Comments on: Your Exercise Bike Is Safe Around Dirk Nowitzki

By: Pendejo Joe

Pendejo Joe — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:47:02 +0000

Also, on the last possession at the end of game 7 regulation against the Spurs, there were no calls on both Ginobili’s drive and after Tim Duncan got the offensive board. The Manu no-call is understandable, but not Tim getting mugged after earning his position on the offensive glass and having three guys hack at him.

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:12:05 +0000

TOTAL MELTDOWN…rather their complaints have merit or not is irrelevant. The MAVS are behaving like whiny ass little bitches and it looks bad. They don’t think a dubious foul should be called that late in a game to decide the outcome??? They would not be here is those calls were not made. Game 3 Spurs…tough call with 8.9 seconds puts Dirk on the line to win (After fouling out Duncan) Game 4 Spurs…phantom call against Bowen puts Dirk on the line to send to OT. Hmmmm…..I don’t remember SA crying like little girls who got their doll stolen? Class is obviously not a Mavericks trademark.

By: Spaceno93

Spaceno93 — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:03:26 +0000

…, oops sorry missed that line. Guess I cut and pasted too quickly.

Have you read that Cuban is now saying the league is fixed. They want the Mavs to loss. I don’t remember him saying that when they got a phantom call against the Rockets to win game 6 last year.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/14856564.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_sports

By: Rex

Rex — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:07:04 +0000

This is the best Finals in years. And not even Joe Derosa could mar that. Look for Dallas to win tonight and probably on Thursday as well.

By: Pendejo Joe

Pendejo Joe — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 08:35:02 +0000

What about Dirk getting so many calls for touch fouls on the perimeter? At least Wade will go to the rim aggressively with some wreckless abandon and put the onus on the refs to make a call. Dirk didn’t even start trying to do that until the SA series, and he only did it because he HAD TO. For someone with his size, he sure doesn’t earn his calls. He never goes down on the block and bangs with guys his size, instead getting put on the foul line for being barely touched (and often for not even being touched) by smaller players on the perimeter when he pulls up for his uncontestable jumpshot. What has Dirk done to earn that?

By: bill g

bill g — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 07:31:19 +0000

i’ll start watching miami games again after the refs decide to officiate wade with the same rulebook as everyone else in the league. true that superstars get preferential treatment but in crunch time on the NBA’s biggest stage? The uncalled charge on Howard in OT as he’s out of control on the spin move. The push-off on Terry on that last drive. The constant extra step he’s given on his catches and layups (and the occasional time when he’s not even driving to the rim, he gets the one-and-a-half step). Then the media has to hype up all the “pain and abuse” he’s taken? I haven’t seen anyone hit the deck more often since the days of Derek Fisher in a Laker uniform

Pivotal game in the Finals, NBA poster boy with the ball in the closing seconds and they hand him two freebies? Taking no credit away from him for making those shots, but if the rest of the superstars have to earn their stripes, what the flying fuck makes him any different?

By: Pendejo Joe

Pendejo Joe — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 07:04:44 +0000

I think the Mavs lost all rights to complain about officiating after their dubious run through the Conference Playoffs. (Ie. Tim Duncan fouling out because Dirk stepped on his foot, the missed shot-clock violation at the end of game 5 against the Suns.) And whoever said that the call going against Dirk on the Wade foul was trying to help the Mavs is absolutely right. Harris fouled him, but they called it on Dirk to keep the personal foul count in check — a common officiating practice.

By: ...

... — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 22:29:48 +0000

Spaceno93, funny, how you left out part of the backcourt rule (the exception to rule (e))…

e. Any ball out-of-bounds in a team’s frontcourt or at the midcourt line cannot be passed into the backcourt. On all backcourt and midcourt violations, the ball shall be awarded to the opposing team at the midcourt line, and must be passed into the frontcourt.
EXCEPTION: During the last two minutes of the fourth period and/or any overtime period, the ball may be passed anywhere (frontcourt or backcourt) on the court.

By: Spaceno93

Spaceno93 — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:46:24 +0000

Section X-Ball in Backcourt
a. A player shall not be the first to touch a ball which he or a teammate caused to go from frontcourt to backcourt while his team was in control of the ball. EXCEPTION: Rule 8-Section III-e (EXCEPTION).
b. During a jump ball, a try for a goal, or a situation in which a player taps the ball away from a congested area, as during rebounding, in an attempt to get the ball out where player control may be secured, the ball is not in control of either team. Hence, the restriction on first touching does not apply.
c. Following a jump ball, a player who secures a positive position and control of the ball in his frontcourt cannot pass the ball to a teammate or dribble the ball into the backcourt.
PENALTY: Loss of ball. The ball is awarded to the opposing team at the mid-court line.

http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_index.html

By: naturallight

naturallight — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:29:18 +0000

Does anyone know the actual rule for a backcourt violation?

My boss and I both agree that Wade jumped from the frontcourt, caught the ball,and landed in the backcourt.

I don’t think it’s a violation because Wade never established position in the frontcount. My boss thinks it’s a violation because Wade was last in the frontcourt before he touched the ball.

Who’s right?

By: HB

HB — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:44:37 +0000

The problem is, the foul was called when Nowitzki was infront of Wade. That picture was taken AFTER the supposed foul.

By: the mighty mjd

the mighty mjd — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:28:03 +0000

From the picture posted earlier, and from others accounts… hey, maybe Wade was fouled. I didn’t have every conceivable angle of it available to me, so… maybe I’m wrong on that.

But I still disagree on Stackhouse… to me, the beginning and the end of it that he was making a play on the ball. His arm reached in the direction of the basketball… now, maybe he knew he’d never get there, and he’d just end up clubbing Shaq. But, as you said in the point about Howard, it’s not the ref’s job to judge intent. He went after the ball… and all through basketball history, guys have taken elbows and forearms to the head, shoulder, chest, neck, wherever… when a guy goes for the ball and ends up making contact with the player, the NBA rule book calls it a foul. My interpretation of the Flagrant Two rule is that it’s called when a guy just blatantly does something dangerous or violent to the guy, without any regard to the ball, or any sort of a basketball player. Stackhouse didn’t do that.

By: Old School

Old School — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:02:47 +0000

I saw that slo-mo and it does appear that Wade was fouled. His arm was grabbed–albeit by Harris and not Nowitski, who the ref evidently fobbed the foul off on to save Harris from fouling out. The timeout? A communications f*ck-up in the classic vein of auction bits in sitcoms where a character finds him orherself at an auction and nakes a gesture not intended for the auctioneer, but is thus inadvertently cited as a bidder/winner. In a confluence of myriad things happening as time grew short, Howard’s obvious flashing a timeout sign near a ref like that is a classsic “D’oh!” moment. As a previous poster alluded, “Was the ref supposed to de-facto grant time by taking time to ask if Howard really wanted time?”. Chaotic moments can bring out the great f*ck-up in us all. This was one of those moments.

As to Stackhouse’s suspension, I’ve gotta agree with it. A simple collision while going after the ball is one thing. A hard push to impede a shot’s being made is another. And a hard tackle/shot to teh body as enforcement is something else again. But Stackhouse threw an elbow and forearm at a leaping player’s head while attempting a shot–meaning that the shooter (300 lbs or no) was something of a sitting duck. Granted. Shaq is a f*cking behemoth, a man-mountain and a big.Black monolith along the lines of the all-powerful slab from “2001. A Space Odyssey”, but a shot to the head is guess what? A shot to the head. Forearm shivers to the dome were outlawed in the NFL years ago and are pretty much concusssion non grata in the NBA as well. Stackhouse got a little too gully and put the splinters in his cheap, nine-button suit all by his damn self.

“Tough t*tties” said the kitty.

Best,
“Old School”

By: Matt Sands

Matt Sands — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:19:37 +0000

NBA basketball is proving itself as one of the worst sports out on the market. I love playing the sport however I would rank sports such as golf, tennis, hockey, and others way above NBA Bball. It is laughable to watch 50 freethrows shot by each team in a game where the goofy giants can only hit half of them. Then you see a love tap and a foul is called. The next play you see a hard foul and no foul is called. Then you see a travel, no travel call. Then another travel, travel called. It is as if the refs flip coins to determine what the hell just happened. Blocking fouls good be as common as breathing if players tried to draw them. And whats this business about Dirk fowling. Pussiest call ive ever witnessed and it lost a game 5 for them?? not to mention stackhouse being out of the game because everyone wants Shaw to win a championship. How can it be fun and a real competive sport when things like this are occuring. As far as i am concerned the NBA as proved itself as unwatchable over the past few years.

By: Theri Maa Bhanchod!

Theri Maa Bhanchod! — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 15:53:17 +0000

interesting snapshot there Blackstar, and yes, from taht angle it looks like a foul. The only thing that sticks in my mind is that on the video replay, it literally looked like no one touched him, or at least hard enough to merit a foul. Yes by the book, it is a foul, however, general precedent over the last 2 decades has been to let the players play and only blow the whistle on egregious fouls that can’t possibly be denied. This ‘foul’ was not one of those. The fact that the call was blown by a ref BEHIND the play at midcourt makes it even dumber. Still, bottom line, the Mavs have no balls they choke at clutch time regularly.