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We all know about 2006. It was an illusion...even for the Mavs. One second it's here, the next it's not. Truth be told, I'm still kinda pissed.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7381424
It is interesting to see a media figure come out and say this. I always thought that the calls in that series vs. Dallas were very different than what was called in the Finals, and in other playoff series that year. The tone of the officiating was almost pre-season (call anything) rather than playoffs (physical play encouraged)...
We all know about 2006. It was an illusion...even for the Mavs. One second it's here, the next it's not. Truth be told, I'm still kinda pissed.
I've never been one to about officiating. However I did find the officiating in that series to be atrocious for both teams. The problem was the bad calls that went against the Spurs seemed to occur during very crucial times of the game. Calls that seemingly turned the tide and changed momentum. That WCSF series was so close it didn't deserve or need poor officiating.
Funny how the Mavs and their fans never said a word about officiating until the Finals versus the Heat.
The officiating was bad, but, once again, and the point is hard to hammer.
I love Manu, thats his style, but if he lays off Nowitzki, they play FT trade off, and win the game.
He doesn't foul Dirk there, they win. Simple as that.
When you're right, you're right. Without that bonehead play, Spurs WIN!
To this day, that play is PAINFUL for me to watch.
Why Manu? Why?
Is very simple if you only take that fact. Remember that Tim fail the last shot and the Mavs won in Over Time.
Forget it
Well you know, i know its hard for you guys to believe that Ginobili did something wrong, but that was his fault.
Good lord you guys are too sensitive.
That series was BS. There were bad calls both ways, but the way Dirk was going to the free throw line 20+ times a game was ridiculous. And then in the Finals all the sudden he wasn't getting to the line at all, and Wade was going 20+ times. Nobody wants to see someone shoot 25 free throws in a game.
It is hard as a fan that spends (too much) time following the NBA, and at the same time I do believe that the NBA officiating is terrible, and quite possibly influenced by Mob gambling more than we want to admit. And Stern does not seem concerned. No other sport has such questionable officiating. Going back to Jordan's time, there has been serious ing in nearly every season. Shaq's 2000-2002 Lakers, the 2004 debacle, the 2006 Spurs/Mavs and Heat/Mavs series, in 2007 the Donaghy scandal. And now that we know that at least one NBA official was influencing games to cover bets, it is no longer a "conspiracy theory." It is a FACT that at least some games have been influenced.
Of course was his fault, but not the last play of the game.
You know, we have one more ring.. get over it!
I'd still like to see how that series would have ended had Duncan not fouled out of Game 3 and Manu fouled out of Game 4. I still think it's pretty convenient that the Spurs go-to guy in both of those games gets fouled out with a few minutes to go.
Well, when the officials tried to punish Manu with traveling when he tried to pass the ball to Duncan, who was sleeping in their own court at the time, then Manu tried to protect the ball from a meter without even touching it and a whistle was blown anyways for "traveling", then you know what was the predisposition of those officials, don't you?
I always wonder what would've happened if it was tony parker who fouled Dirk instead of Manu in that game 7.
it was just a bit easier to swallow with it being manu because of the huge 3 pointer he had hit on the previous play. he won, then lost the game for us in a span of seconds.
All the "almosts" and "coulda beens" don't matter now...the Spurs have one goal, and one goal only...to REPEAT as NBA CHAMPIONS and cement their place in history as one of the NBAs greatest dynasties. I firmly believe they will do just that.
i dont' see the point of complaining about officials calls two seasons ago (or ten minutes ago for that matter). it's time to move on.
Spurs vs. Mavericks in 2006 is easily the hardest defeat I've ever had to stomach as a Spurs fan. Houston in 1995, Lakers in 2001 and Lakers in 2004 were all bad but Mavericks in 2006 was the worst.
That game 3, when Dirk stepped on TD foot and Crawford called the 6th on TD was a joke.
Refs were awful in that series
The only reason people talk about the Spurs needing to repeat to be considered one of the NBA dynasties is because the media puts that kind of spin on it. I'm sure most NBA players would love to trade places with Duncan rather than LeBron, Dwyane Wade or even Kobe. Sure some guys love to be on SportsCenter but it's the rings that put you in the history books.All the "almosts" and "coulda beens" don't matter now...the Spurs have one goal, and one goal only...to REPEAT as NBA CHAMPIONS and cement their place in history as one of the NBAs greatest dynasties. I firmly believe they will do just that.
I think the Spurs not repeating as champions, but continuing to win championships in spite of that is a big accomplishment. Many teams would win a championship, fail to defend it, and then try to rebuild or tool their team to beat the team that eliminated them. You could say the Spurs did that between the 1999 and 2003 les, but you see a lot of people right now trying to copy the Phoenix Suns (mostly b/c there aren't enough quality big men to go around for everyone to emulate Duncan, Shaq, or KG). In this era the Spurs have continued to play defense and not focus solely on offense. And in the process, they've beaten the Phoenix Suns and all of their imitators at their own game.
Also, Duncan is nowhere near done. He isn't putting up the numbers he put up early in his career now, but that's because he doesn't have to. Look at the talent and depth around him. In the early years of his career, he had a bunch of past-their-prime role players on the team that made contributions, but Duncan had to put the team on his shoulders. Those guys were great for leadership, and even though Duncan was much more mature than most rookies, coming into that kind of team environment set him on the right track for the career he's had so far. He's the best example of a superstar making his teammates better. He's the MVP who doesn't have to fill out the stat sheet every night as long as his team fills out the boxscore and gets the win.
So I don't buy this talk that the Spurs aren't a dynasty because they haven't repeated. If they fail to repeat this year, there's a good chance they'll be back in 2009. But if they do repeat, behind all of the grind-it-out defensive games they play en route to it, behind the low ratings in the NBA Finals and all the criticism they receive for being "boring" or "dirty," there won't be anyone left who can say this team isn't one of the greatest NBA teams to ever set foot on the hardwood.
I agree with that and maintain that the officiating did not cost the Spurs either game -- the Spurs needed to execute better (early in Game 3, for example) to win, and didn't. I also agree with timvp that the Spurs loss in that series was a harder pill to swallow than even losing a series on Fisher's ridiculous shot in 2004 -- it's the most bitter loss I think I'll ever experience as a Spurs fan because the result so easily could have been entirely different. (That series will also probably be the best playoff series I'll ever see; though I do hope for one like it that the Spurs actually win).
With that said, the one call from that series that still baffles me is the technical foul called on Finley in the first half of Game 4. Finley and Nowitzki get incidentally tangled up after a free throw, Bavetta hangs a T on Fin, the Mavs convert the free throw, and the Spurs lose in overtime. The league later rescinded the technical on Finley. The unwarranted free throw obviously proved huge in that game (and, to and extent, the rest of the series). I'm marginally surprised that Spurs fans focus more on Footgate involving Timmy and Dirk than on the Game 4 technical.
In the end, the Spurs lost the series because the Mavericks were just ever-so-slightly better when it mattered most. That's true irrespective of the officiating.
If Duncan plays that OT, they win.
He was absolutely OWNING the Mavericks that day.
There were 2 OT games (Game 4 and Game 7) and Duncan played in OT of both games. He fouled out of Game 3, which the Spurs lost in regulation by a point, IIRC.
He absolutely owned the Mavericks for the entire series....
Yes, we had a chance to win Game 3 on a miracle buzzer beater thanks to Stackhouse intentionally bricking a FT (resulted in a TO to us), and Horry got rim but it didn't go in. Manu fouled out of Game 4 and didn't play in OT, when we were abused by the speed of the Mavs guards. Manu's speed and defense would have definitely helped there.
Eh, that loss still hurts, that loss was the worst I've ever experienced.
Make up for it this year, what the , why not.
I don't know, watching the Mavs choke badly two years in a row and get another ring is pretty good medicine.
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