I'm watching game 2 in the Dallas/OKC game and the refs aren't allowing one single flop by Dallas. Dallas is flopping all over and getting no love from the refs. Even some legit fouls aren't being called as I think the refs are sending a message. Now against Portland it was no contact-flop-foul, no contact-flop-foul, no contact-flop-foul... I'm not saying we would have won the series had the refs not called all the flops, but it certainly gave Dallas a huge edge. So NOW the refs wise up.
Why would any script involve the Lakers being swept in round 2? Enough with the conspiracy theories and please post in the Around the NBA thread.
Take the LA market out of playoffs and you have lower TV ratings. Lower ratings this year help the owners in their negotiations against the players for a new CBA.
I think two things: First, as we get deeper into the playoffs the quality of ref goes up. Simple as that. Teams that cheat have a huge advantage early in the playoffs. Second, as the playoffs go along and refs see teams over and over in series they get to see the cheating tendencies and that gets passed along to the refs. It just gripes me we had to watch the flop show for 6 games. I suppose it's time for me to get over it, eh?
In the 2010-11 regular season LA averaged 5.5 FTA per game... Dirk averaged 6.1 In their 1st round matchup, LA averaged 4.0 FTA per game... Dirk averaged 10.5 it's not like Dallas wasn't hacking the shit out of Aldridge, the refs just swallowed their whistles on one end and were hair trigger on the other STOMP
This is very true and as much as I get really upset at how the series was called Dallas was just the better team overall.
I concur. Game One in Dallas was a gift to the Mavs by the refs. How might the series had gone if the Blazers had won that game? Dallas seems on a mission this year, and they likely still win in 7 games, but you never know. After the bad reffing took away our split opportunity, I knew the series was already over. It fucking sucks.
Stern can't make a team play. The Lakers simply gave up. It was pathetic. Nothing Stern can do to make a Laker make a damn shot. As for why OKC is in the Conference Finals and why they are so favored by the refs: Easy guesses: 1) so far, OKC is NOT hurting the TV ratings. There goes the theory that ratings are locked into LA/NY. During the long season yes, but for the playoffs sometimes fans will watch other teams with interest. 2) Stern is extermely interested in making the Thunder a successful franchise in a tiny market for a variety of reasons. 3) OKC making it so far will help a little bit during the new CBA negotiations where one of the key and monster battles is not between the owners and players, but between the large local TV market teams and the small market teams. 4) It is all part of a long-term plan to groom Durant into a monster international SuperStar. He has the talent and drive for it and the NBA are behind him 100% on this. SuperStars stage is the Finals. They would like to see him there sooner rather than later. And this season with the old Lakers and Spurs crashing and burning this is time to have a dark horse run like LeBron and the Cavs did in 07.
It would bring back all the "Who would you rather start a club around LeBron/Durant" Debate that raged all over ESPN this summer. I like the script: HoF Mavricks vs 2 HoF Pretenders. Let the 90FT per game finals commence!
Oh god, I hope not. Remember when they used replacement officials during preseason a couple years ago and the games regularly had 90 - 100 total FTs? I sat through a couple of those games and have to say it was some of the most boring basketball I've ever seen. The games lasted forever and it was about as much fun as watching paint dry. The fact that it was preseason made it even worse as a lot of those FTs were shot (and missed) by marginal players getting PT in the preseason to see if they were good enough to make the 15-man roster. Many weren't and watching some no name schmoe brick FT after FT was downright painful. Say what you want about NBA refs, but I as VERY glad to see them come back. BNM
As much as I hate NBA refs you gotta respect them a bit, that job is hard and you gotta be watching 5 things at once. They do seem biased and every single NBA team has fans that hate the refs and think they can do no right. Hard to go out with no or little bias every night to a crowd that will Boo you quiet a few times for making the correct call that they didn't like or messing one up because you had an angle of the play that seemed like a foul but wasn't.
