The NBA Thread
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MikeH
Well-Known Member
@sahomerrocks what's goin on with embiid's eyes?? it's freakin me out.
DownIsTheNewUp
Well-Known Member
What a wild night of games. Feel bad for Sixers fans though I'm sure plenty here will disagree.
DownIsTheNewUp
Well-Known Member
Last night was the first time in this 10 game streak that the Nuggets had more FTs tham the Lakers. We had six fucking FTs in game 1.
This is exactly why I can't stand Lebron on the Lakers. The minutue a game is evenly officiated he loses his shit and cries harder than a two year old after being told no in the candy aisle of the supermarket.
He did the same thing in the 2020 bubble series and the refs proceeded to skull fuck the Nuggets in the following game by putting both Grant and Jokic in foul trouble while letting Dwight agressively hack away at Jokic on the other end.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
I'm a knicks fan, so inherently biased. But Nick Nurse absolutely did not call a time out before the inbounds. You can watch the video and he has his hands up ready to call time in case it gets to a 5 second count but pulls his hands away as soon as Lowry in-bounds it. Someone best described it as a pump fake TO. and when he called it when Maxey went down, it was only a split second between when Maxey lost the ball and when Nurse actually tried to call a TO. Not surprised that the refs didn't call it in the moment. i didn't see if any other players were trying to call time (or if they are even allowed to without the ball). Tim Legler said he didn't know why Nurse doesn't do what Spo does and run out onto the court to call TO...
As for the other stuff on that play, Brunson definitely held Maxey's jersey, but that was after Maxey shoved Hart to get free. They were letting contact go on inbounds plays all game long. There was a play late in the 3rd where Lowry and Oubre grabbed both of Deuce's arms as he tried to get open for the in-bounds and there wasn't a call. Nico was bear-hugging Brunson at another point to prevent him from getting the ball.
No clue why Maxey didn't land on the ball and call TO and instead put the ball out in front of Hart. Or why Lowry didn't call TO before that in-bound when nothing was really open. Or why Nico didn't box out at all on the first Divo 3. Hartenstein had 4 sixers players around him and grabbed the board. Tough loss for sure and I get why Sixer fans aren't happy about it.
Most teams complain about the reffing. They just go about it differently. Mike Malone was a bit more passive aggressive about it (think he made some comment about "we know the refs are going to call a lot more fouls for the Lakers than us"). Thibs said something about how Brunson is getting mauled without foul calls. Bron and Nick Nurse are more aggressive in their post-game conferences. Plus Morey probably sent an audit of all the foul calls missed to the league right after the game. The complaining by EVERYONE is a bit annoying. They often have a fair point because lets face it....the refs largely suck. It's all gamesmanship to try to get a leg up in the playoffs.
DownIsTheNewUp
Well-Known Member
I wasn't commenting on the officiating in regards to the Sixers game. I was at a 6pm showing of Civil War and only caught the final 3 minutes. I thought Maxey was fouled but that it was pretty clearly the type of call that often goes uncalled in clutch playoff moments. I merely meant that I feel bad that they had to endure that implosion.
In regards to the Lakers-- I am of the opinion that the league actively gives the Lakers a different whistle than the rest of the league. Especially in the playoffs. They are consistently allowed to play more physical than their opponents regardless of era (2000, 2002, 2020 WCF all come to mind). When they are the slightly better team fighting off underdogs this helps ensure they win. When the teams are close to even, it gives them an advantage that is hard to overcome. Only when a team is clearly better than them (which is rare but is the case with the Nuggets), is it something that a team can consistently overcome.
Malone actually deferred when asked about the officiating and basically said that he wasn't going to complain while we were winning. However, there were two separate threads at the top of r/NBA yesterday with fans of various teams calling out how one-sided the officiating was and how blatant the league has been about helping the Lakers the past two seasons. Which I think, helped lead to a pretty evenly called game last night.
My favorite comment from that thread:
"After every single game where LAL gets drastically more FTs ->
Lakers fans: "You have to WATCH the games! It’s because we take more paint shots!”
Me: watches the games, different levels of physicality allowed in favor of LA. Denver outscores LA in the paint 64-48, yet Lakers still receive far more FTs. In 4Q LAL was already in the bonus at around the 6 minute mark and they weren't called for a foul until under 5 minutes, despite obviously having committed 2-3 fouls
It’s almost as if the league most popular franchise that has been the beneficiary of multiple rigged series in their favor (2002 WCF) gets a favorable whistle, and Lakers fans don’t know what they’re talking about".
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MikeH
Well-Known Member
I guess I don’t understand the victim thing when you guys are up 2-0 right now and likely gonna sweep or gentlemen’s sweep the Lakers again.
Yea the lakers get a friendly whistle. And Jokic doesn’t. But the FT disparity in the season isn’t as simple as “lakers get a ton of calls!” It’s a combo of friendly whistle, contested shots in the paint and they didn’t foul a ton on defense this year because they don’t play defense lol.
It also didn’t help them too much seemingly as they barely made the play-in. The 18 win hornets from a few years back had one of the biggest FT disparities in the history of the NBA. Obviously didn’t help them either.
I’ll also say that staying off NBA Reddit has done wonders for my mental health. I unsubbed from the Knicks sub and only occasionally check r/nba. Tons of idiots there.
DownIsTheNewUp
Well-Known Member
My anger is not really about this series which is micro in level (and game 2 was solidly officiated). Though I do think the Lakers are going get a crazy whistle after Lebron's complaints.
It's about the fact that the Lakers get a crazy advantageous whistle regardless of who their opponent is or who is on their roster across multiple decades. And then Lebron has the audacity to complain in the rare instance where they don't get a whistle in their favor.
It doesn't matter for the Nuggets this year because they a superior team with matchup advantages and the best player in the NBA. But if the Lakers had played OKC in round one it very may well have cost them the series.
Also, the regular season officiating helped the Lakers enough that they made the play-in and might not have without that whistle. There were 2 separate instances of coaches going off after playing the Lakers and calling the whistle rigged in games that very clearly were. What did the Toronto coach say? "If the league needed the Lakers to win tonight then they should have just told us ahead of time and we wouldn't have shown up". Even if you just point to those two games, the Lakers flip to the bottom of the bracket.
And the points about their style of play can easily be countered. The Lakers are literally at the BOTTOM of the league in drives to the basket. They have two guards who are athletically limited and perimeter oriented-- yet one of them gets an absolutely wild whistle where he regularly draws fouls on fairways like he is 2018 Harden. Denis left the Lakers and his foul rate plummeted this season. And they don't foul, in part, because they aren't called for the fouls they commit.
There was even a Hoops Collective podcast about a month ago where Brian Windhorst acknowledged that the majority of the league (players & FO) think the Lakers get a bogus whistle while the guys wink wink nudge nudged and discussed the Lakers FT disadvantage.
sahomerrocks
Well-Known Member
He got poked twice in the same eye during game 1 because of course. I think one was friendly fire.
After the L2M report, all you can really do is laugh. Especially since the one call that didn't go the Knicks way in the last 30 seconds, a foul on the sixers that would be a side out of bounds before the Brunson front rim 3, would have still benefited the sixers.
I still think the biggest flub was Lowry not calling the TO there, but it's still jokerifying that if the refs get a single thing correct that the league says they should have, the sixers probably steal one on the road.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
on the flip side, the OG 3 seconds would have negated a Maxey 3 I think...but you would have gotten a FT (that Lowry or Embiid probably would have missed based on their earlier FT performances in the game) and possession. Knicks have been on the wrong side of calls this season at the end of games and it sucks for sure.
it's been said a lot before. to win by 3 you gotta be up 10+. Refs are gonna miss calls, especially in chaotic endings. You can't put the game in the refs' hands. Lowry should have called TO, or Nurse should have run out onto the court like Spo does to get refs attention. The missed calls obviously suck, but the Sixers didn't do themselves any favors. Lowry got hurt by flopping after Embiid pushed him down. Nobody boxed out Hartenstein, etc.
I can see the "grievance" that Morey filed backfiring too. Especially the part about complaining about the Knicks putting ref tendencies (publicly available info) on the media reports.
Much respect to Embiid for playing injured and Maxey has been unreal. Somehow Maxey seems like the most mature person in the organization.
Also lets get rid of the L2M report. It's absolutely stupid.
sahomerrocks
Well-Known Member
I agree the L2M report but the league puts it out there in the name of transparency so it's subject to public criticism
And I'm pretty tired of the expectations that $40M of Tobias Harris is acceptable if he's Herb Jones
DownIsTheNewUp
Well-Known Member
He's not even Herb Jones who is at least an all-NBA defender. No idea what the hell has happened to him (and wouldn't be surprised to see him be effective on a bargin deal at his next stop ala Batum) but you all need him off your books.
If the Clippers get taken down by the Mavs, I'm betting Paul George goes to Philly based on the rumored interest.
wmeugene
Well-Known Member
Agreed. The Tobias Harris salary is ridiculous and I’m surprised it doesn’t get brought up more often among the worst contracts. I get that he’s probably worth the full mid level, but is paid like a star. And I agree that he’s no Herb Jones who is a lockdown defender and I think has more value.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
He’s off the books this summer
Slimwhit33
Well-Known Member
Miami can stop hitting 3’s now please.
MattS
Well-Known Member
We have no chance in the series but god did I enjoy last night