The NBA announced yesterday that, starting next season, it will impose fines for ‘clear cases of flopping’.
Funny how the NBA is now putting the blame on the players because they can’t make the right call. Should Brent Barry have flopped the other night when fouled by Fisher? Maybe he would have got the call, and won the game.
It starts with admitting YOU have a problem.
All that bull[bleep]-ass calls they had out there. With Mike [Callahan] and Kenny [Mauer] — you’ve all seen that [bleep]. You saw them calls. The cats are flopping all over the floor and they’re calling that [bleep]. That [bleep] ain’t basketball out there. It’s all [bleeping] entertainment. You all should know that [bleep]. It’s all [bleeping] entertainment. -Rasheed Wallace
The league office on Wednesday reviewed the final play of the San Antonio Spurs’ 93-91 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals and acknowledged that a two-shot foul should have been called on Derek Fisher for impeding Brent Barry.
After falling behind by seven points in the final minute, San Antonio sliced the deficit to two and regained possession with 2.1 seconds to play.
Barry then wound up with the ball in the center of the floor on a play called for Manu Ginobili and faked Fisher in the air but struggled to get off a 3-point heave at the buzzer after Fisher came down and bumped Barry.
“With the benefit of instant replay, it appears a foul call should have been made,” league spokesman Tim Frank said Wednesday.
The miss sealed an L.A. victory that moved the Lakers into a commanding 3-1 series lead entering Thursday’s Game 5 at Staples Center.
But the Spurs did not protest the non-call afterward, even though a foul called before the shot would have sent Barry to the line for two free throws and a chance to force overtime.
The non-call nonetheless generated more than the usual scrutiny because the closest referee to the play was Joey Crawford, with whom San Antonio has a contentious recent history.
“That play,” Barry said, “was not where the game was lost.”
The Spurs, in truth, wouldn’t have had a chance to tie or win the game in the final two seconds if not for a fortuitous non-call on the previous possession.
Television replays indicated that Fisher’s shot with 6.9 seconds to go grazed the rim before bouncing out of bounds off of Robert Horry’s leg, meaning that the Lakers should have had a new shot clock instead of asking Kobe Bryant to hurry a fadeaway jumper after the ensuing timeout.
The new shot clock likely would have forced San Antonio to foul Bryant as opposed to getting the ball back off Bryant’s miss to draw up a potential game-winning play.
“It wasn’t a foul. … I think it was a proper no-call from what I saw,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Fisher bumping Barry.
Added Spurs forward Tim Duncan: “You’re not going to get that call. They’re not going to make that call.”
The Lakers were likewise adamant that no foul should have been called on Fisher, pointing at least in part to the fact that they didn’t get a new shot clock on the Fisher miss — and that Bryant didn’t earn a single trip to the free-throw line despite attempting 29 shots from the field.
“Yeah, he bumped him,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of Fisher landing on Barry. “You know, games go like that.”
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
With 2.1 seconds on the clock, Brent Barry has the ball.
If he has a shot at the basket he has a chance to win the game.
Instead he is jumped into by Derek Fisher, if a whistle is blown he shoots 3, no call.
The announcers after the game argue that ‘he didn’t sell it’. I guess to sell it he would have had to FLOP the other extreme of not getting the call.
Joey Crawford should have blown the whistle, he didn’t. He continues to show his bias against the Spurs. David Stern and Stu Jackson are either the most ignorant people on the planet, or else know this and continue to show how pathetic their decision making.
If you watched much of the NBA in recent years, you might have gotten duped at some point. Former referee Tim Donaghy bet on 14 games that he worked in 2006-07, according to court filings.
Please, please, PLEASE: Do not be surprised.
It is not a surprise that Donaghy bet on games; this was fairly apparent last summer, when he was arrested. It is not a surprise that he bet on games in which he officiated; this too was evident.
And we should not have been surprised last summer, when the news broke. The sports world is in denial about gambling.
We think point-shaving is extremely rare and isolated, mostly because that’s what we want to believe. We think of Donaghy as a rogue criminal, because it’s easier to think of him that way. But enough point-shaving scandals have emerged in the last 20 years to make fans and executives re-evaluate the threat.
Consider that A) gambling is an addiction that leads people to commit acts out of desperation, for money; B) basically every game you watch is fixable, since every game is gambled upon; and C) well, do you really need a C?
No matter the sport, we watch because we assume the outcome is not pre-determined.
The Spurs are now 0-2, in the second round, this post-season with Joey Crawford acting as ref. Funny how both games took place in New Orleans.
“An NBA spokesperson said executive vice-president for basketball operations Stu Jackson confirmed that Popovich’s interpretation of the rule about foul line access was correct, but that Crawford was within his rights to make a judgment call that players from both teams had contributed to the delay of the game. “
So Popovich was correct about the rule, but Crawford can retaliate against the Spurs any way he sees fit?
Crawford as some may recall was suspended for the balance of the season and playoffs last year after a poorly called game against the Spurs.
He’s a horrible ref as we’ve discussed on this site before.
The NBA really needs to base their officiating staff on a persons qualifications and not on how long they’ve been in the league. Ref’s like Crawford, Javie, Delaney, Rush, and Bavetta have become household names. At the expense of the game.
(from HeraldTribune.com)
LAKEWOOD RANCH — The estranged wife of former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who admitted to betting on games he officiated, has asked a local judge to issue a restraining order against her husband.
The request accuses Donaghy of striking their children, breaking into her e-mail account and threatening to harm her.
Donaghy could not be reached for comment Wednesday; his attorney’s office declined comment.
The allegations against Donaghy surfaced in the middle of the couple’s divorce proceedings, as the couple fights over custody of their four young children and their $1.1 million mansion in the Lakewood Ranch Country Club in Manatee County.
In court papers, Kim Donaghy says her husband used her AOL password to steal e-mails about the divorce. On March 14, she says she asked for the e-mails and other paperwork and Donaghy threatened her in front of their children, and police were called.
A Manatee sheriff’s report on the incident said that the fight was not physical. Kim Donaghy said in court documents that Tim has hit the children in the past.
“He is going to snap,” she wrote.
A local judge will have a hearing on the restraining order request Monday. About a month later, Donaghy is due in a New York court, where he will be sentenced for his role in an NBA betting scandal.
The former ref pleaded guilty to wagering on games he worked and tipping off other bettors with inside information. He faces 25 years in prison.
NEW ORLEANS — City of Seattle officials lashed out at NBA commissioner David Stern late Saturday after Stern said the Sonics’ move to Oklahoma City is inevitable.
“I clearly see this as a publicity stunt by Mr. Stern, nothing else,” Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said. “I’m optimistic that we have a strong case in court and we’ll be in front of a federal judge to argue it.”
Speaking during his annual state-of-the-league news conference at the All-Star Game, Stern also revealed the Sonics ownership group, at Stern’s urging, offered a payment of $26.5 million to buy out the final two years of its KeyArena lease and pay the remaining bond debt on the building.
The city quickly rejected the offer, appearing content to sue the Professional Basketball Club to hold the Sonics to the lease. The sides have a June 16 trial date to determine whether the Sonics will be bound to KeyArena through the 2009-10 season.
Ceis and Marty McOmber, spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels, both criticized Stern for using a public forum to drum up support for relocation.
“It’s quite clear that the NBA no longer seems to want to honor the contracts they sign with cities,” Ceis said. “So we’ll have to have a federal court enforce that. If Mr. Stern thinks this lease is for sale, that’s not the case.”
McOmber suggested Stern is trying to drive an irreparable wedge between the team and city.
“It’s completely inappropriate for Mr. Stern to be revealing conversations between lawyers, period,” McOmber said. “Any offer that has been made was completely inadequate to cover the loss and damages as a result of losing the Seattle Sonics. This is apparently some collusion by David Stern and Clay Bennett to hijack this team and take them to Oklahoma City. They have a lease until 2010 and we are going to hold them to that lease. We have every intention on doing that.”
Bennett’s group purchased the Sonics for $350 million in July 2006. Its proposal to build a $500 million arena in Renton, financed largely with public funds, never gained traction. In September, Bennett sought arbitration to escape the lease and move the team. The city then sued.
“It’s apparent to all who are watching that the Sonics are heading out of Seattle,” Stern said. “There’s not going to be a new arena. There’s not going to be a public contribution, and that’s everyone’s right. I mean that sincerely. So the only question now becomes, is the court going to rule that you can fulfill the terms of the lease by paying money for the remaining two years after this? Or, despite everything, there is some reason to keep them there as the clock winds down.
“All I can tell you is that in response to that request by me, the (buyout) offer was made, and it was rejected. I think it’s bad public policy.”
The city is still paying off the bond on the 1995 refurbishing of KeyArena and that debt will remain for several years. Stern’s revelation marked the first time it has been publicly stated that Bennett’s group offered to pay anything beyond the final two years of the lease.
Neither Ceis nor McOmber would confirm Bennett’s offer, but a document obtained by the Seattle P-I shows an offer indeed was made.
A letter from the law offices of McAfee & Taft dated Feb. 14 was submitted to Seattle city attorney Thomas Carr, highlighting the three scenarios of the court case. In statement No. 5 of the letter, the Professional Basketball Club makes the offer: “The third scenario is a settlement. PBC is willing to offer a one-time payment to the City that will (a) satisfy the anticipated rental revenue sharing payments and admissions taxes of the final two years of the KeyArena lease and; (b) provide the City sufficient funds to pay the $26.5 million principal due on the KeyArena debt as it matures.”
The letter then states that Professional Basketball Club will offer the city a payment of $7,265,286 to cover the final two years of rent at KeyArena and a payment of $19,305,766 to cover the current estimated bond due for previous repairs. The Bennett group offers the city a total of $26,571,052 for the rights to move the team to Oklahoma City next season. The letter gives the city one day — Feb. 15 — to respond to the offer. It apparently was rejected within that span of time.
Ceis said the Bennett group has withheld “important documents” as the sides prepare for trial. Many observers believe the city has a good case against the Sonics, who will be forced to stay until 2010 unless a settlement is reached. A settlement now appears highly unlikely.
“No, we’re not interested in anything Mr. Stern has to say. Our discussions are directly with Mr. Bennett and his attorneys,” Ceis said. “I think Mr. Stern has been hurting the situation for many months now with his statements in the public. We have yet to have one conversation directly with Mr. Stern about the status of the Sonics in Seattle. Instead he chooses to hold press conferences and make pronouncements instead of trying to work with the city to come to a resolution.”
Stern expressed disappointment in the city’s decision to delay relocation.
“I feel actually badly that the team, when it leaves either now or in two years, is going to leave behind an unpaid debt which the city has,” he said during his 44-minute news conference. “The city’s still going to have a debt on the building. And the Sonics have offered to pay it off. The city says no, and so we’ll see.
“But I don’t feel uncomfortable. We know how to observe court orders and we do a pretty good job of that. So if the court says they’re not free to just pay and leave, then they won’t just pay and leave. But if they are, then they’ll be gone and there will be two years of payment, and the city will not have the benefit of the $30 million or so and other things that would be worked on if there were an amicable solution to that.”
Stern said he believes the city’s reluctance to publicly finance a new arena has nothing to do with disdain for Bennett, who has done little to camouflage his desire to move the Sonics to his native Oklahoma. Sonics co-owner Aubrey McClendon told the Oklahoma City Journal Record in August that the group purchased the Sonics for the express purpose of relocating them to Oklahoma City. The NBA fined McClendon $250,000 for those statements.
“They’re equal opportunity deniers of aid,” Stern said of Seattle city officials. “Howard Schultz, who was a resident of Seattle, who owned the team previously, who invested time and energy leading lobbying efforts at the city council, at the county level and at the state level, was unsuccessful.
“Clay Bennett actually spent more money, developed more plans, made more visits, and the answer was no, no, a thousand times no.”
Stern pointed to comments by Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, who said the state would be open to extending an existing tax to fund a refurbishing of Husky Stadium. Bennett asked for a similar extension for the Renton arena project and the Legislature refused to hear his proposal last winter.
“Indeed, even recently as I read the newspaper occasionally,” Stern said, “the speaker of the house was heard to say that if the university wanted a new stadium, that was certainly a good reason to consider extending the tax that helped build the baseball and football stadiums, but certainly not for the Sonics. And into that sort of wind, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to sail.”
The NBA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet April 17-18 to discuss possible relocation. Bennett’s application could be approved well before the trial date, contingent on a court settlement that would allow a departure from the lease.
“Right now, we are in court enforcing the lease we have with the Seattle Sonics team,” Ceis said. “That’s what we will continue to do. What Mr. Stern says really doesn’t matter.”
Asked if he was convinced the Sonics would leave Seattle after 40-plus years and one NBA title, Stern seemed resigned to their fate.
“I see nothing — I don’t know why anyone would expect in the absence of what they’ve been saying all along, which is funding for a new building of some kind and a plan for it that they would be staying,” he said. “I accept that inevitability at this point. There is no miracle here.”
A moment of silence for sports fans in Atlanta.
I suppose Atlanta can ride on the outcome of UG-Athens beating Hawaii soundly in the Sugar Bowl, and their president’s war on the NCAA BCS.
Miami in it’s continuing struggle to get a ‘W’ gets the opportunity to change one of the losses to a win.
Miami can take advantage of Atlanta’s official scorer goof.
It’s the first time since San Antonio successfully argued for a replay against the Lakers in 1983. The Spurs would go on to win that game. Will Miami have the same success?
Home team scoring errors are an embarrassing part of the game. It may have cost Atlanta a victory earlier this year when the ‘official scorer’ missed a basket by TJ Ford. The Spurs also lost a memorable game due to home-team officials. How about Derek Fishers shot with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. Derek Fisher had the ball in his hands 0.4 seconds before the clock was even started - this one may have been a cost the Spurs another championship.
Now that we see that officials, other than the refs, can cost a team a game, what are the regulations on gambling with them?
Recent Comments