Think Dallas should win the series. Pretty much every state in the US is for Dallas except 3. That said every story about basketball right now on ESPN is the love fest between Dwade and Lebron, not one story about Dallas. Does that seem strange? Not even a mention about Dallas and their team or how they dominated every team they saw in the playoffs including a 4-0 sweep of the 2 time defending champions! This is why many think Stern and crew are selling personalities vs teams and this series is already paid for! Stern isn't listening to NBA fans again and it's already obvious who the media wants to win WOW!!! I hope Dallas wins by 25 tonight!
I don't. I want a closely contested, triple overtime game. I don't hate either of these teams and am just rooting for good bball right now.
Dallas crushes the first game with great spacing and killing it from the three and than I'm fine with the rest of the series being called "FAIRLY!" That's all I ask!
I don't think there's a connection between who fans want to win and who they think WILL win, and I think that it's even less correlated between which stories are played out in the media and which teams win the series. I want Dallas to win, but Miami will definitely have earned the title if they get it. Ed O.
As long as Wade and Lebron are allowed to carry the ball down the court on every possession and Lebron is allowed to dip his shoulder and power through guards and that's rewarded with foul shots, it's not a fair game. Lebron and Wade can't have 32 foul shots combined a game and Dallas 18 as a team... They are the best two players in the game right? Do they need 20 extra points on the line to prove it?
The best players get to the line a lot because they are good. Not the other way around. And a team like Dallas shouldn't complain about free throws... they have Dirk. He shoots a lot of free throws, in case you haven't noticed. Ed O.
I'm rooting for being entertained at this point. With the recent death of "Macho Man" Randy Savage I have no rooting interest, but in hopes of a good story, it'd be nice to see Hul ... uh ... Dallas I mean, really take it to Andr ... erm ... The Heat.
There's plenty of wagging-the-dog going on there too though... There are players (and indeed entire teams) who get to the line more because they get to the line more... like a chicken and egg thing; a series of maybe 5 games establishes a reputation that sticks. Oden fouls a lot. Durant gets to the line. Dallas shoots a ton of outside shots but more FTs than other teams who take it inside more. It seems to me there's some examples of teams/players who have a reputation because they have a reputation. A kind of pleasant Catch-22 for them.
The NBA is the only sports league that in comparison actually bolsters the credibility of Professional Wrestling. Obviously, the league will make a lot more $ if Miami wins the series. That in itself absolutely guarantees Miami will win the series.
I would say it's a self-reinforcing cycle. The best players get to the line a lot because they're good. Once they are recognized as good, they get "the benefit of the doubt," which means calls that other, lesser players doing the same thing wouldn't get. I don't, at all, think the league "rigs" games or tries to help certain teams win. I do think the NBA encourages officials to have a separate standard for stars/superstars than for other players...both to protect them from bench time with foul troubles as well as to help ensure that the players that people tune in to watch are doing well.
