NBA Playoffs 2012

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21

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]js252 wrote:
you guys crying foul on the officiating in the LA series really need to go look at the box scores of the games, pretty sure LA shot more free throws in every game of the series with the exception of game 1 maybe. I know okc is more of a jump shooting team but come on game 3 i think it was something like +20 ft’s for the lakers? okc seemed to get called for a lot of ticky tacky phantom calls at home and on the road. just an unbiased opinion though.[/quote]

Because the home team gets better officiating in every NBA game and it’s exaggerated every playoffs. Notice every time anyone in this thread complains about horrid officiating, “shady” officiating or conspiracy theories, it is ALWAYS the home team they are complaining about every single time.

That’s just how it is. Refs are human and get intimidated by crowds. Thinking the league has any reason to have OKC advance over LAL is totally asinine, every series that has OKC’s fan base tune in instead of LAL’s fan base loses the league boatloads of TV viewers and therefore cash.

edit: Think of the marketing cash the league would get for Kobe chasing his 6th ring to tie MJ. I’m betting the league really wishes LAL was better.

Side note on Lakers: I really hope one day twenty years from now, some documentary comes out that tells us everything about the vetoed Chris Paul trade. I still can’t figure out what the shit happened.[/quote]

Except that Stern [who moved the Seattle Supersonics to OKC after he promised he wouldn’t] is the commish, and the commish gets what he wants. He has a vested interest in OKC. He doesn’t want to look like an ass for moving a team from one of the leagues best fan bases to a city that before recently had a limited basketball fanbase. OKC was getting RIDICULOUS calls, even in LA. Bryant, despite regularly being among the top in jersey sales, is not universally well liked by the casual fan and in some cases the seasoned fan. Everyone on OKC is, maybe with the exception of Westbrook [to the well informed fan]. Bryant is on his way out, and every major contributor on OKC is under 23 [Perkins excluded]. OKC is a potential dynasty in the making, and having a crew of clean cut good guys dominating the league while it’s facing a transition period would be HUGE, and would obviously bridge that gap. Durant’s good guys out West vs James decision gang out East. The story sells itself. If you watched this series, and can say with a straight face that the calls were even, you’ve got one helluva poker face.[/quote]

here’s the series breakdown for you, maybe you’re just used to LA getting MORE calls than they got I dont know.
for the series LA had 105 player fouls OKC had 113
free throws LA 126 OKC 123 --thats even with the game one blow out in which okc was +14 so that tells you how the rest of the 4 games played out
tech’s LA 4 OKC 7

and thats the first i have heard in stern being the villan in taking the sonics from seattle, always thought that was clay bennett. still dont see what seattle’s problem is, they got to keep their WNBA team right?

22

[quote]js252 wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]js252 wrote:
you guys crying foul on the officiating in the LA series really need to go look at the box scores of the games, pretty sure LA shot more free throws in every game of the series with the exception of game 1 maybe. I know okc is more of a jump shooting team but come on game 3 i think it was something like +20 ft’s for the lakers? okc seemed to get called for a lot of ticky tacky phantom calls at home and on the road. just an unbiased opinion though.[/quote]

Because the home team gets better officiating in every NBA game and it’s exaggerated every playoffs. Notice every time anyone in this thread complains about horrid officiating, “shady” officiating or conspiracy theories, it is ALWAYS the home team they are complaining about every single time.

That’s just how it is. Refs are human and get intimidated by crowds. Thinking the league has any reason to have OKC advance over LAL is totally asinine, every series that has OKC’s fan base tune in instead of LAL’s fan base loses the league boatloads of TV viewers and therefore cash.

edit: Think of the marketing cash the league would get for Kobe chasing his 6th ring to tie MJ. I’m betting the league really wishes LAL was better.

Side note on Lakers: I really hope one day twenty years from now, some documentary comes out that tells us everything about the vetoed Chris Paul trade. I still can’t figure out what the shit happened.[/quote]

Except that Stern [who moved the Seattle Supersonics to OKC after he promised he wouldn’t] is the commish, and the commish gets what he wants. He has a vested interest in OKC. He doesn’t want to look like an ass for moving a team from one of the leagues best fan bases to a city that before recently had a limited basketball fanbase. OKC was getting RIDICULOUS calls, even in LA. Bryant, despite regularly being among the top in jersey sales, is not universally well liked by the casual fan and in some cases the seasoned fan. Everyone on OKC is, maybe with the exception of Westbrook [to the well informed fan]. Bryant is on his way out, and every major contributor on OKC is under 23 [Perkins excluded]. OKC is a potential dynasty in the making, and having a crew of clean cut good guys dominating the league while it’s facing a transition period would be HUGE, and would obviously bridge that gap. Durant’s good guys out West vs James decision gang out East. The story sells itself. If you watched this series, and can say with a straight face that the calls were even, you’ve got one helluva poker face.[/quote]

here’s the series breakdown for you, maybe you’re just used to LA getting MORE calls than they got I dont know.
for the series LA had 105 player fouls OKC had 113
free throws LA 126 OKC 123 --thats even with the game one blow out in which okc was +14 so that tells you how the rest of the 4 games played out
tech’s LA 4 OKC 7

and thats the first i have heard in stern being the villan in taking the sonics from seattle, always thought that was clay bennett. still dont see what seattle’s problem is, they got to keep their WNBA team right?[/quote]

Stats do not tell the whole story here. What was the breakdown in 4th quarters and close situations, and how many times did Durant/Westbrook/Harden get completely favorable calls? And, the flagrant and two techs last night were CLEARLY bogus and gave OKC [for lack of a btter term] an unfair advantage. When it mattered most, OKC got the call EVERY TIME, and the Lakers didn’t. It really is that simple.

23

^^The final game/series stat line doesnt tell the whole story. You have to actually WATCH the games and not just read the box scores.

Ever heard of “make up calls”?? You can’t get a feel for questionable officiating by looking at the box score. You have to see what is and what is not being whistled in the game… And when (like OKC’s 13 free throws in the 4th quarter of game 4 to LA’s 4)

24

[quote]gregron wrote:
^^The final game/series stat line doesnt tell the whole story. You have to actually WATCH the games and not just read the box scores.

Ever heard of “make up calls”?? You can’t get a feel for questionable officiating by looking at the box score. You have to see what is and what is not being whistled in the game… And when (like OKC’s 13 free throws in the 4th quarter of game 4 to LA’s 4)[/quote]

Exactly. And, that game was in LA. At one point in the 4th, Bryant drives the lane, gets hit going up, no whistle, OKC gets the ball, Durant takes a floater and DOESN’T get fouled but gets a whistle and gets two. Think he actually missed both ft’s, but the point remains. OKC was getting absolutely ridiculously favorable calls all series.

25

[quote]gregron wrote:
^^The final game/series stat line doesnt tell the whole story. You have to actually WATCH the games and not just read the box scores.

Ever heard of “make up calls”?? You can’t get a feel for questionable officiating by looking at the box score. You have to see what is and what is not being whistled in the game… And when (like OKC’s 13 free throws in the 4th quarter of game 4 to LA’s 4)[/quote]

ok lol you got me i didnt watch every minute of every game in this series but did watch a good majority, to me kobe was getting a ridiculous amount of calls were he wouldnt even get touched on shots or harden would get cheap calls when kobe would initiate the contact. oh well cant fault you guys i would be blaming the refs too if my team got beat out, I’ve done it before.

26

[quote]js252 wrote:
anybody really think okc or anyone else can take the spurs though?[/quote]

I do. OKC will be the West Coast champions as I predicted earlier in the last thread before the playoffs started.

27

[quote]js252 wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
^^The final game/series stat line doesnt tell the whole story. You have to actually WATCH the games and not just read the box scores.

Ever heard of “make up calls”?? You can’t get a feel for questionable officiating by looking at the box score. You have to see what is and what is not being whistled in the game… And when (like OKC’s 13 free throws in the 4th quarter of game 4 to LA’s 4)[/quote]

ok lol you got me i didnt watch every minute of every game in this series but did watch a good majority, to me kobe was getting a ridiculous amount of calls were he wouldnt even get touched on shots or harden would get cheap calls when kobe would initiate the contact. oh well cant fault you guys i would be blaming the refs too if my team got beat out, I’ve done it before.[/quote]

If what you wrote above is what you saw from this series then your comment about not watching every minute of this series was the understatement of the century.

The thing you described above happened in game 3. That’s the game when Kobe was 18-18 from the line. It was already discussed in the last NBA thread but Kobe might have gotten a few “ticky tac” fouls but they were still technically fouls… No phantom calls.

The Harden argument is laughable at best. Did you watch more than one complete game in this series? Harden (a bench player) was doing his best LBJ impression; putting his head down, running straight into guys who were backing up (or planted a few times), throwing up a layup and getting the call like he’s MJ. Harden got more “ridiculous” calls in that series than anyone else (Kobe, Westbrook and Durant included)

Also, to address the passive aggressive final line of your post; I never blamed the refs for the Lakers losing this series. I’ve whole heatedly blamed the Lakers and I even said that they choked this series away.

28

[quote]sam_sneed wrote:

[quote]js252 wrote:
anybody really think okc or anyone else can take the spurs though?[/quote]

I do. OKC will be the West Coast champions as I predicted earlier in the last thread before the playoffs started.[/quote]

OKC is going to get dismantled by the Spurs. The Spurs are just playing way too good right now, no one can hang with them. OKC has had to come back from pretty serious deficits in 5 of their 8 playoff wins… They won’t be doing that against San Antonio.

29

[quote]gregron wrote:

[quote]sam_sneed wrote:

[quote]js252 wrote:
anybody really think okc or anyone else can take the spurs though?[/quote]

I do. OKC will be the West Coast champions as I predicted earlier in the last thread before the playoffs started.[/quote]

OKC is going to get dismantled by the Spurs. The Spurs are just playing way too good right now, no one can hang with them. OKC has had to come back from pretty serious deficits in 5 of their 8 playoff wins… They won’t be doing that against San Antonio.[/quote]

It’s true the Spurs are steamrolling through the Playoffs with the momentum they had at the end of the season, but I’m not impressed with the teams they had to beat in the Playoffs. Utah and a less than 100% Clipper team. I think OKC got this.

How many games you think it’ll take the Spurs to take it?

Disclaimer: I couldn’t watch any Spurs games these playoffs because they’re too damn boring. I tried, just couldn’t keep from switching the channel.

30

[quote]gregron wrote:

[quote]js252 wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
^^The final game/series stat line doesnt tell the whole story. You have to actually WATCH the games and not just read the box scores.

Ever heard of “make up calls”?? You can’t get a feel for questionable officiating by looking at the box score. You have to see what is and what is not being whistled in the game… And when (like OKC’s 13 free throws in the 4th quarter of game 4 to LA’s 4)[/quote]

ok lol you got me i didnt watch every minute of every game in this series but did watch a good majority, to me kobe was getting a ridiculous amount of calls were he wouldnt even get touched on shots or harden would get cheap calls when kobe would initiate the contact. oh well cant fault you guys i would be blaming the refs too if my team got beat out, I’ve done it before.[/quote]

If what you wrote above is what you saw from this series then your comment about not watching every minute of this series was the understatement of the century.

The thing you described above happened in game 3. That’s the game when Kobe was 18-18 from the line. It was already discussed in the last NBA thread but Kobe might have gotten a few “ticky tac” fouls but they were still technically fouls… No phantom calls.

The Harden argument is laughable at best. Did you watch more than one complete game in this series? Harden (a bench player) was doing his best LBJ impression; putting his head down, running straight into guys who were backing up (or planted a few times), throwing up a layup and getting the call like he’s MJ. Harden got more “ridiculous” calls in that series than anyone else (Kobe, Westbrook and Durant included)

Also, to address the passive aggressive final line of your post; I never blamed the refs for the Lakers losing this series. I’ve whole heatedly blamed the Lakers and I even said that they choked this series away.[/quote]

yeah i guess so, the little bit of the series i missed must have had a landslide of calls going okc’s way. in the parts i did see i heard reggie make quite a few remarks about some of the calls against okc usually the announcers dont seem to say alot about the refs or stay neutral about it.

and probably a better comparison of hardens drives would be manu being lefty and all, and he seems to get a few calls as well. which aggressive players that drive alot tend to do.

31

I got Spurs in 6, and I think which ever team comes out of the West wins it all.

I slept on the Spurs all season, but what they are doing right now is downright scary. Excellent example of the whole being greater than the sum of it’s parts.

32

The ONLY team in the league that has even a remote chance of stopping San Antone is OKC. But, I just don’t think they’re good enough yet. Also, there is nothing boring about the way the Spurs play. Yeah, they’re not getting halfcourt lobs or running their globetrotter starter kits, but their chemistry is insane. They play as crisp a basketball game as I’ve ever seen. They’re like the old dudes at the Y that have been playing together forever and run the courts against kids 1/2 their age and twice as athletic.

33

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
They’re like the old dudes at the Y that have been playing together forever and run the courts against kids 1/2 their age and twice as athletic.[/quote]

That’s really not that far off.

it should be a good series, and really should be the finals match up.

34

I didn’t watch as much of the LAL series as I’d like (west conf games are on late here), but until a SINGLE non-Lakers fan says the calls were predominately in OKC’s favor, I’m not gonna believe it.

I generally don’t believe any argument when the only people in favor are fans of the team of question. You’ll be right more often than not. Especially because WF has at least mentioned the “tilted” officiating in literally every Lakers game that he’s watched and discussed in this thread. (Not saying he blames losses on them, but there is always SOME mention of skewed officiating somewhere in each post)

35

Yes, I did see the Artest flagrant, and it was a bad call. But he also shouted “Bullshit” at a ref and cursing at them will get you T’d up every time, that Tech was his own fault for being an idiot.

He probably would not have been called for a flagrant there if it was in LA.

36

[quote]scj119 wrote:
Yes, I did see the Artest flagrant, and it was a bad call. But he also shouted “Bullshit” at a ref and cursing at them will get you T’d up every time, that Tech was his own fault for being an idiot.

He probably would not have been called for a flagrant there if it was in LA.[/quote]

There was definitely some favourable calls for OKC, but I think it’s being played up as a bigger factor than it actually was.

It wasn’t extremely lopsided.

37

[quote]scj119 wrote:
I didn’t watch as much of the LAL series as I’d like (west conf games are on late here), but until a SINGLE non-Lakers fan says the calls were predominately in OKC’s favor, I’m not gonna believe it.

I generally don’t believe any argument when the only people in favor are fans of the team of question. You’ll be right more often than not. Especially because WF has at least mentioned the “tilted” officiating in literally every Lakers game that he’s watched and discussed in this thread. (Not saying he blames losses on them, but there is always SOME mention of skewed officiating somewhere in each post) [/quote]
Of course they were going to say the calls were bullshit because they are Lakers fans. What were the Lakers fans saying in 2002 in game six against the Kings?

38

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
The ONLY team in the league that has even a remote chance of stopping San Antone is OKC. But, I just don’t think they’re good enough yet. Also, there is nothing boring about the way the Spurs play. Yeah, they’re not getting halfcourt lobs or running their globetrotter starter kits, but their chemistry is insane. They play as crisp a basketball game as I’ve ever seen. They’re like the old dudes at the Y that have been playing together forever and run the courts against kids 1/2 their age and twice as athletic.[/quote]

They’ll be easier to watch against OKC. It’s not only that I don’t find their style of play exciting, it’s also because every time I tune in they’re up by 10 or more. Combine the 2 and I just tune out. I don’t like OKC or the Lakers, but their games have been way more exciting to watch than any of the Spurs series. West coast games suck too when you have to be up at 6am.

I like your analogy. I used to play in a Y league years ago when I was a lot younger. This old, out of shape looking team that was sponsored by an Irish pub used to take the championship every year I played verse a bunch of younger, faster teams.

39

[quote]scj119 wrote:
I didn’t watch as much of the LAL series as I’d like (west conf games are on late here), but until a SINGLE non-Lakers fan says the calls were predominately in OKC’s favor, I’m not gonna believe it.

I generally don’t believe any argument when the only people in favor are fans of the team of question. You’ll be right more often than not. Especially because WF has at least mentioned the “tilted” officiating in literally every Lakers game that he’s watched and discussed in this thread. (Not saying he blames losses on them, but there is always SOME mention of skewed officiating somewhere in each post) [/quote]

Every game, huh? If you didn’t actually watch the games, then you really have no place to make a comment.

40

[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:
I didn’t watch as much of the LAL series as I’d like (west conf games are on late here), but until a SINGLE non-Lakers fan says the calls were predominately in OKC’s favor, I’m not gonna believe it.

I generally don’t believe any argument when the only people in favor are fans of the team of question. You’ll be right more often than not. Especially because WF has at least mentioned the “tilted” officiating in literally every Lakers game that he’s watched and discussed in this thread. (Not saying he blames losses on them, but there is always SOME mention of skewed officiating somewhere in each post) [/quote]
Of course they were going to say the calls were bullshit because they are Lakers fans. What were the Lakers fans saying in 2002 in game six against the Kings?[/quote]

Going back and watching the games in light of what Donoghay[sp?] has said I FIRMLY believe the refs influenced those games, just like I believe the refs influence games ALL OF THE TIME. This game is about money, and the commish is a shrewd business man. Dynasties make money, and he’s manufactured a few. I’d also like to point out that OKC won this series due to the Lakers lack of heart, not ref favoritism. But, the refs most certainly played a large part.