<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>As John McEnroe once said, “You cannot be serious!” That’s what I was saying to myself Wednesday night as the Hawks put the finishing touches on the Toronto Raptors for their fifth straight win. Not another controversial finish. For those of you that didn’t watch, this is how it went down: Down 107-104 with 11.5 seconds to play in regulation, the Hawks get three chances to tie the game and after missed 3-pointers from both Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson, Josh Childress finds Bibby in the corner on an inbounds plays and Bibby drains the shot with .5 of a second to send force overtime. But on the ensuing play, the Raptors somehow sneak T.J. Ford behind the Hawks’ defense and he grabs a lob in the air and lays it in at the buzzer to win the game for the Raptors. Only, he didn’t get the shot off in time (a fact the officials had to clarify via replay). But what they didn’t catch was their own error tenths of a second before that, when the clock started before Ford touched that lob. There will for sure be an official protest from the Raptors, victims of statistical misfortune for the second time on a trip here (you remember last year’s game where Ford wasn’t credited for a shot in a game that the Raptors went on to lose). And just like the Miami game earlier this year, there was clearly an error made. Only this time it’s not on the Hawks but on the game officials (wonder how David Stern’s going to rule on this one, ha). One unidentified member of the Raptors’ traveling party said it best, “It was going to be a close call either way. But we blew another double-digit lead, gave them three chances to tie the game in regulation and then couldn’t contain them in the overtime. So did we really deserve to win this game?” That’s open for debate. And if the roles were reversed, the Hawks would also be creaming REDRUM! So it’s hard to dismiss it as just a regrettable error. But what else can you do? Nobody wants to see another one of those epic replay games … at least I don’t. The worst part is that the finish obscures what was a huge night for the Hawks, who inched closer to their first playoff berth in years and who actually are closer now to the three-team cluster in fifth place than they are to the struggling crews holding down the ninth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. Josh Smith sank those two huge 3-pointers (hate him or love him, the kid is fearless and brings that extra something to the table that few players his size on the planet can) and played fantastic defense on Chris Bosh down the stretch. Bibby was as clutch as ever. And Joe Johnson did his usual, as did Childress, Marvin Williams and Al Horford. Instead of celebrating this win and what it means, there’s going to be a lot of teeth-gnashing from here to Toronto Thursday, wondering what, if anything, will be done about this game.</div> http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-bl.../not_again.html
<div><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FiHmLowo-0A&"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FiHmLowo-0A&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" /></embed></object></div> ^game in question. That basket should have counted.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (o.iatlhawksfan @ Apr 3 2008, 11:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Not really Horford inbounded the inbound pass, which is why the clock started. </div> Doesn't look like it to me. The official started the clock early, not the scorekeeper, so this will never be overturned.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (o.iatlhawksfan @ Apr 4 2008, 12:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Not really Horford inbounded the inbound pass, which is why the clock started. </div> if he did that the clock wouldve started much earlier
If you watch the baseline camera Horford never touched the basketball, and if he did tip it the ball would of never reached Ford. Ill try finding the baseline camera which clearly shows Horford missing the basketball.
I was looking at the replay on the espn.com game recap, and it looked like the red light went off with 0.1 seconds still left. Weird.
http://s257.photobucket.com/albums/hh230/l...p;current=0.jpg Here I couldnt find the video but click on the first image and then keep clicking on next picture so it looks somewhat in motion, you can clearly see that Horford did not touch the ball at all so I dont know why he would claim that he did. NBA where fixed games happen.
I'm with the Raptor fans on this one, I don't like this Atlanta BS. That pic of Horford is quite misleading with the angles and fuzziness.
There this should be enough proof, the one that that angers me though is that an NBA spokesperson said that the clock began because Horford touched the ball..like it seems he just took Horford's word didnt review the tape at all and made his statement.
