then Ginobili added another three-pointer with 4:58 and that was that.
"There was a stretch where they couldn't miss," said D'Antoni.
It didn't help that the Suns' Raja Bell decided to foul everybody except the Spurs' Silver Dancers. Or that Leandro Barbosa forgot how to make a three pointer (0-5 Friday, 0 for his last 12 attempts). And yet, the Suns actually whittled the Spurs' lead down to five.
But by then, there were only 34 seconds remaining and San Antonio kept making free throws. Meanwhile, I'll have permanent ear damage from the sound of Spurs' fans whacking those thundersticks as the seconds ticked down.
Remember Stoudemire? He scored 38 points and added 12 rebounds in the loss. You think he might have made a difference in Game 5?
This is why it would have been fitting to see the series go seven games. Then Stern's decision would have been sort of rendered moot. America would have rejoiced.
"Absolutely I can understand why people would want to see it go one more," said Duncan. "You also have to understand why we didn't want to see it go one more."
My point exactly.
Of course, Nash is right when he says there are no guarantees. Maybe the Spurs win this thing in six even if Stoudemire had played last Wednesday in Phoenix -- but I doubt it.
"We'll never know," said Nash.
And that's the shame of it all.
Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at [email protected].
Since ESPN was actively rooting for David Stern to cheat to give the Suns any and all advantages, including making me worry that Bowen was going to get suspended for that weak little clear-out that made Nash flop over and have a coronary, I'm hardly surprised. I think making all the potential casual basketball fans too disgusted to even watch any games with the Spurs is brilliant marketing strategy.
at sportswriters demanding Stern throw out the rulebook to accomodate a star. That would be great for the integrity of the game.
Actually in reading the article, I think that their motivation was more an attempt to extend the series. That it never occurred to them whether or not extending the series regardless of the actual rules of basketball was fair to one team or the other. I also think that everyone who says that they would have been okay with the spurs winning in seven but not in six would have used the seven game series to about the nosebleed and the suspensions with extra hysteria.
I just heard on ESPN, Amare's postgame quote about the suspension: "I don't think about it too much."
Understatement of the in' year.
At least Fish didn't write it
Here's the article, by the way.
For shame! - Series merited better than early fadeaway
By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com
Archive
SAN ANTONIO -- A moment of silence, please, on the premature death of the best playoff series NBA school principal David Stern -- and the rest of us -- will see anytime soon.
The hoops drama that was the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Phoenix Suns should have lasted seven games. And if Maximum Dave and his curiously reasoned form of punishment hadn't made an appearance this past week, we might be counting the nanoseconds until Sunday's series finale between the two best and most compelling teams in the league.
Instead -- and this is going to come out the wrong way -- we get Game 1 of the Western Conference finals with the Utah Jazz. Nothing wrong with that, except that the Spurs-Suns got jobbed. We all did. In fact, I could have watched these two teams play a best-of-17 series.
But Stern's decision to suspend the Suns' Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for the pivotal Game 5 compromised the integrity of a series that deserved better than kneejerk justice. The Spurs beat the roster-challenged Suns that night in Phoenix, and then advanced to the conference finals with Friday evening's 114-106 victory.
The Spurs were the better team Friday, but thanks to Stern, we'll never truly know if they were the better team for the series. This isn't a rip on the Spurs. They did what they had to do, and they did it with cool, heartless efficiency. But this will be forever known as the What-If Series.
What if Robert Horry hadn't temporarily lost his mind, channeled the Hanson Brothers, and thumped Suns' guard Steve Nash into the scorer's table during the waning moments of Game 4? What if Stoudemire and Diaw hadn't left the bench area? What if Stern hadn't turned the series upside down when he suspended Stoudemire and Diaw for one game and Horry for two?
It was a dumb decision then. It's a dumb decision now. It will remain a dumb decision no matter how many times Stern tries to justify it.
"I can sit up here and complain about it after the fact... I guess cry about it after the fact," said Nash. "But it's tough not to just think forever what would have happened if this stupid rule didn't get in the way of this series. There's no guarantees of anything, but to come this far and put this much into a season and for us to be without two key guys for Game 5 for nothing we instigated -- and for not either one of them having a malicious tone in their offense -- will forever haunt us. But I don't want to cry about it after the fact. The Spurs played great."
The Spurs did play great. They led by 20 points early in the fourth quarter. They kept the Suns from stepping on the clutch and shifting their offense into third or fourth gear.
"Frankly, I'm going to try to figure out how we did this," said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich.
Here's how:
Manu Ginobili filled up the boxscore with 33 ponts, 11 rebounds, six assists, four steals and four three-pointers. Tony Parker had 30 points. Tim Duncan added 24 points, 13 rebounds, nine blocked shots and, when double teamed, always managed to find an open teammate.
And then there was Bruce Bowen, who likely will have to miss Sunday's game after undergoing surgery to remove himself from Nash's hip. A clearly frustrated Nash finished with 18 points, but he only had one field goal through the first three quarters.
"He can't be Superman every night," said Suns coach Mike D'Antoni.
Imagine spending an entire series running into open car doors. That's what Bowen did, caroming off a thousand different screens and picks set for Nash. Sure, Bowen is physical, maybe borderline chippy, but it was a matchup worth staring at.
"Bruce had the toughest job on the team, without a doubt," said Popovich. "I don't know how he does it."
If there was such a thing as a basketball coroner, he would have said the game's time of death came at exactly with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter. That's when Bowen found his usual spot on the baseline, just inches behind the three-point line, and hit a trey that stretched the Spurs' tiny lead to 66-61. Then Ginobili added another three-pointer with 4:58 and that was that.
"There was a stretch where they couldn't miss," said D'Antoni.
It didn't help that the Suns' Raja Bell decided to foul everybody except the Spurs' Silver Dancers. Or that Leandro Barbosa forgot how to make a three pointer (0-5 Friday, 0 for his last 12 attempts). And yet, the Suns actually whittled the Spurs' lead down to five.
But by then, there were only 34 seconds remaining and San Antonio kept making free throws. Meanwhile, I'll have permanent ear damage from the sound of Spurs' fans whacking those thundersticks as the seconds ticked down.
Remember Stoudemire? He scored 38 points and added 12 rebounds in the loss. You think he might have made a difference in Game 5?
This is why it would have been fitting to see the series go seven games. Then Stern's decision would have been sort of rendered moot. America would have rejoiced.
"Absolutely I can understand why people would want to see it go one more," said Duncan. "You also have to understand why we didn't want to see it go one more."
My point exactly.
Of course, Nash is right when he says there are no guarantees. Maybe the Spurs win this thing in six even if Stoudemire had played last Wednesday in Phoenix -- but I doubt it.
"We'll never know," said Nash.
And that's the shame of it all.
Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at [email protected].
"blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm a HACK. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm a HACK. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm a HACK. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm a HACK. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm a HACK. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm a HACK. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm a HACK."
And that's the I'm a HACK of it all."
Where was ESPN when the Knicks suspensions happened?
The Truth Shall Set You Free
...ouch
Howd the knicks do in the playoffs?
ohhhh thats right, they didnt get in and no one cared
next question...
espn are a disgrace for journalism.... them
Why does a series have to go 7 games to be a good series?
You are re ed beyond comprehension.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...A19970518.html
"Rules only matter when we want them to."
Same question here
ESPN. That ass network lost my respect years ago.
And now the WCF are all on ABC/ESPN... yay.
I figure we'll hear the word "taint" 2816 times in the commentary.
Moron: Your bus is leaving....
Ha, your the one to talk.
referencing back to a series 10 years ago???
Maybe, just maybe...there might have been a few suspensions that affected a teams outcome in the playoffs since then.
That might be too far out for you though maybe?
Last edited by TryStoppinMe; 05-19-2007 at 04:41 AM.
That's just the excuse they need so they can point to how the Suns got jobbed when they were good enough to extend the series to seven games. They were trying to get the SPurs to feel bad and give the Suns a game.
You're so bad at trolling that I can't even identify the insult here. You need some lessons.
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