NBA Playoffs! (for the 3 or 4 NBA fans on this board)

The Game Room
221

It wasn’t an obvious foul call situation. At the time of the shot Durant created some of the contact by kicking his knee out (though not nearly as much as the memorable call in the previous series where Wade did a drop kick and got the call to go his way).

They could be calling fouls and travels and a million other things every second of every game if they wanted. No question that the legitimacy of NBA reffing is a joke. But it didn’t look like the Lebron-initiated contact is really what made the shot miss, and that’s probably why they didn’t call anything.

222

You don’t need a missed shot to call foul. Plus how big was that “goaltend” by Ibaka? Can’t believe they can’t correct that.

223

NBA refs give every fan fits from game to game.

OKC getting so far behind at the start is the bigger problem. No need for last second judgement calls if you didn’t have to swing almost 20 points in a turn around.

Still, I thought both teams played well, mostly. This was a more physical game than the first. Reminds me of the Rockets/Knicks finals.

I’m betting now that it goes to 7.

224

Ridiculous to say that the superstars get calls that others don’t? What league have you been watching? I’m not saying that LBJ is the only one getting calls. Durant, Wade, Westbrook and Harden all benefit from their status. But that non-call and the “goal-tending” against Ibaka weren’t the reason the Thunder lost. They simply dig too big of a hole to climb out of. They do it a lot. Usually it works and they win but playing with fire will come back to bite you at some point.

I’m confident that there will be a game 6. I think the Thunder are capable of getting 2 in Miami but I don’t think it likely. Of course, I thought the Spurs would sweep the Thunder so my predictions skills are exactly jack squat.

225

The block on Battier (instead of a charge on KD) really washes out the no call on LeBron at the end. Both teams’ superstars got a little special treatment. I wish it didn’t work that way, but this is how the NBA has operated since forever. Assuming the Thunder don’t come out that cold again and keep finishing strong, I think they’ll take this series in 6.

226

How does that square with Durant ALSO being a superstar? Why didn’t his SS-status make the call go his way?

You said:

So, what, the ref decided that LBJ’s status outranked Durant’s, and that decided the no-call?

227

If I said “yes”, you’d probably say that I was crazy and you’d probably be right. I do think that LBJ is a bigger star than Durant and therefore might (I wish you could bold on Tapatalk) get more calls. I’m not saying it’s a conscious decision on the ref’s part or that there’s a big conspiracy in the NBA to make the series go 7 games. I just think that the biggest stars get the most favorable treatment. I’d say it’s more human nature than anything else.

228

They should have called the foul in that situation imo… Miami was throwing the game away at the end and OKC was capitalizing on it, they completely shifted momentum, had all the crowd going crazy, hitting clutch 3’s, defensive stops, steals & then all of a sudden their down 2 on the final possession… The leagues leading scorer and second in MVP votes gets the ball, ALL eyes from every ref (just emphasizing) should have been on Durant in that situation. There is no excuse to not see that foul. It was not as if Durant was looking for the foul, LeBron grabbed and held his Durant’s arm, naturally any player would immediately shoot the ball trying to get to the line. He should have gotten the benefit of the doubt anyway after all that plus being at home (like most teams\players)…

As for Durant not fouling out, I really don’t think it would have been good for the league. Not because of the fact Durant is fouling out but because his fouls are coming from someone jumping in front of him and flopping to the ground. Charges are being called way too often and I don’t think they should be called when the offensive player can’t even see the charge being set up, especially when players are coming around screens. Taking the charge in half court offense is weak in my opinion, why should the defense get rewarded because they were late rotating or in Battier’s case, because he rather fall to the ground instead of picking up the man and trying to contest\block the shot…

229

It takes a lot of contact to get a call in end of the game situations, if it had been the first quarter Durant would have shot free throws.

230

Well that was ugly. If OKC can’t pull out a win tomorrow I think it’s all over.

231

That’s what I thought and then they beat the Spurs 4 straight. They could come back from a 3-1 deficit but that’s not the way I’d bet. They won’t have a chance if Harden doesn’t get his act together.

232

Really tough physical game here. Refs are letting them play; there’s a lot of contact on every possession and they’re letting it go. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

233

It has been pretty entertaining, hasn’t it? Even my daughter is getting into it.

234

it is a good thing in my eyes, we seen a few high school looking possessions but this is way better than calling all those light touching calls which keeps a team from getting anything going, especially the Thunder who thrive in a high tempo game…

Durant doesn’t seem to remember what his shot is… Harden is crap and Westbrook seems like the only one who gives a damn.

235

Poor Westbrook - his play was so brilliant for 47:40, so flawed for the last :20.

Looks like Lebron will get his ring, but if he lays out the final 2 minutes of the clinching game, it will do nothing but give his detractors more crap to work with. I’m not a professional NBA-watcher by any means, but Lebron has one of the more perplexing careers of any A-list superstar that I can remember.

236

Did you see him trying to walk around out there? He was hobbled. I was pleading for Spoelstra to take him out before he did.

237

Seriously? I can’t see any way to knock James for his performance today (or in a clinching game were he to behave similarly). He put up a near triple-double, and came back into the game while cramping to hit the go-ahead 3. What more would you have him do?

238

Both teams were taking good shots in the final minute. One team was making them.

239

(Before I start, let me state that I want Lebron and the Heat to win. The man has a monkey on his back the size of two states (Ohio and Florida) and he needs to remove it. “The Decision” wasn’t the greatest thing ever, but the guy was what, 26? I’m old enough to know that 26 isn’t experienced enough to know that the show wasn’t a great idea… but a 26-yo isn’t.)

My “issue” isn’t with his play, but how situations like this will impact his legacy.

Perhaps the man doesn’t care about how he is viewed by later generations, but even his biggest fans have to admit that Lebron throws fuel to the fire by appearing to “take off” playoff games (his last two games with Cleveland against Boston, last year’s record-setting drop off in ppg from the regular season to the finals*), to, of course, The Decision**.

Imagine this conversation from 3 generations of NBA fans talking about the gutsiest Finals performances ever:

Gramps: “Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, showed more guts than Willis Reed starting in game 7 with his fuckin’ thigh muscle about to come off. He scored the first two goals and his inspirational leadership helped bring the Knicks the '70 title.”

Dad: “Yeah, that was great, but don’t forget - it was an inspirational moment, not a playing moment. Yes, Reed scored the first two goals… but he didn’t score again and, IIRC, was immediately sat. To me, you can’t beat MJ in '97, game 5, where he was battling a 103-degree temperature on the way to a 38 point performance.”

Son: “Great performances and inspirational leadership sure, but that’s so old school. What about Lebron, sitting out most of the the final 4 minutes of game 4 in the '12 Finals with leg cramps? He was able to go in and score a go-ahead three before coming out of the game for good!”

I don’t know… there is a difference there. :wink:

*From Wiki: “James’s 17.8 points per game (down 8.9 points from 26.7) in the Finals was the largest drop off in points from a regular season to an NBA Finals in NBA history.”

** As I said, “The Decision” wasn’t the smartest move. On the other hand, if the Decision was to stay in Cleveland, very few people would have complained about the way it was handle.

240

It wasn’t the clinching game. And yes, while he was sitting out it occurred to me that people would probably try to make a big deal out of it (although I don’t know how many people are really doing that). But we’ve reached a point where people who say stuff like “he’s not a clutch player” have nothing to work with. He’s been making them look dumb the whole postseason, but at this point he’s jammed the it down their throats. On Tuesday he played an outstanding game in leading his team to a big comeback in a very important game and he made a huge 3 after his legs started cramping. It looks like the Heat are going to win the series and he’s had a great playoff run with dominant games at big junctures.