Actually, Tim Donaughy was involved in the officiating of at least one of those series, and has publicly stated that there was clear indication from the NBA of how they wanted those games called. He specifically called out Kings-Lakers game 6 in 2002, the 2001 Lakers-Blazers series, and the 2006 Finals. You can question his veracity, but it's one person in the know who has spoken up. Obviously, the NBA doesn't blatantly tell its refs "make Team X win by any means necessary". That would be too incriminating. Rather, they will sit down the officials before the game, and tell them "these are the things we want you to look for", and then play some examples of Sacramento players fouling Lakers players. The refs aren't stupid. They get the message. They know what to do. And ultimately, you only need 1 of the 3 refs working a game to favor a team. The other 2 refs can remain completely neutral, but that 1 ref is more than enough to significantly favor one of the clubs.
I'm so upset I forgot about this last night. Thank you. I'm 15 minutes in and I have to wonder if anyone has ever truly liked Isiah Thomas.
What the hell did Rome expect the guy to say? "Yes, it's fixed"? He's a retard for asking. I'd be pissed if someone said I made a career out of cheap thrills. But then again, I don't have a show dedicated to unjustifiably calling people out for random shit, and I try to ask as few stupid questions as possible.
This is all you need to know about Jim Rome. He says shit just to say it. The only reason this smug prick is still paid to interview people in front of a camera is precisely because he is a smug prick. "Rome is Burning" my ass.
"Some would say this team is too good, is that a positive or a negative?" Textbook definition of a hater. Awesome link though, thank you.
The "documentary", if it can be called that, was pretty much what I expected. A fluff piece with some cool behind-the-scenes footage from which most basketball fans won't learn a damn thing. Seriously, what did the documentary teach us that we didn't already know? The lone bright spot was the hysterical footage of John Stockton walking the streets of Barcelona and fucking with the American tourists. Not only was it surreal, but who knew the reserved Stockton had a sense of humor?! Barkley was funny and awesome too, but that's known by everyone.
Great game, but that should have been a foul called on Lebron at the end. If the roles were reversed and it was Lebron shooting on Durant, they would have called it. Might have cost the Thunder the game.
Game 2 is completely different if Derek Fisher can hit a wide-open three. I know that it's hard to believe that any sort of conspiracy with the officials could be possible, but it is uncanny how often the calls work out in a way that supports the best narrative. It seemed like every 50-50 call went Miami's way tonight. There were definitely plenty of calls that put LeBron on the line that were less egregious than that last no-call on Durant.
No way the Heat wins this series. That was the best they had. They don't get any better than that, especially with the scoring output from Shane Bat-tee-eh (this guy has been in the league for how long and they're just pronouncing his name right?) OKC made a ton of mistakes. As it is known, that was a "Bad Russel Westbrook" game and they lost by 4. No fucking way they lose a game like that. But let's not forget something here. I called this loss.
Definitely a foul, but the refs missed the charge on Durant and made that late blocking call on Battier. Shoulda been a charge or a no call. Were those last 2 FT "clutch" enough for you Skip?
The Heat lead that game wire to wire. They made some bad plays at the end, but it was a solid win. Winning 3 in a row against OKC will be tough. Does anybody on the Heat know what a playoff foul is? Somebody needs to knock Durant and/or Westbrook's dick in the dirt (as my grandpa used to say). They should have focused on fouling Durant out. James and Wade had a couple chances to push the ball at KD and they didn't. And you have to back the fuck off Westbrook. Make him beat you from the outside.
I completely disagree. I watched replays, and it was just LeBron playing solid defense. At most, he had one elbow (legal) that slightly grazed Durant at the very end of the game. It didn't effect his shot at all. Calling such a ticky tack foul on the last offensive possession would have been complete bullshit, and completely antithetical to how refs normally call games. While I usually believe there is massive referee bias in the playoffs, I saw absolutely zero evidence of it in the Heat-Thunder game. The Heat went to the line 25 times, the Thunder 26. The Heat actually had 3 more offensive rebounds, and both teams were very aggressive at attacking the basket. Miami legitimately outplayed OKC there.
Are you kidding? Did you not see his forearm in Durant's midsection the entire way up? At the end of the shot, I agree there was no foul. But he had his arm in him the whole way up. Battier also wasn't really set before contact was made. Despite how it looked initially, that was the right call they made.
Which is perfectly legal when a guy is driving on you with either his back or shoulder. It's only a foul when you're face-to-face. Durant took that pass with his body perpendicular to LeBron's, (he was sideways, in other words), drove hard on him, LeBron put a single elbow up on his body not to get bowled over (legal), and then, when Durant rotated so that he was face-to-face with LeBron to take the shot, James pulled his elbow back. That was a completely normal, legal sequence. Refs will sometimes call that for Kevin Durant because like James, he is a a huge star who gets the benefits of the doubt. I hate that, regardless of who the star recipient happens to be. (And I like Kevin Durant much more than I do LeBron) In this case, at the end of a tense game, they made the right call. Which was no call. Let the game be decided by the players, not a bogus, ticky-tack foul call. I actually agreed with the commentators on that one; that should have been a no-call. Battier was slightly shuffling his feet, but his body was set, and the contact occurred after the shot was released. It wasn't a charge, but it wasn't a blocking foul, either.
On the Batttier play the replays I saw looked like after Durant left the ground Battier shuffled his feet to the side and then slid his upper body over a little bit to get infront of Durant. Maybe a no-call but definitely not a charge.
The last call(or lack thereof) did not cost the Thunder the game. The way they played in the first half did. Seriously, what was it, 18-2 five minutes into the game? They couldn't hit a midrange jumper to save their lives in the first half(and most of the second). Sure, it's a letdown, but the Thunder have no one to blame but themselves for this.
I agree it should have been a no-call. Especially since the refs did that bullshit move where they call the foul because the shot didnt go in. Thats a trick the bruthas use in the playground. They miss a layup and youre halfway down the other end when they yell "FOUL".