For the sake of clarity: are you claiming that is not a foul? Frankly, Fisher just got out-gamed on that play. This is an interesting read on officiating in the series.
Re: the Durant no-call If you have to dissect a play, it's probably ok they didn't call a foul. Especially in a late game scenario, I'm fine with the refs letting the players decide the game, and I bet that if people didn't have an anti-Heat bias, they'd be ok with it too. Also, this article in general strikes me as...not enough. None of these numbers exist in a vacuum -- from late game strategy, to Lebron being more aggressive, to pure variance, to a deliberate focus on foul prevention: there are a lot of other factors to be considered that weren't. Now, I'm not saying the team whose two stars are both marketable veterans might not get a preponderance of calls. I'm just saying that you could probably find many 5 game stretches where Durant was above his season foul average. Also, I feel like it bears mentioning that one of Jordan's most iconic moments is more blatantly a foul that anything Lebron has done in this series.
I hate to generalize, but the defense in the East is overall better than it is in the West, so Durant having to work harder for shots is reflected in the sill reach fouls he commits when he starts to get beat by James or Wade or Chalmers even. He is used to playing defense (and even getting rebounds) with his length and not with his position or his feet. When you get tired your first instinct is to reach and grab rather than slide and move. There is also a mindset of "oh well...Ill just score more on the other end" if you get beat on the defensive side. OKC is young and the Finals is an experienced man's game.
Right, there was a reason I chose the word interesting and not something like "damning." It's good legwork, but doesn't prove much of anything. For what it's worth, he has only committed more than 15 fouls in a four game stretch once in his entire career (12/18/09-12/23/09). This is true, although I suspect it has less to do with pervasive attitude than just random distribution of teams. I don't think "conference attitudes" exist in any meaningful sense. According to points per game, 8 of the 10 best defensive teams are in the East (7 of whom were playoff teams. The Knicks come in at 11). 7 of the West playoff teams rank 12th or lower (going all the way down to Denver at 29). In points per 100 possessions, you see the same pattern: the East playoff teams are bunched at the top. While the teams they've played have all be ok defensive, the Heat are the first great defensive team that the Thunder have faced (Dallas is good but not great, LAL and SAS are slightly above average). Whether one can draw any meaningful inference from this to either more offensive fouls on Durant or more fatigue-caused defensive fouls is almost impossible to say. It's just too small of a sample with too much noise to draw clear inferences.
I think smart organizations build based on the bulk of their competition. No matter what sport. If youre in a division in the NFL that throws a lot, youd better have good DBs and be able to throw yourself. If youre in the AL, youd better have power and in the NL youd better be able to pitch and have some speed. And it always goes back to the old saying, your defense never has a bad shooting night. Or as it will be referred to from this point forward as a "Harden". i.e. "Did you see Kobe shoot 8 for 32 from the field last night? He went straight Harden."
The evidence of one's eyes is enough to tell you that there is a small but pervasive officiating bias towards the Heat, and when two teams are so closely matched...that's enough. Tell me the 3rd foul on Harden near the end of the 3rd quarter wasn't one of the dumbest calls you have seen during the entire play-offs? It was so awful even the announcers called it out. And it happened right in front of one of the refs. That same game, Westbrook took 3 free throws despite scoring 43 points and getting HAMMERED all night long.
Thats the foul I was talking about. Harden started bumping James at midcourt. The foul call was a culmination of all the stuff they let go. And they coulda called more fouls on WB drives, but he wasnt getting hammered. Nobody was getting hammered like they should be! I think its gonna get chippy tonight.
EDIT: Are you fucking kidding me? Thats just apologist shit. Durant gets bodied all over the court and not by guys he outweighs by 50 pounds.
No actually, the gif is too small, but Fisher just gave him this hilarious "This bitch..." side-eye which is funny because "out-gamed" is correct, but there was some floppage there. And the "This bitch..." glance is due to said floppage. "No way my small self made you fall like that." Also two pieces of writing which will make you starter about basketball. Robert Mays will have an occasional article looking at something analysts won't talk about, but something coaches are thinking about, like the metric of Pace and how it is with OKC.. Sebastian Pruiti breaks down plays in way that's understandable and explains sets for the lay person. Reading it step by step in text is much easier than watching it on the telestrator actually.
Which is why Lebron actually doesn't get a lot of calls that he otherwise might. Because he's so large and so fast, he doesn't get obviously diverted when he's fouled, so it's harder to notice. Sometimes in that situation you have to sell a foul a little bit, which I think is different than flopping -- sort of like when you take a charge you're supposed to go down.
I think that is exactly what happened. James was setting up to flop and Fisher hit him so hard, it shocked them both. Fisher expected more resistance and LBJ was ready to go down on contact. Sort of like missing that last step...
...What the fuck? Are the Bulls, Lakers and Celtics the only teams that know how to introduce their teams? A fucked up cut of Nigga's in Paris? Seriously? Now - A Spoiler Now - B Spoiler And then Spoiler
Juwan Howard has to be setting some kind of record for most TV time/time spent on the court for a guy who has played zero minutes. I see him almost as much as I see Nick Collison.
Anybody who's ever dealt with clients or bosses has to love what Mike Miller is doing right now. He's set expectations so low that when he does his job reasonably well it's like a parade. Don't get me wrong, 4-4 is great, but he is basically paid to be a spot-up shooter.
Refs are horrible. How do you not call a foul on Westbrook ramming into James? And that was not a flagrant on Fisher. That was a playoff foul. No control.