Cherry Picking recaps yesterday's NBA playoff action.Complaining about officiating is a tradition among NBA fans and coaches alike. After feeling like the Lakers got the short end of the whistles in Monday's Game 4 loss in Denver, Phil Jackson took to the podium after the game to vent his frustrations.
"Basketball is a game where the aggressor gets the advantage. And tonight we didn't know what a foul was and what wasn't a foul,'' Jackson noted. "Start of the game, we got guys knocked around going to the basket, they said, 'We're going to get those things go.' By the end of the ballgame little fouls were being called all over the place."
Objectively speaking, Jackson probably had a point -- the Nuggets shot 49 free throws in a 19-point blowout on Monday -- but the league didn't care, fining Jackson $25,000 for having the audacity to speak his mind and the Lakers organization another $25,000 for, well, employing a loudmouth, I suppose.
Most coaches would take the hint to pipe down, but Jackson, with nine rings and enough F.U. money not to flinch, vented before Wednesday's game about the fine. "I didn't think very good of it at all," he said. "I thought I was very conciliatory, tried to soft-pedal my comments, but that's the league for you. They'll come back and hammer you."
This begs the question: will Jackson now be fined for complaining about being fined for complaining about the officiating? It seems silly to think about, but given the iron fist with which the league muffles internal criticism, you can't completely rule it out.
As expensive as Jackson's airing of grievances may have been, it may have been worth it -- the Lakers seemed to get the benefit of the doubt more often than not on Wednesday night, including down the stretch when Nene, Denver's starting center, fouled out with four minutes left in the game on a questionable blocking call.
With Nene bumped to the bench, Pau Gasol converted both free throws, giving L.A. a six-point lead they'd never relinquish. Adding insult to injury, though, the referees proceeded to swallow their whistles, making it nearly impossible for Carmelo Anthony to get a whistle despite going hard to the rim. Had the game been called that way the entire 48 minutes, there's no chance that Nene would have been held to just 26 minutes due to foul trouble.
After the game, an unidentified Denver player told Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post, "The Lakers paid $50,000 to win that game. They got their money's worth." Perhaps following Jackson's lead, George Karl spent his post-game press conference trying to buy a few calls in Game 6. "I thought they got the benefit of the whistle," Karl said. "Every player in my locker room is frustrated, from guards to big guys. Gasol goes after at least 20 jump shots, 20 shots to the rim and gets one foul; our big guys have 16. Nene has six fouls, three or four of them don't exist."
"In the post game we're lobbying for the league to help us with the refereeing,'' he continued. "This is too good of a series. It's too good of teams competing that we're sitting here just confused by the whistle."
Whether you think Karl has a valid point regarding Gasol likely depends on your rooting interest, but everyone should be able to agree on his last point: these games are more exciting when they're determined by terrific players making terrific plays, not when it turns into a free-throw contest or a war of attrition with players battling foul trouble.
And secondly, it's ridiculous that simply saying as much will almost certainly result in another $50,000 worth of fines doled out by the commissioner's office -- especially when you consider no one has second-guessed or undermined the competency of the officials thus far in the postseason than the league itself.
How many times so far have we seen the league retroactively assess a flagrant foul missed during the flow of the game? It seems to happen almost every day. Dahntay Jones has earned two flagrant fouls thus far in the series for a pair of plays that originally resulted in just one personal foul. Conversely, Andrew Bynum had a flagrant foul rescinded earlier this week.
Dwight Howard had a technical rescinded on Wednesday, just like Kenyon Martin has had happen three times already in the postseason. And let's not forget how Howard and Rafer Alston were each suspended in previous rounds for plays that didn't even originally merit an ejection, or how the league blatantly admitted that a botched call cost the Mavericks a game against the Nuggets. If any of these calls were made correctly during the flow of the game, who knows how the outcomes would have been determined?
I could go on, but there's really no need. The fact of the matter is, people complain about the referees because mistakes are made on a nightly basis. You know it, I know it, and -- judging by how frequently they issue retroactive corrections to calls either made or missed in real-time -- the league knows it.
Punishing coaches for admitting what everybody else in the world is already talking about is as petty as it is pointless, especially considering the fines do nothing to divert attention away from the real problem of inconsistent whistles, not to mention the fact that fines are hardly a deterrent for coaches campaigning for every advantage he can get this late in the season when teams are fighting for the right to play another game.
Doing Lines
Lamar Odom, who's been largely absent since the first round, exploded out of nowhere to score 19 points with 14 boards and four blocks. I'm not sure if a game like this is supposed to encourage or frustrate Lakers fans; yes, it's certainly nice to see L.O. tap into his vast potential in a critical game, but where has he been the last two rounds? If he played as well as he did on Wednesday in the first four games, who knows, perhaps the Lakers could have already punched their ticket back to the NBA Finals. [Box Score]
Watching Film
That's Derek Fisher racking up half of his assist total on the night with a slick alley-oop to Kobe Bean. Fisher also came through with 12 points, his total from the three previous games combined, but he's still shooting just 31.8% for the series.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Oh, the officiating was fine according to Karl when they won on Monday even with Dahnty really trying to hurt Kobe in a big way. But now on Wednesday when they lost, the officiating is poor. Oh poor whining George Karl. Maybe you should stop wringing your face and be honest like Phil Jackson and maybe you would get more respect......
Has anybody noticed when a team loses and complains about the officating they usually win the next game. Thats going to be the new trend in the playoffs
Are retired players and coaches constitutional right to free speech also infringed by the mafialike nba? the top bean counter d. stern has been a disaster for basketball. He should be fired.It`s past time for a new commissioner who has played a game of basketball once or twice.
Wildly inconsistent officiating, and the endless procession of free throws. The NBA finals (It`s no Superbowl)
The Refs in the Magic Cavs Series are much worse. The NBA wants to push Lebron through to the finals so badly. The Magic are totally getting screwed by the officiating. It's embarassing it's so bad.
Who cares ..it's almost June..it's baseball season..you could cancel the season today, and noone would notice..Hockey and basketball have too long of playoffs to create interest..The Bulls and Boston should have been the end of the season..who gives a crap about the officials..they are tired of the long season too.
Nene was moving laterally, it was not a controversial call for those of us who are objective. The officiating has been terrible. I agree with what has happened in the East. That series should be over 4-0 Orlando. The NBA has lost all their credibility. Stern is the tone setter and this quality of officiating seems to be acceptable to him, so he should walk the plank and resign, it is that bad!
Stern is your typical, run of the mill democrat. Do nothing to fix the problem, just silence your critics..
George Karl was the fattest weasel I've seen in a long time in last night's press conference. He conveniently forgets that he complained about the foul difference after game 3 and his players got a serious foul calling swing allowing and extra 14 trips to the line. Then he goes into last nights conference and says he doesn't want to 'lobbyy for the whistle' all the while lobbying for the whistle...at least PJ spoke it straight up...Karl was trying to get the same effect without being direct...and the way his players are grabbing everything but the other players' crotch he has no reason to complain.
On another note, the officiating has been suspect ALL series for ALL teams with people both getting away with mugging and being falsely jobbed. It's about time the League stepped up with some kind of 3 chances to contest the foul replay rule. Like football or now using shotspot in tennis. It's long overdue and won't delay the game anymore than calling ticky tack fouls already does.
the ref's are terrible.....denver nuggets are a bunch of gang bangers, thuggs and dirty players. and david stern is no angle, he allows this crap to happen. (all the mugging and hard dangerous career ending fouls) daunte or whatever his name is should have been suspended a few games for tripping kobe and also pushing him when going for the basket the game before. I love black people (me being a brother myself) but i can't stand Nigga's and that's what the nugget's are a bunch of thugg ass Nigga's ironically that's what the N.B.A. stands for "Nigga's Balling Any kind of way" now i see what Dallas owner Mr. M.K. meant regarding to Kenyon Martin as a "PUNK" the Laker's are the tip of the sword in the NBA and show lots of class by responding with class in game five. If it was Denver, they right away would have went to the hard flagrant fouls. Put these chumps away Lakers and go to the Championship!
All of the inconsistant officiating is terrible and they affect all teams. Joey Crawford is the worst official I have ever seen in any sport, up and including little league. Most of us could agree to at least start with firing him and go from there.
Only 8 nba franchises have been allowed to win a championship. Unless Koby coughs up some more gameboys for the refs it may soon be 9
I AGREE WITH PHIL,THEY HAVE THREE ON THE FLOOR AND STILL CANT CALL A GOOD GAME.STERN NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS MESS.MY SIX YEAR OLD COULD DO A BETTER JOB.
I am wondering why K-mart was not excessed a flagarant 2 when he closed-lined Kobe in the 4th quarter? Get real, Kobe could have been severally injured and I think K-mart was trying to do that. This is supposed to be basketball NBA style, not football. I'm afraid the Refs are scared to call it down the middle for fear of reprisal by Nuggets fans. The Nuggets have clearly been sent to the free throw line more than L.A. however, the Nuggets have been playing the dirtiest, committing the obvious cheap shots.
Hey hilryshaves, maybe we could get a Republican to be the NBA Commissioner! Dick Cheyney is available, and I am sure he could find a solution. The new half time show would dedicated to Water-Boarding those errant referee's who have caused all of this trouble. What is a little torture amongst friends!?!
If you take a close look at the ref's, thae have had one of the worst seasons in recent memory. Of course, this fules spectulation, that someone's head is on the choppin block somewhere. This generates media spectutlaion, with in turn puts "Asses in the seats." That's stern's job: To make money for the owners. They players can't complain. They make in 28 minuts what it takes me 5 years or more to make. I live in Portland, and Jake O'Donnol was the worst. How many games did he throw Clyde Drexler out of for just lookin at him?
Coach and playa's do NOT have the right to bad mouth oficals. It's in their contract. That's how they can collect the fines. All this sells tickets. Good job Mr. Stern.