2013 NBA Season News and Discussion

[conscript]

Him fouling out I cant blame either cause that was a bad call. Watching the replay I thought it shouldve been a no call, but if you are going to call anything there thats a foul on Pietrus not James. He didnt do anything but post up and back down. Im not one of those people that says you cant make off the ball fouls in late games, a foul is a foul in my book no matter where in the game it is. That just wasnt a foul so shouldnt be called.

The officiating has been plain awful all series long, and all playoffs long really. Pierce fouled out on a nothing play yesterday. Pietrus has his arm wrapped around LeBron and fell to the floor yesterday in a pretty obvious non-foul to everyone but Mr over enthusiastic ref. Last night was the first time LeBron fouled out the entire season. Including last night he only had five fouls three times! Assuming I am not missing anything on his game log, LeBron hasn't fouled out in a game since April 2, 2008! There is a reason he is one of the NBA's best defensive players, he doesn't foul. It isn't a surprise to anyone who the head official was last night. Joe Crawford. Got to love the continued narrative of these playoffs. If the officiating was bad, there is about a 90% chance Crawford was the head official.

[Twiddly]

The officiating has been plain awful all series long, and all playoffs long really. Pierce fouled out on a nothing play yesterday. Pietrus has his arm wrapped around LeBron and fell to the floor yesterday in a pretty obvious non-foul to everyone but Mr over enthusiastic ref. Last night was the first time LeBron fouled out the entire season. Including last night he only had five fouls three times! Assuming I am not missing anything on his game log, LeBron hasn't fouled out in a game since April 2, 2008! There is a reason he is one of the NBA's best defensive players, he doesn't foul. It isn't a surprise to anyone who the head official was last night. Joe Crawford. Got to love the continued narrative of these playoffs. If the officiating was bad, there is about a 90% chance Crawford was the head official.

Yeah, crawford is awful, but saying lebron does not foul is just a joke. He fouls all the time, they do not call ANYTHING on him generally, as he is the leagues superstar and gotta keep him happy :P That is not an opinion, it is a flat out fact. He does not foul out because they absolutely refuse to ref him anywhere near the same as anyone else.


I just watched the "Highlights" of last nights game, and on wades last shot, he probably would have had a better chance at making it if he did not shoot his leg out like a complete idiot, only trying to draw a foul. Saying he was off balanced is a flat out lie, all he was doing was trying to smack his leg against daniels, he knew if tehre was any contact at all they were calling a foul. Because he is dwyane wade damnit!

Next time, try actually just shooting instead of flopping like a fish on land, and you might have a better chance mr. wade.

[buck008]

Yeah, crawford is awful, but saying lebron does not foul is just a joke. He fouls all the time, they do not call ANYTHING on him generally, as he is the leagues superstar and gotta keep him happy :P That is not an opinion, it is a flat out fact. He does not foul out because they absolutely refuse to ref him anywhere near the same as anyone else.


I just watched the "Highlights" of last nights game, and on wades last shot, he probably would have had a better chance at making it if he did not shoot his leg out like a complete idiot, only trying to draw a foul. Saying he was off balanced is a flat out lie, all he was doing was trying to smack his leg against daniels, he knew if tehre was any contact at all they were calling a foul. Because he is dwyane wade damnit!

Next time, try actually just shooting instead of flopping like a fish on land, and you might have a better chance mr. wade.

If he was trying to draw a foul, he would have launched himself into Daniels since he had the dude in the air. Magic Johnson actually chastised Wade for not trying to draw a foul. So yea, if he wanted one, he would have gotten one. Easily.

James doesn't foul out because he generally doesn't foul. There isn't so much favoritism displayed towards him that he gets away with anything, man. That's just insane on face value. He definitely gets more calls on the other end. If you actually watch him play defense with any regularity, he really doesn't foul much. He might get away with the occasional charge, but all superstars do. Same with the traveling, but in the NBA you have to pick it up and walk to half court to get traveling called.

[Twiddly]

If he was trying to draw a foul, he would have launched himself into Daniels since he had the dude in the air. Magic Johnson actually chastised Wade for not trying to draw a foul. So yea, if he wanted one, he would have gotten one. Easily.

James doesn't foul out because he generally doesn't foul. There isn't so much favoritism displayed towards him that he gets away with anything, man. That's just insane on face value. He definitely gets more calls on the other end. If you actually watch him play defense with any regularity, he really doesn't foul much. He might get away with the occasional charge, but all superstars do. Same with the traveling, but in the NBA you have to pick it up and walk to half court to get traveling called.

Your second point is a complete blind fan call. He fouls people *ALL* the time that are not called on defensive end. Guess what? I still think he is one of the best defensive players in the game, I am not insulting him, it is a flat out fact that they do not call things against him.

Your first point is false as well. He was trying, why would you kick your leg out like that for any other reason? The reason he DIDNT launch himself into daniels? Daniels JUMPED OUT OF THE WAY because he knew wade was going to do his "Kick leg out for foul call" move that he always does. Like he did to KG the other day. So obvious, but I guess if you are a fan you are blind to it.

[conscript]

Next time, try actually just shooting instead of flopping like a fish on land, and you might have a better chance mr. wade.

You say that as if every single jump shooter in the NBA doesn't do the kick out move or jump into guys in the air. They all do. The refs are so bad at making those calls now that you get the debate of whether a guy should try and jump into his defender since the refs are so incompetent they will call it a foul 95% of the time or if he should shoot the ball legitimately. That shouldn't even be a discussion. If the refs did their jobs you wouldn't have jumpshooters all jumping into their defenders or kicking out their leg like Wade, Kobe, Durant, etc. do constantly. The only jump shooter that doesn't do that constantly is Dirk because he is too busy doing his fall away jumper and nailing it which no one else can do anywhere near as effectively as him. Some day we will live in a world where the NBA is back to jump shooters taking jump shots where you jump and come down in the same place you jumped from with both feet on the ground (like Ray Allen does). Who knows when that will be though so instead we get to watch wade and the other jump shooters flail their bodies around to draw ridiculous fouls.

[buck008]

Your second point is a complete blind fan call. He fouls people *ALL* the time that are not called on defensive end. Guess what? I still think he is one of the best defensive players in the game, I am not insulting him, it is a flat out fact that they do not call things against him.

Your first point is false as well. He was trying, why would you kick your leg out like that for any other reason? The reason he DIDNT launch himself into daniels? Daniels JUMPED OUT OF THE WAY because he knew wade was going to do his "Kick leg out for foul call" move that he always does. Like he did to KG the other day. So obvious, but I guess if you are a fan you are blind to it.

He pump faked Daniels to get the clean shot. Daniels bit on the fake, if Wade wanted the foul he would have shot it right there. He would not have come down, waited for Daniels to pass by, set himself, and shoot. When you get the defensive player in there air, you can do damn near whatever you like and he'll get the foul because he left his feet.

And I didn't give two shits about James before he became a member of the Heat, and he still played relatively clean defense in Cleveland. I say relatively, because if the refs were so inclined they could call a foul on damn never every single possession of every single NBA game ever played. So by that standard, I suppose they could whistle him more often. The problem is that there is no standard for what is and isn't a foul. It depends on the ref and the day. By the standard of what generally gets called as a foul, he just doesn't do most of the things that get called all the time. Your only legitimate gripe is on charges, because he does get pretty much every borderline call because of who is he. But charge/block is one of the hardest things to call correctly in professional sports when it's close.

[skatblast]

Dwayne wade needs to step it the F up. Lebron cant do EVERYTHING every game

[Oboloz]

Thunder Up!

[Thallidomaniac]

Thunder Up!

Yep, sadly. The Spurs turned over the ball so many times that it wasn't funny. It was as if they forgot how to even play the game.

[conscript]

The Spurs finally look out of gas and on the same level as another team. Kind of hoping they take the next two, but winning game six is going to be next to impossible in OKC. The big three for the Thunder look just great right now and their bench and role players deliver. I think the Western team is going to walk to the title unless the Heat/Celtics pull out a miracle performance. The Thunder and Spurs both look like such complete teams compared to the Heat.

---------- Post added 2012-06-05 at 10:00 PM ----------

And the Dwyane Wade No Show keeps on rolling. Counting tonight, Wade is averaging SIX points in the first half this series. Freaking six. LeBron is averaging 16.4 He is the only reason they are in these games and in the series. Yet he continues to be the only one heavily scrutinized by the media. LeBron coming to Miami was the best thing to ever happen to D Wade. He can no show for big games and no one ever notices. Meanwhile James goes out and puts up a ridiculous line, like he has done tonight, and all that matters is he looks "passive" in the final minutes as he drives into triple coverage and kicks to an open Haslem who misses. If he takes a jumper and misses the narrative is why didn't he drive. If he drives and they collapse on him the narrative is why didn't he go to his right as if the defense wouldn't have magically adjusted.

---------- Post added 2012-06-05 at 11:24 PM ----------

If anyone ever complains about the Heat flopping again, just please. The big swing in Game 4 came on a Pietrus flop that got LeBron fouled out and the big swing in Game 5 came on another Pietrus flop for a tech on Chalmers. He is seriously moving up into Ginobli territory for biggest flopper. Not a big secret why they are about to lose this game. Horrible officiating calling flops left and right for Boston in big situations and Dwyane Wade not bothering to show up for the first 24 minutes of the game AGAIN. As soon as Bosh went off the game completely turned for Boston.

This is just griping, but KG is the absolute master of the moving pick. On the play that led to the Pietrus flop tech, he set a pick by wrapping his arm around a guy and rotating with him. They absolutely never call that though, on Garnett or anyone else in the league, so it might as well be within the rules.

I hope the Celtics can win this in game 6 and, as much as I love the Thunder, I think I will be rooting for them in the Finals. Rondo, Pierce, Garnett, and Allen deserve another ring. They should have had one a few years ago when Perk got hurt and maybe another one if Garnett didn't get hurt. Those guys play the game the right way. Pierce labored along with a horrible Celtics franchise for years and KG plays harder than just about anyone ever.

[Thallidomaniac]

Go Boston! But yeah, how the Heat ended that 4th quarter was just, meh.

[Twiddly]

I could not watch the game, from what my dad tells me it was pretty boring anyway.

[Blueobelisk]

Your Dad lied. I wouldn't call it boring but at the end I was holding my breath hoping Boston would keep it to a four point lead, and in fourth quarter it was so close.

VICTORYYYY.

I think Miami will win Thurs but (hopefully) lose game seven.

[bals]

This is just griping, but KG is the absolute master of the moving pick. On the play that led to the Pietrus flop tech, he set a pick by wrapping his arm around a guy and rotating with him. They absolutely never call that though, on Garnett or anyone else in the league, so it might as well be within the rules.

Short memory, eh? KG had a game changing moving screen foul called on him like 20 days ago against the 76ers
http://www.google.com/search?q=kevin...+moving+screen

[mirodin]

It's funny, after that call a lot of people criticised the refs for calling it so late in the game. Is there some magical rule i don't know about that says basketball rules are suspended in the last 2 minutes of a game?

Gonna stray of the playoffs for a bit, the Huston Rockets have been in the middle of the pack for some time now, can't make the playoffs and not terrible enough to get a lottery pick. Should they blow it up or try to get one or two Superstar in?

[Kaiser499]

That was a hell of a game last night, so glad the Celtics won. They really deserve another ring although OKC is going to be tough if we can beat the Heat on Friday.

[conscript]

Short memory, eh? KG had a game changing moving screen foul called on him like 20 days ago against the 76ers
http://www.google.com/search?q=kevin...+moving+screen

No they called that one and it was incredibly stupid. Calling one out of 1000 is just dumb.

---------- Post added 2012-06-06 at 07:17 AM ----------

It's funny, after that call a lot of people criticised the refs for calling it so late in the game. Is there some magical rule i don't know about that says basketball rules are suspended in the last 2 minutes of a game?

Gonna stray of the playoffs for a bit, the Huston Rockets have been in the middle of the pack for some time now, can't make the playoffs and not terrible enough to get a lottery pick. Should they blow it up or try to get one or two Superstar in?

It is more of an understanding lol. If you aren't going to call a foul for something in the first 46 minutes, like moving screens, guys banging in the post, etc. don't call it in the last 2 minutes. KG set about a dozen moving picks in that game before that. Philly set about that many too. And they wait until it matters to call it. Either don't call it ever or call it always.

Doesn't Lowry want out for the Rockets? They should send him to LA for Gasol. They have decent pieces, but they don't feel even close to competing with the Thunder for a championship.

The Heat are a bad team. They have a couple great players, but as a team they are awful. The coaching is awful. They have no offensive sets. Bosh played 12 minutes early yesterday then didn't see the floor again, despite the doctors saying he could play 25. He put up 9 points 7 rebounds in those short minutes and Miami looked great. Spos response "I didn't think it would be fair to him to throw him in with a few minutes to go" WTF is that? The Heat were within a basket or leading through that time and they were getting killed inside and on the glass. Bosh fixes those issues. Spoelstra is a bad coach, simple as that. If they don't move one of these guys, which I frankly think they should to get a real center, they absolutely need to get rid of Spo. Outside of LeBron, Wade isn't showing up, Bosh is hurt, and the rest of the team is bench players for most every other team in the league or DNP-CD quality players. That is the huge difference between a team like Boston, San Antonio, or OKC. Boston has four great starters, but they also have a pretty good bench. San Antonio has five NBA quality players they rotate in every game. OKC has 5-6 guys including two legitimate centers, Perk and Collison. The Heat have three guys and Chalmers. Then nothing.

[Twiddly]

Just saw on ESPN Something I did not know, that if OKC wins this series, it will be the first time since 1998 that a team other then the spurs, lakers, or maverics won the west O.o

That seems like a long ass time for just three teams!

[Windry]

Meh, last year was the first time (since 1998) the finals didn't have Shaq, Kobe or Duncan (Shaq was on the Heat in 2006).

[conscript]

Did the Spurs take the last three games off just to mindfuck the Zombies? They look amazing again tonight.