On ESPN this morning. The (former) Head of NBA Officiating did agree with you. I was showering, but something about the referee getting the wrong positioning on seeing Durants right shoulder as opposed to his left shoulder. When this guy reviewed the play he did determine it should have been a foul due to 3 different points of contact as Durant was going up for the shot.
I think the refs get caught up in watching the game some times as well. Overall, I think the refs were good. A couple suspect and/or missed offensive fouls aside, I think they worked well together. First game I can remember with 3 black refs. I didnt notice until the shot of them reviewing that out of bounds call on Sefolosha and I just kept thinking...who's that 3rd black guy? Where's the white guy?
That was a foul (Lebron had a forearm hooked around KD's arm, and had a forearm on him during the shot. There's no way that isn't technically a foul, even if it didn't alter the shot), but I don't think Durant even should have been in the game. I think both that and the Durant-Battier charge were blown calls (and maybe the Westbrook rebound?), and seeing as the charge would negate the last call and probably the Thunder's chances of winning, I don't think their claim is that strong. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find video of the Durant-Battier play.
I wasnt a big fan of the offensive foul on Harden either. The one where Chalmers went flying to the ground. And what was up with the slick floor? They kept asking for the moisture to be wiped up between the keys. Thank God Miami doesnt have to go back to that cowbarn til next season....
This is a good video of it. <a class="postlink" href="http://deadspin.com/5918716/yes-lebron-james-fouled-kevin-durant" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://deadspin.com/5918716/yes-lebron- ... vin-durant</a> This series at least goes to 6, easy
It's striking to me that the Heat were doing everything right - Battier on fire from three, Lebron getting easy buckets, Bosh rebounding like crazy - and when the Thunder were able to turn it on, all of a sudden that 17-point lead becomes a one possession game. I'm gonna call the Thunder in Game 3 as well.
No no, there's plenty of videos of that one. Almost everyone caught that one. For some reason no one recorded the Durant-Battier charge/block at 3:19. If that call had gone the other way (as both I and the announcers felt it should have), Durant would have been fouled out with more than 3 minutes to play and the Heat up 6. Plus, it appears that it would have been a 1-and-1 for Battier, who is a career 75% FT shooter. That call was a game-changer in the Thunder's favor.
Damn it, the doc was taken down finally. I was 40 minutes in. I know it wasn't anything new or groundbreaking, but it was fun just hearing those guys talk and say unfiltered shit.
Did you get to the Stockton story? Anyways, I was searching for another video of this, and instead found the following; Lots of fun to watch, and it makes you remember just how awesome Drazen Petrovic was before his untimely death. He was the only Croatian player (and they also had a young Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja, both of whom would be good NBA players averaging 16+ ppg at their best) that looked like he could confidently match up with the US team. I also didn't know this before watching, but the Croatians actually had a 25-23 lead before the US blew it open.
Yes, the Stockton part was hysterical. I enjoyed it immensely, despite it not being particularly informative(at least so far as stuff I already knew. Although I do like that they finally admitted to blackballing Isaiah). I especially liked the Jordan/Magic practice game showdown, and the focus on the bird/magic rivalry.
It's so funny because they only focused on Jordan disliking Isiah, when I think both Bird and Malone despised the guy way more. Bird hated him not only because of the dirty way the Pistons played against the Celtics with Isiah as their leader, but the racist shit Thomas said about him. (That Bird would be nothing special if he was black) And of course, Karl Malone gave Isiah 40 stitches during the regular season;
I didn't get to the Stockton part or I unfortunately was actually focusing on work when I was listening to it. What's the gist of it?
At one point, the Dream Team bus is stuck in traffic. Stockton says "fuck this!", and gets off the bus to walk around with his wife and kids like a regular tourist. (Malone is jealous that he couldn't do that) As Stockton is walking around in an ordinary white shirt and black sunglasses, he is filming with a camera, and not a single fucking person recognizes him. The whole time he is cracking jokes in a calm, confident manner that you would expect from a Barkley. This side of his personality really caught me off-guard. Then, Stockton starts fucking with people. He asks an obviously American tourist whether he has met any famous athletes and what he thinks of the Dream Team. The answers are "no" and "I'm really excited!!" Even better, he comes across a young woman wearing a Dream Team SHIRT. He asks her whether she has met anyone on the Dream Team. "Just Barkley". Even when Stockton's young son points at cartoon Stockton on her shirt and says "that's my dad!", John quickly covers with "man, I wish he was here!" It was wonderful. Here is one of the greatest athletes in history on one of the most famous, legendary teams ever, and no one recognizes him! There are definitely advantages to being an ordinary-looking 6' 1" white guy.
Yeah, the second I saw your link to it I immediately dropped everything and took a "lunch break" to watch it before it got taken down. The things you have to do when you don't have TV.
Nobody hates Artest more than me, but his last tweet cracked me up: "All beard. No brains." Heard another great stat this afternoon about Westbrook: When he takes 20 shots, the Thunder are 25-6. When he takes 25 shots? 7-7 He and Harden are killing OKC.
What's going to be lost in this, is that it seems like LeBron can't really guard Durant one on one. Durant seemed like he got to pretty good spots, but either a.) flat-out missed or b.) was met by Bosh at the rim. Bosh's help defense was a huge factor down the stretch.