I honestly do get tired of the constant complaining about the refs in the crowd at the Garden. If you ask the people sitting around me the Blazers haven't lost a game this season, it's all been the officials fault. I truely believe that in the course of a game and throughout the season the calls even out. Lets not forget, Brandon gets his fair share of the close calls also, but we as fans will never talk about the unfairness in that. On Saturday night, the "These refs suck" chant was pretty embarrassing. Hopefully the fans can refocus our energy tonight and chant something that is a little more productive towards the final outcome.
I respect Blazer fans a lot, and I don't doubt that they are on a whole a very knowledgeable bunch. But I want to see a video compilation of all these supposed hacks that didn't get called. And it should be even-handed -- anything that could have been called a foul but wasn't, regardless of the team, I want to see that in the compilation. To me, that's the best way to settle it. Here's how I look at it. The tendency in the playoffs is the refs let the teams play. If, as a team, you're not ready for that style, then you're not ready period. When one team gets outplayed and they get blown out, it is natural for them and their fans to focus on all those calls they could have gotten but didn't. There were a number of calls that could have been made in favor of the Rockets as well, but weren't. But the Rockets didn't need them to dominate the first game, so it doesn't get talked about.
I partially believe what Antonio said on the 5th quarter. The more aggressive team will get more calls because they are driving towards the basket. We simply didn't attack hard enough.
FINALLY, Canzano speaks the truth.... Portland Trail Blazers fans are the first ever fans in the history of the NBA and in fact all sports dating back to the first Olympic games in Athens to complain about officiating after a loss. Let's just hope this NEVER happens again.
Personally, I was giddy with joy knowing the chants of "These Refs Suck" were reigning down all while the commish was there
I'm sure there are some around here who do believe that ... I'm not one of them. Houston curb stomped us in game 1, no ifs ands or buts.
Canzano said on his radio program yesterday that the fans shouldn't have been chanting "these refs suck", but instead be booing the Blazers. How would that make us better fans? Turning on our own team? What a maroon.
I don't know that you can make a claim one way or another about their call influencing fan reactions to the refs, but I'm sure it doesn't help -- and it makes them almost unlistenable at times, forcing me to mute the TV. As for the rest, it's just JC being JC; he'll take any opportunity to stir up shit because he knows it will generate more page hits and presumably get people fired up enough to call into his hack radio show.
No because if the NBA was as rigged as we all would like to think then they would want a Portland vs. LA series to up ratings. I think that series would be more marketable than a Rockets Lakers one, especially considering what happen in the last 2 games against Por and LA.
I dont buy into the conspiracy theory at all... but Yao and the asian market in LA would be more marketable than us vs them IMO.. although we would provide a better seried. Weird how it works huh
Depends on *which* conspiracy theory you are talking about. Stern may not order the refs to make sure Team "X" wins a game....but the "star" system and the inconsistent calls it generates is hard to dispute.
Wouldnt really call that part a conspiracy.. as w have a certain guy on our team who gets a lot of those calls too.
first of all I thought the Rockets won game 1 fair and square mostly because Yao was incredible and Portland was collectively ice cold on their jumpers. But it's pretty easy to make the case of why Stern/the league might tell his skulking striped minions to make the calls go for the Rockets in this series... same as always, follow the money. Portland is and always has been a ratings killer and Houston is a major TV market with China in tow. There is no question as to which team advancing would make the league more money, a lot more. STOMP
Yep. Let's say Yao gets into more foul trouble in the first half (which he really should have), that completely changes the whole game. Maybe Portland wakes up and realizes that they have a great chance to win the game, but it's impossible to say.
Most of the TVs that tune in for a series are from the TV markets of the teams involved. Houston >>> Portland and China dwarfs both. STOMP
to add on to my follow the money conspiracy thought... more money will be made on this series if it's competitive and extended. So if it is true that Stern is manipulating game outcomes through his officials, it would seem he'd have the early calls go against Houston tonight STOMP
Again, where was this favoritism the last few years for the Rockets when they were playing Utah? Or 4 years ago when they played Dallas and the league instructed referees to pay specifically focus more on calling fouls on Yao?
