God Portland fans make me sick. If this had happened to Portland this forum would never stop whining and bitching about it. They'd call it fixed and they'd argue and attack anyone who dared to have the opinions the Portland fans here have about this incident. This is one of the most fucked up things to ever happen in sports and some of you are acting like it's perfectly legitimate. The "stop whining" posts strike me as especially pompous and hypocritical. This is the worst rule in sports and pretty much ruins the legitimacy of the NBA. It essentially rewards a team for cheating. Any team at the end of the game could draw up a play where they clear out around the basket and right before the inbounds pass have one (or seven) players rush the court for an easy dunk or layup. That's how a Championship could be won under these rules. Portland fans defending this rule should be removed from the gene pool.
Let's look at it, though. It is a rule. Do I think it's jacked up? Sure. Would I support changing it? You bet. But it WAS a correct interpretation of an NBA rule, and enforced correctly, much like the Tuck Rule helped the Patriots beat the Raiders in the Snow Bowl. Do you deny this? Is it a rule that you can take 4 steps, though, without being called a travel? Nope. Is it a rule that you can elbow someone on their way down from dunking on you? Nope. Is it a rule that you can be fouled while dribbling and shoot free throws before you're "in the penalty"? Nope. But all three of those happened for the Celtics, and iirc they are in the video evidence of this thread. If we're talking about poor officiating skewing the game, we can look at improper enforcement/interpretation of league rules of the three cases I mentioned above. The referees making a proper call, and a league rule being enforced correctly causing Ray Allen to call it a "disgrace"? Ray's above that, and I would hope that you know it.
Yes, the rule is bad and should be fixed. However, your comments make it obvious you don't understand the rule, as it's currently written. If the ref notices there are too many players on the court before the basket is scored, it is a technical foul and the other team gets a FT. If a team sent seven extra players rushing the court, I think the officials, as bad as they may be, would notice that. Don't you? This was a double mistake, not an intentional attempt to cheat. Oden made the mistake of being on the court when he wasn't supposed to be and the refs made the mistake of not noticing it before the Blazers scored. In the end, this may be a good thing as it may cause the league to review this particular rule and change it. In over 40 years of watching the NBA, this is the one, and only, time I've seen a team benefit from having too many players on the court. In every other instance, it actually penalized the offending team as a technical was called before they scored. Obviously, this isn't something that happens every day, but now that it's getting so much attention, maybe this bad rule, that's been on the books for quite some time, will get changed. BNM
Just quit this talk; it's asanine. The technical would be called before the play was even run if that happened. In fact, that's when the tech should have been called in the first place. The mistake was Oden's and the refs'. Any time before the basket is scored that technical can be called. Remember when that coach set a pick on Kevin Johnson (or was it Isiah Thomas) in a game long time back (mid 90's)? Technical at the moment it occurred. They didn't wait until a basket was scored. A very small addition allowing for a basket scored under this violation to be waved off and a technical assessed would fix all of this rumormongering. Add in a hefty fine for the players leaving the bench to enter the court and the coach for drawing the play deliberaty, and you've strongly protected the situation. Extra players on the court is not a viable solution to anything but the problem of not looking stupid enough as a coach. Drink your damn milkshake already.
Such a dick of a post. I can't imagine what kind of person would type crap like this. Wrong in so many different ways. God, people that complain about "Portland" fans make me sick.
