Monday, May 19, 2008

Bad News?

Because there are more important things than city government

Read this San Antonio website posting from Saturday:
The Spurs were in Phoenix, winning their only playoff road game of the spring, when Tim Duncan froze. At least that's the way he looks when he takes his free-throw pose.

Suns fans noticed, and they began to count to 10, because that's how long a free-throw shooter is supposed to have. Shaquille O'Neal was being called for foot faults in that series. Why not tag Duncan on this infraction?

The Suns' coaches asked that very question of the official standing nearby. And Steve Javie smiled.

“I'm not reacting to the crowd,” he said, smiling. “You know me.”

The Suns' coaches know Javie, all right. They know he's the Road-Friendly Ref, and they knew his appearance in their building that night was not a good sign.
There aren't enough Javies, and it's the inherent flaw in this sport. Just as Doc Rivers wonders about calls that went against him in Cleveland on Friday night, and just as the Hornets wonder about Game 6 in San Antonio, the Spurs have reason to wonder now.

Will they be lucky and see Javie again on Monday night?

Now click this.

I was afraid that of all the talk about home teams getting the calls in the playoffs might lead the refs to overcompensate tonight; now we get a lead ref who makes a career out of it.

What happens happens. If the Spurs win, their fans should be penalized a game for a flagrant foul. That's right, give the Lakers a fifth home game to penalize the San Antonio fans for chanting "Horry." Horry might not have intended to hurt West, but the fans obviously thought he did.

Just joking about the home game, but Popovich is full of crap when he compares Horry's moving pick to Chandler's perfectly set screen.

Comments:
Oh crap. I can't help but think that this game will go down to the wire.
 
Spurs by 10+
 
How the refs call Manu's first flop will tell us what to expect.
 
In the end, I'd say it wasn't the officiating that did them in. But I've been saying the Hornets aren't quite mean enough and they give up too many second chance shots. I think that and the fact that the jumpers weren't going down at key points really made the difference. Oh well. Is it football season yet?
 
No, you can't blame it on bad officiating, but they were, to some degree, victims of a media fad. The attention to home cooking in this year's playoffs built up at the end of last week, and over the weekend, to the point where you knew there'd be no home court officiating advantage. With normal home court advantage, Tim Duncan would have gotten his fifth foul much earlier with an over the back that could have been called.

Of course, you can't really complain because the refs didn't make up for the fact that the Spurs shots were falling and the Hornets shots weren't. Hell, Chris Paul doesn't miss his first three free throws, the hornets tie it up with a minute and a half left and the game could either way. Instead they need to foul and try three pointers. That, BTW, is why point spreads make no sense to me in basketball.

BTW, I have no doubt that the concern over home cooking in the NBA playoffs is now last week's news. Boston and LA will both get enough home calls to set up a disgusting eighties nostalgia fest.
 
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