<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">In a post-game interview with ESPN, a heated Josh Howard denied calling timeout twice before refs charged the team with their final timeout, potentially costing them the game. "If that's what he's saying, that's what he's saying. I know I didn't call a timeout twice. I didn't even say nothing to anyone. I just made a sign like that." [Howard places his hands in the shape of a 'T'] - Howard told ESPN's Daily Dime. Howard eventually lost his cool and erupted on the reporter. "What am I saying to you right now, dog? Please, don't come off on me right now because I'm going to come off on you, and I'm not in a great mood right now. Get out of my face, man. Get out of my face." </div> I don't think Howard did actually call a time out. He apparently looked over to Avery Johnson, asked if he should call one and never looked at the refs, apparently. That was a game changing call, Mavs could have got off a good shot with 2 seconds left and i think that the refs need to re-think the situation. Why would someone call a timeout in that situation? I'm going for the Heat this series and i wanted to give my opinion over this situation. Overall, so far, the officiating has not been one sided so i don't think people can complain, except possibly for that yet until video's/close up's are released, nobody can really say what happened.
To be honest I don't think Howard knew they only had one timeout left....he was walking over to the bench as if everything was okay, and he didn't start looking around til AJ came out and started protesting.....I think some of the blame can go towards Howard and Johnson.
In that situation, the blame should go mostly to the coach. He was giving the timeout signal to Josh Howard. Anyways, there was no good reason for the ref to stubbornly stick with the timeout. Refs reverse calls all the time, like with inadverstant whistles. When there's an obvious misunderstanding with the timeout, why allow that to impact a Finals game?
