If these freakin Refs actually reffed according to the rules,the Lakers wouldnt be dominating the way they are. Why you ask?? Watch any Laker game and see a big man TRY TO draw Shaq away from the hoop. He doesnt freakin move out of the paint. Thats a defensive 3 second violation. In fairness Duncan is very much guilty of this too. The NBA is tough to watch as is and it doesnt help that superstar bigmen are too lazy to cover out on the perimeter. Thus with the lack of shooting among players as they do not hone their games on the college level due to the lure of big bucks they are not confident their games are good enough to be lottery after a few years of college,you have basketball games that are brick shooting contests. All teams do now,especially if they have some big bodies,is clog the middle for the boards and give jumpers. I guess its a dominoe effect of a lot of things but basketball should be about basketball. This league is becoming very difficult to watch.
Shaq rarely is in the paint for 3 seconds on D. And it isnt a 3 in the key if his defender is right there. It is if he is far away, someone can correct me if I am wrong, but thats what I was told.
if he is within arms reach, then he can stay in the key. if he can not touch him with his arm fully extended, even if he is just 1 millimeter off, then its a defensive three.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jiggax23:</div><div class="quote_post">if he is within arms reach, then he can stay in the key. if he can not touch him with his arm fully extended, even if he is just 1 millimeter off, then its a defensive three.</div> Just watch the games. Particularly when there is dribble action near the hoop and Shaqs man is out on the elbow area. Unfortunately it will not be quite as exposed as it would be with say Sac or Dallas or Houston which where it was terribly exposed but you will see it at some point. The refs allow Duncan to also do this so its not a Shaq monopoly but he is just so overpowering that if he is under the hoop or around it for boards,its going to him whereas Duncan and most others can get competition for boards by hustling PFs and Cs around the league.
Actually if the refs called the game according to the guidelines, Shaq would completely dominate the league. The opposition can be called for a foul anytime Shaq gets his hands on it. Teams would get in foul trouble and Shaq would simply take over the game. I do agree, the game has become ugly to watch over the last 10 years. The refs are terribly inconsistent on the way they officiate a game and it's very frustrating to watch, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to play. They are also thin skinned and quick to call technical fouls. I also don't like the fact a lot of refs don't walk away from an irate player, but instead taunt them to the point where they blow the whistle for a technical.
I agree, if they went according to all rules... First of all, it would be much, much more boring. Second, Shaq would avg. at least 15 FT's/Game... But how many he makes is he real question.
