2013 NBA Playoffs thread

Pop has four rings. I'm sure he'll get by.

 

Having 4 rings is beside the point.

 

The only valid criticism in there is the fact -- and it is a fact -- that the stars get the benefit of more calls than less talented (and celebrated) players. And that's been happening since the days of George Mikan and Jumpin' Joe Fulks.

 

He was thisclose. I don't think they're getting it now. But I don't exactly feel bad for Pop.

 

So, if the fix is not in then NBA games are the worst officiated professional sports.

The most inconsistent, most arbitrary and at times most caprious officials (and most corrupt) in sports. This includes boxing and Olympics.

While Stern gets heaps of praise, deservedly, for cleaning up the game in his earlier tenure and making the game experience more fan friendly, the game itself hasn't progressed. It's still Capitalism. A few teams are the pernnial winners and most are fodder.

 

If one wanted to make a Venn diagram of "People Who Think The Finals Are Fixed" and "People Who Openly Loathe LeBron James" and "People Who Ignore The NBA all Season Until The Playoffs" you could basically just lay three circles on top of one another.

James is whiny little bitch. And NBA officiating generally sucks. But suggesting this series is fixed means you've gone full moron.

 

I'm curious why people who don't watch the NBA until the playoffs think the game is fixed? Are the odd officiating decisions seen as just "part of the game" that regular viewers understand, like the flopping in soccer, - I like LeBron, probably the greatest player of all time.
And I'm not a fan of either team - it is just that weird calls (that are usually just shrugged off without explanation, the teams seemingly resigned to them) take me out of a game, kind of like being really into a movie and then having the camera pull back and show all the stagehands, the lights and that it is an LA backlot and not Ancient Egypt.

 

Please name a sport that does not have so called weird calls.

Every sport has bitching and whining about officials, maybe just maybe the games are hard to call.

What are some examples of weird calls this year that leads you to believe this is being choreographed?

 

Most difficult to officiate, which basically means more calls that go against "MY" team that "I" thought should have gone the other way. Of course, maybe "I" am the one who's biased, not the refs. Nah . . .

Teams that have made the Finals in the past 30 years:

Celtics
76ers
Nets
Knicks
Heat
Magic
Pacers
Cavaliers
Pistons
Bulls
Spurs
Mavs
Thunder
Sonics (yea, I know Thunder/Sonics are same franchise, but two fan bases got to watch their team in the Finals)
Rockets
Suns
Blazers
Suns
Lakers
Jazz

That's 21 fan bases (out of 31) that not only had "contending" teams, but teams good enough to advance all the way to the Finals.

That leaves 10 as "fodder."

Hawks
Bucks
Raptors
Grizzlies
Hornets/Pelicans
Bobcats
Nuggets
Kings
Warriors
Clippers

Of these "fodder" teams, two of them won 56 games this past season, and two more (Clippers and Warriros) are viewed as exciting and up-and-coming.

 

1978.

Last time road team won Game 7, Bullets at Sonics.

 

Shut. The Fuck. Up. Herpes.

 

I can handle bad calls - mistakes happen. It's the officials calling tickytack fouls one quarter then letting them play the next. And sure, maybe it is the players that are playing differently, but the foul counts have gone up steadily as the series has progress, from 24 in Game 1 to 47 in game 6. The refs are getting more involved in the games as the series has progressed.

I guess it was most noticeable when the Heat were called for eight consecutive fouls over the last seven minutes in the third that took it from 56-52 Spurs to 75-63 Spurs, that kind of run shifts momentum.

I just want to see two teams play. Fouls called when a foul occurs, without consideration of the current score, the quarter, or the time on the clock.