My name is Tony this is my sad face

Thanks to Dan B. and Shayan of Mediocre Forever for today's pic.

The Chicago Bulls: Last night's 106-104 overtime loss is what you'd call a "missed opportunity," but only if you were trying to keep from using really offensive language that might offend most women and frighten small forest animals. The Bulls had their hoof on the Leprechaun's throat. They were THIS CLOSE to stealing his lucky charms and enjoying those pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, green clovers, blue diamonds, purple horseshoes and red balloons...I'm getting all hungry just THINKING about it. But instead of stomping down with that hoof and crushing the life out of their injury-riddled and increasingly weary foe, they backed off and let the C's work their playoff magic.

It didn't help that Ben Gordon gunned his way to an awful 6-for-21 shooting performance. BG was playing bravely on an strained hamstring, but the last time I checked, that sort of injury shouldn't affect shot selection. Derrick Rose continued to struggle with the concept of holding onto the ball, and his 6 turnovers were a game-high. (He now has 20 turnovers in the last three games. Ouch.) Kendrick Perkins (19 points, 7 blocks) and Big Baby (21 points, 7-for-11 from the field, 7-for-8 from the line, about 29 brutal picks) dominated the paint. Vinny Del Negro refused to call for time until a Boston run had cut his team's 11-point fourth-quarter lead to just two. He also failed to capitalize on the absence of Ray Allen (who fouled out after only 26 minutes of airtime) to trap or even apply a little added pressure to Paul Pierce, who hit a 15-footer to force overtime and then knocked down three straight long jumpers in the extra session to stab the Bulls in the heart, El Matador-style.

But even after all that, the Bulls still had a chance to win, except for...

Iffy officiating: Matt Moore has asked us all to lay off the officials, and for the most part, I'm totally cool with that. But come on, now. Brad Miller got straight-up clubbed at the end of the game. The NBA’s official rule on flagrant fouls states: "A flagrant foul-penalty (1) is unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent. A flagrant foul-penalty (2) is unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent. It is an unsportsmanlike act and the offender is ejected immediately." Well, Brad Miller was bleeding from the mouth, had a tooth knocked loose and looked like he would have had trouble spelling his name. Brad needed stitches to close the wound and, for all we know, he might have even thought he was the Batman. That sure sounds like "unnecessary and excessive contact" to me. But it wasn’t a flagrant. Also, notice the closed hand that looks almost fist-like.

apparently not a flagrant

It's funny. Back in March, Trevor Ariza hit Rudy Fernandez in the head from behind and got treated like some sort of deranged serial killer. But I guess that play was different because Rudy, who was airborne at the moment of contact, got injured, and because Ariza is bigger than Fernandez. In this case, Miller was the big man, and he's certainly not a threat to leave the ground unless launched from a very sturdy catapult. Oh, and the Ariza-Fernandez incident occurred during the regular season, whereas this is the postseason, which made Rondo's mugging of Miller just a good, hard playoff foul, right? Riiiiiiight. And I'm sure that seeing double at the line didn't affect Miller's free throw shooting, either. I mean, 80 percent career foul shooters usually wobble up to the line and shank their first attempt while putting it up cross-eyed. Happens all the time.

Look, I understand there's no guarantee that the game would have turned out any differently had the officials made the correct call. But still.

Kevin Garnett: Did anybody else notice KG tongue-lashing an impassive Ben Gordon last night (as beautifully illustrated below)? Way to stay classy, Kevin. Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure there are rules prohibiting a player on the bench from verbally abusing an opponent who happens to be strolling by. But you know, the refs have a history of turning a blind eye to Garnett's "intensity" in Boston. Just ask Jose Calderon.

Shut up KG
"I wanna eat you. I wanna skin you alive and eat you."

Stephon Marbury: Rough late-game sequence for the Artist Formerly Known As Starbury. Doctor Hank Pym explains: "First he fakes the wide open three, and gives it to Rondo, who promptly airballs a floater, then he plays such piss poor defense on Ben Gordon, who hits the easy jumper. Doug Collins is ripping on the guy, and rightly so! What the hell was the point of signing him if he's going to waste the perfect opportunity to shoot a wide open jumper?" I'm telling you, it's that upcoming alien invasion I've been warning everybody about. How much more proof do you people need that Marbury has been replaced by a poorly-programmed doppelganger?

Dwight Howard: He had a MAN-type game and finished with an "Animal Style" double-double (24 points, 24 boards). He also blocked two shots, shot 8-for-14 from the field and even hit eight out of 12 from the line. But Dwight was swinging a little free with the elbows. In fact, you could even say he tried to kill Samuel Dalembert with one:


That's a seriously dangerous play. If Howard had connected with that "Macho Man Randy Savage" move, Dalembert's remains would have been carried out in a bucket. Think I'm kidding? Just ask his teammate Courtney Lee, "who took an elbow to the head from Howard early in the first quarter and never returned. He was taken to the hospital for precautionary tests." And that swing Dwight took at Sam wasn't an accident. Like it or not, Howard has a history of "What?! I didn't do it!" elbow smashes. The Sixers have a legitimate beef, since the NBA rule book makes it fairly clear that Howard should have gotten the boot for that play. I wouldn't be surprised to see David Stern ask Superman to stay in the phone booth for Game 6 in Philly.

Cat Coach fights: Remember back in the 1990s when Phil Jackson and Pat Riley would verbally spar with each other in the press? Well, Tony DiLeo versus Stan Van Gundy is JUST like that...only 20 times wussier. After watching Howard pitch his tent (not THAT kind of tent, you sickos) in the paint, DiLeo said: "Dwight Howard had a great game, and he's a great player, but he just lives in the three-second lane on offense and defense. I'm just saying he's standing in the three-second lane on offense and defense. He's a great player, and he doesn't need any advantages."

Van Gundy, who's used to this sort of sniping, was quick to retort: "Am I supposed to come up here and talk about the game. Or am I supposed to come up here and lobby for the calls I want the next game? Is that what it's about now? We're supposed to lobby for the calls we want the next game? Let's just play the games. I guess that's the only reason Dwight's having success in this series. It has nothing to do with the fact that he's good."

Seriously, the minute one of these guys calls the other a poopy head, I'm done. (But not really. That would be awesome.)

Marcin Gortat: Nomination from Czernobog: "Marcin Gortat deserves a mention. Last Magic possession of the first half, Sixers ignore him on defense and Alston catches him with a cross-court pass under the basket, and he banks it in. Not a Sixer within the three point line, he's right under the rim, he's 6'11", you'd expect a dunk, wouldn't you? Lazy bastard." I love the beach. I always fantasize that, if I lived by the beach (in an always warm climate), I'd be there every day. But you always hear stories about how the folks who DO live by the beach rarely go because, well, it's always there. Likewise, I always imagine that, if I could dunk, I would ramjam (yes, I have seen The Wrestler, and yes, it rocks) the ball home at every possible opportunity. But there are an awful lot of giant white dudes who would rather lay it in off the backboard. Why? It feels like a cruel taunt every time I see it.

The San Antonio Spurs: Well, I kind of expected this series to be a one-sided affair, I just got the side wrong. Last night's 106-93 home loss made it official: The "They're always in the mix!" Spurs have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2000...when they lost to the Phoenix Suns in a series in which Tim Duncan never even played (due to a knee injury).

The Manu Ginobili-less Spurs got 30 points out of Duncan (14-for-21) and 26 points (11-for-21) out of Tony Parker, but none of the support staff was able to reach double-figures. As TD put it: "They had more firepower than us. They played better than us. However you want to put it, obviously they were the better team this year. That's all you can say." He's not wrong. And, in fact, Dallas thoroughly outplayed San Antonio in this series that, at times, I actually wondered whether Ginobili's presence would make that much of a difference...which could mean bad news for next year's Spurs.

Note that, in addition to his game-high 12 assists, Parker also had a game-high 7 turnovers. (Only three fewer than the entire Dallas team, as a matter of fact.)

The Houston Rockets: It's not like they conceded the game or anything -- they fought back to take a small lead in the fourth before collapsing -- but from arch-supporting comfort of my desk chair, it sure looked to me like the Rockets had a bad case of letsjustfinishitathomeitis. How else can you explain the fact that Aaron Brooks led the team with 20 shot attempts, eight more than Yao Ming (who went 7-for-12) and 11 more than Ron Artest (who quietly faded away with a 3-for-9, 4-turnover performance). They also struggled mightily in getting to the charity stripe, as observed in the AP game recap: "The Rockets went to the free-throw line just 10 times in the game and made eight attempts. But coach Rick Adelman, earlier in the day fined $25,000 for criticizing the officiating during the playoffs, kept his silence."

Lacktion report: Chris weighs in with some phat lacktivity:

Bulls-Celtics: Lindsey Hunter aimed for the on-screen dog with his Zapper and sniped out his second consecutive Mario, a 45-second stint that strangely enough included a board. (This shout out to video gaming's greatest plumber is the first productive sub-minute stint in the Association this postseason).

Meanwhile, Eddie House resides firmly in the lacktion report tonight with a 9:39 stint that included one brick from the Tobin Bridge, one rejection, and a foul for a +3 suck differential.

Sixers-Magic: Royal Ivey put on a princely performance as the Sixers' key lacktator, fouling once and tossing a brick from downtown for a +2 in 5:53. On the other end of the court, Tony Battie went picking for fire-flowers with a 15 second Mario.

Mavs-Spurs: Ryan Hollins finishes out the first round the same way he started: by putting on the plumbers' overalls for a Mario, in this case taking 32 seconds to celebrate the Mavs' escape past the first round for the first time since 2006.

Rockets-Blazers: Houston's Brian Cook and James White tossed spiky shells at each other for 54 seconds as synchronized Mario Brothers! (Cook actually made one shot and also garnered a board in only the second overall productive Mario so far.)

And despite Portland defending its home court to force a sixth game, Nicolas Batum provided ineffective play as a starting forward by giving up the rock once in 5:47 for a +1, his second suck differential in the series.
This damn recession: Want to hear a sad story? Well, here you go (via Chris): "Now a little piece of that victory is up on the auction block. In a testament to the far reach of the recession, former Bulls guard and assistant coach to the Sacramento Kings, Randy Brown, has declared bankruptcy, and his three championship rings will be for sale to the highest bidder via online auction at WestAuction.com. ... These hard financial times have impacted everyone, and Brown is no exception. 'It's a tough situation,' says Dennis West, of West Auctions, the company charged with auctioning the rings. 'Randy seems like a really good guy, and he was a great player. However, these are tough times for a lot of people from a variety of backgrounds. People are making difficult financial decisions, and for some that means bankruptcy.' With bankruptcy rates rising rapidly across the nation, you can expect many more auctions in the future."

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51 Comments:
Blogger Cortez said...
"...but the last time I checked, that sort of injury shouldn't affect shot selection."

No worries, his shot selection was piss poor before the injury.

"Look, I understand there's no guarantee that the game would have turned out any differently had the officials made the correct call. But still."

I don't agree that that was a flagrant foul but that really isn't the point of my comment.

Why is a 6'11" center attempting a god-damned FINGER ROLL (!!!) with a wide open lane? For a second there I thought the Bulls had resigned George Gervin.

Then on top of that how does a (professional) shooter not have the ability to hit front rim on command (or not know missing the entire rim is a violation)?

Based on your dismay with Gorat banking one in I'll go ahead and assume you agree with my disappointment with Miller's shot selection.

As a side note, dunking during a game outside of traffic is kind of lame after awhile.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Cortez -- Well, the Celtics weren't in the penalty, and according to his postgame press conference, Miller was afraid that if he didn't rush up a shot when he saw the foul coming that the refs might call a non-shooting foul with basically no time on the clock. That's why he took that particular shot, and it sounds pretty reasonable. Because there was no doubt the foul was coming...and with Miller's "speed," there's no way he was making it to the rim before he got hit.

Blogger Cortez said...
I forgot to mention that Brother Van Gundy (Jeff) was saying that Rondo's foul should not have been called a flagrant.

...but only during the first 44 minutes of the game. According to Jeffie, the last 4 minutes require a decapitation. In fact, he was even debating calling fouls at all in the closing seconds.

I wonder if during his coaching tenure whether or not he subscribed to this MAN RULE (!) when his players were fouled.

I doubt it.

Selective rule enforcement. I LOVE this game!

I repeat...

Scot Pollard playing in the NBA > Jeff Van Gundy coaching in the NBA

Blogger Sturla said...
"[Brad Miller] looked like he would have had trouble spelling his name."

I'm sorry, but isn't he a 6'11 genuine white trailerpark redneck? I'm not even sure he could spell his name before he got hit.

Anonymous Panadero said...
It looks like the Fiery Frankophile - the Parisian Rocket, if you will - wasn't the butter and egg man for the Spurs last night.

Blogger Andy said...
As bawful pointed out, Brad Miller is molasses-slow and can barely dunk these days. I'm pretty sure Perkins would have rejected a dunk attempt.

Bawful made every good point about that play - it was defined in the NBA rules, and there was ample precedent in recent play to call that a flagrant foul. Rondo had no play on the ball - he said in the post-game press conference he was trying to 'stop him from getting an and-1.' It's just hugely annoying that the Celtics make a pretty big mistake on defense and get rewarded for it in the form of a half-conscious Brad Miller shooting 2 with 2 seconds left in the game.

Blogger Cortez said...
"That's why he took that particular shot, and it sounds pretty reasonable."

This isn't meant to be an argument with you, however, I'll replace the word reasonable with specious in the above quote.

"Miller was afraid..."

...so he

"...rush up a shot"

End of story.

There was a wide open lane and Miller knows (or should know) full well that if he starts his strides to the basket (which he clearly had room and time to do) and powers up a dunk attempt, or at the very least an overhand power shot in the lane it's a shooting foul, period.

But what the hell do I know (answer: not much.)? I've been living alone in the mountains with a pride of lions for 7 years now.

Blogger Cortez said...
"I'm pretty sure Perkins would have rejected a dunk attempt."

And I suppose a butter soft scoop shot would have knocked Perkins on his ass and won the game if it wasn't for Rondo's foul.

"Rondo had no play on the ball"

Sure he did. Then once the reality set in that the 6'11" Brad Miller had extended for his elusive finger roll the 6'1" Rondo tried to make sure he didn't get an easy shot off and got him in the mouth.

In my opinion...

Ariza/Rudy = Rondo/Miller = unfortunate but unintended injury.

Keep in mind that I am not arguing for or against a flagrant foul call in this case, despite the fact that if I was a referee I would not call that a flagrant under any circumstances.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Cortez -- Keep in mind that when Miller received the ball, there were exactly three seconds left on the clock. That's about five seconds less than it normally takes him to shamble toward the hoop. I would guess that part of the reason he finger-rolled was out of a desire to make sure he got the shot off before the buzzer. He honestly might have run out of time going all the way to the rim. In fact, when I was watching the game, the TV clock hit zero around the time he let go of the shot.

I understand your complaint. But as someone who's watched a lot of Brad Miller, I can tell you he's someone who always goes strong to bucket, regardless of what's in his way. I can't help but feel that there was a least a little more justification for that shot than about 98 percent of BG's attempts.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Mr. Bawful, I completely agree with you that Rondo's face shot to Miller should have been flagrant. It actually was probably a worse offense than the Ariza on Rudy foul, since at least Ariza had contact with the ball, whereas Rondo didn't even have a small chance of getting anywhere near the ball. Rondo pretty clearly just reached out and clubbed Miller in the face, and should have been called for a flagrant one as a result (just as Ariza should have been, as opposed to the ejection he got instead).

BTW, I'd I also like to point out the stupidity of Ben Gordon's shot at the end of regulation which gave Chicago a 93-91 lead. With the Bulls having the ball in a tied game in which there was only about a second between the game and shot clocks, I don't care that Ben Gordon sort of got open (thanks to suspicious D from Starbury), he should not have shot the ball with 16 seconds left. He hit the shot, but it gave the Celtics plenty of time to tie it again and send it to OT. When he picked up his dribble he should have passed it to a teammate and the Bulls should have ran it all the way down and then put up a shot at the buzzer to either win or send it to OT. Gordon then followed that up with a rather awful shot attempt to win it at the buzzer after Pierce hit the clutch J to tie it at 93.

Dwight Howard and Orlando are really lucky he wasn't thrown out last night after that elbow early in the game. I suspect if the ref had seen it more clearly he definitely would have thrown him out, and Howard would be looking at a suspension for Game 6 (which will probably happen anyway). Without Dwight, I think Philly wins Game 6 and sends it to a decisive Game 7, but the official missing that elbow probably cost Philly the game last night, and might end up costing them the series.

Houston looked like the 2000 Blazers out there last night, letting Portland go on a 15-0 run in the 4th quarter. Houston definitely could have wrapped it up last night as they appeared to have taken control before they suddenly went into a shell like that. They better come out focused and ready to play tomorrow or else I think they're gonna lose it in 7 back up in Portland.

The Spurs this year were really undone by their management sitting on its hands last summer after seeing how thin the team was. Seeing that they were basically a three man team, San Antonio decided to just give it another try with the same Big 3 and a roster of over the hill guys and just hoped that no one got hurt. San Antonio could be back next year, but they're going to have to be extremely active in the summer with player moves to do it. If they just do nothing again and approach 2009-10 "as is" then they really are done.

I absolutely can not wait for Dallas-Denver!

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Cortez -- "Keep in mind that I am not arguing for or against a flagrant foul call in this case, despite the fact that if I was a referee I would not call that a flagrant under any circumstances."

Unless, of course, you wanted to stay consistent with the way flagrants have been called in the NBA all season. But hey, selective officiating IS the name of the game...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
i'm loving the fact that the sterns were eliminated by the lowly mavs even with home court advantage

Blogger Cortez said...
"Unless, of course, you wanted to stay consistent with the way flagrants have been called in the NBA all season."

That wouldn't be the case if I was head of officiating.

"...I would not call that a flagrant under any circumstances"
~Cortez

I just read this on TrueHoop.com. This perfectly sums up the nature of my comments.

"Let me pause a moment to tell you something David Thorpe taught us at Training Like a Pro: DON'T GO TO THE HOOP UNDERHANDED (!!!). When you hold the ball palm up with your arm outstretched like a waiter holding a tray of drinks, the physics are bad. Any contact makes a miss likely, and you can't adjust your shot much side to side, up or down, or in any creative way as things develop."

6'11" center + (MAN SHOT) = Good play.

6'11" center + (scoop shot) = EPIC FAIL!

If Rondo was called for a flagrant I wouldn't have said much about that either. I can see the reasonable argument in that position, I just happen not to agree with it.

Anonymous Bryant said...
Eh. And Ben Gordon stepped out of bounds right before Tony Allen fouled him at the three point line. I mean, crappy officiating no matter how you feel about any given call.

Matt Moore is right.

Blogger Cortez said...
"I can't help but feel that there was a least a little more justification for that shot than about 98 percent of BG's attempts."

I knew we agreed on something. Ben Gordon is a lunatic.

"I can tell you he's someone who always goes strong to bucket, regardless of what's in his way."

Yeah, me too. That why his finger roll was so baffling to me.

Due to my general negative attitude on my fellow man I attribute his shot selection to "deer in the headlights" syndrome rather than a well calculated adjustment to the specific game time scenerio.

I'm a "hater"!

Anonymous Alexis_RS said...
Was the fact that Rondo was wearing SUSPENDERS during the post game interview some type of foreshadowing?

Blogger chris said...
The gold Ben Gordon line had to come from the commentators last night:

"Ben Gordon will miss six shots in a row, and he thinks he's hot!"

Anonymous Anonymous said...
What really pisses me off are not the elbows or cheap shots, it's the feeling that IF it was the other way around, they WOULD CALL A TECH!!!!
At least in the 80's anyone could hit anyone, it was a slug fest, but at least was a fair one. Now we see Howard throwing elbows and walking away, but if Dalembert does the same next game, it's out the door with him!!

Anonymous AK Dave said...
Brad Miller unintentionally dirty quote (from Yahoo! Adrian Wojarnowski column):

“We’ve got another game to play on Thursday,” Miller said. “Let’s strap it on and see what happens.”

O_o

Blogger Bcstein said...
As a Blazers fan, this was 100% worse than the Rudy-Ariza foul. Both should have been ejections in my eyes, regardless of intent, just because the two guys were leveled in the head from an angle they were defenseless from. Rondo, though, had absolutely no play on the ball, whereas Ariza was at least able to get near the ball.

Besides, is there any more obvious sign that the Bulls got jobbed than imagining if this had happened in Chicago instead of Boston. Any chance Rondo doesn't get a flagrant on the road?

If that's Tyrus or Noah doing it to Rondo, they're not only ejected, but suspended next game, too. Given the NBA, though, there's about a 0.0001% chance that Rondo misses any court time, though.

Anonymous Axel Foley said...
I know it may be a little late, but i want to call for a WOTN for those Basketbawful readers that allowed us to get completely and utterly demoralized in that 66-34 loss despite my courageous attempts to rally the troops. If Norman Dale and John Rambo can't get the job done who can?

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Axel -- My theory? It was rigged. I mean, our count kept going down when people were voting. I smell a rat.

Anonymous Axel Foley said...
Here is a real elbow if you want to see one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-9KuxBVe2o

The NBA is still charmin soft.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Someone probably used a botnet to send those last votes. It's nearly undetectable at such low volumes.

Also, lol at all the arguing these past few days. Its hard leaving a comment from my BlackBerry, so I shall chuckle at you nerds while sipping wine in Italy.

Really, you all made the nerds debating Deadliest Warrior proud.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
AnacondaHL -- What the hell are you doing in Italy?

Anonymous Axel Foley said...
Basketbawful- Who was in charge of it? David Stern? He's the root of all the evil in my life. He ruins everything. Oh, and about that Reggie video i posted the link to, if you click on the videos poster he has a massive array of old nba games. Yep NBA on NBC. Nearly all of them are full games(just with like 18 parts). He even has the Dennis Rodman interview where Jim Grey does his best impersonation of a CIA interrogater and makes Rodman cry. Maybe Jim Grey is a mormon.

Anonymous DKH said...
If anyone's interested in how to hack up the results to an online poll:

http://musicmachinery.com/2009/04/15/inside-the-precision-hack/

Anyway, as to these flagrant fouls, I just always get pissed whenever the "letter of the law" in the NBA rulebook is not enforced. Maybe because I'm a Suns fan.

Blogger mg said...
It makes me sick the way officials overprotect NBA stars and title contenders, no matter how many not so popular players get their skulls crashed by Howard or get called for non-existent fouls against Kobe, Wade or Paul Pierce.

Anonymous Paul Mitchell said...
You'll please excuse me if I have no sympathy that Brad Miller caught a shot to the face, after the multitude of cheap shots he's given NBA players throughout the years (including instigating Shaq into a haymaker frenzy). Miller makes an attempted punch/shove/forearm smash to the face of Glen Davis in Game 4 after the whistle was blown, receiving a technical while Glen Davis (who committed a foul during the game which caused retaliation after the referee called a foul) received a flagrant. Then, he grabs Ray Allen while setting a screen in Game 5, fouling Ray out of the game with a ridiculous double foul call, and laughs the rest of the way down the court. I'd say karma was in effect last night, but Miller was unfortunately able to walk off the court.

Anonymous AK Dave said...
chris-

I hated that dog. Yeah he was all friendly and happy as long as you hit a duck, but god forbid you miss both of them- he'd turn on you in a heartbeat.

Fucking dog. I hate that dog!

Anonymous hellshocked said...
Charles Oakley was the one that instigated Shaq's haymaker frenzy, Paul. Shaq just knew better than to mess with Oak and went after Miller instead.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Paul Mitchell - Unless I'm mistaken, it wasn't actually Brad Miller who instigated that thing with Shaq, but someone else (can't remember who though); however, when Shaq spun around to see who had done whatever it was, he saw Miller and though it was him, so that's who he swung at. I'm sure Mr. Bawful has a clearer memory of this incident.

Blogger BballViking said...
This was one of the best posts in a while, nice.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Paul Mitchell -- Wild Yams and hellshocked are both sort of right. Miller and Oak gangbanged Shaq on the foul, but, as hellshocked pointed out, no way was Shaq swinging at Oak.

Also, a player's history doesn't count against him getting the correct call. Or at least, it shouldn't.

Anonymous AK Dave said...
Paul Mitchell-

That is one of the more hilarious scenes ever in the NBA. Oak whacks Shaq, Shaq attacks Miller, melee ensues, Miller emerges from the scrum without his shirt and retreats to the tunnel and has this "wtf, did that really just happen?" look on his face.

I can't belive nobody has linked to the video, so here you go. It's classic!

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Researching swine flu occurrence in NBA players in Europe? There's this Adriatic Sea thing right outside my hotel room.

I can still receive text messages (only 5 cents!) if you're going to game 6's inevitaBull fail.

Anonymous DKH said...
Question incidental to the Rondo/Miller thing:

Does Perkins touch the rim while the ball is in the air? Is that goaltending? It's hard to argue that the shot could have gone in, though. Is it not goaltending since the ball never reached the cylinder?

Anonymous Anonymous said...
the miller no call was make up for gordon's earlier flopping.

Anonymous DKH said...
Apologies for the potential double-post, but I found this blog post on another site amusing:

http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/?p=10986

======

captcha: commockl

The NBA's position with regard to these fouls is commockl.

Anonymous DKH said...
Can I nominate Bill Simmons for a worst-of? Maybe he doesn't actually deserve one, but this was way too self-aggrandizing:

"[T]his is now the greatest first-round series since the NBA expanded to a best-of-seven format -- no matter how it turns out -- and I just wish I could have predicted that a week ago. (Wait, I did???? Really? I'm never right! This is great!)"

Really‽ He called it a week ago‽ After the playoffs had already started, and Chicago had upset Boston once and taken them down to the wire in the second game? After Rose already had a coming out party in game 1 (and kicked off the matchup with Rondo) and Ben Gordon lit up the scoreboard in game 2? Call me cynical, but I'm not really buying Simmons's clairvoyance on this subject.

I also find the reactions to the fouls by various teams' fans humorous. The Spurs/Truehoop blogger commented that Howard's hit on Dalembert was much more egregious than Horry's of a couple years ago, yet is earning a smaller penalty. Phoenix fans (i.e. me) can always be bitter when the letter of the law isn't enforced. Cleveland fans find it funny that the Celtics are lecturing them on the subject of class. And we're not even to the teams involved yet. The NBA makes me hate it so much and yet I still find it entertaining.

Anonymous AK Dave said...
Look at that pic of KG hissing at Gordon and tell me he doesn't look straight out of the movie "Aliens". I half expect to see a second mouth come out of his mouth and his tail to whip around and impale Gordon, lifting him up so that he can rip him in half with his claws.

I wonder what that guy is like in his home. Think he's that intense with his family? "Don't bring those WEAK ASS GRADES UP IN THIS HOUSE, BOY!!" lol

Anonymous dunkside said...
oh boy, i know you like the pussification of the league, so you gonna love the flagrant called on wade's attempt to block mo evans' dunk.

if such fouls would have been called as flagrants in the 90s anthony mason wouldn't have finished a game.

Blogger Unknown said...
I was checking regular season boxscores for Lakers and Nuggets games for their pretty much inevitable WCF meeting in a few weeks. What the heck were George Karl and Phil Jackson thinking? Playing all starters and no subs? Well, according to some stat guy at nba.com they did.

http://www.nba.com/games/20090227/LALDEN/boxscore.html

Anonymous ak dave said...
WOW-

If you didn't see "Inside" tonight- watch the piece Craig Sager did with Ron Artest. I swear that guy is taking crazy pills! Highlights include:

-"Brandon Roy is the best player I've ever played against" followed by "except for my boy from Queensbridge, (some dude's name), who went to jail when he was 15, 16.

-"Charles Barkley was overrated." "He didn't have no defense"

and my personal favorite:

-"Michael Jordan said he wished he could have played against me in his prime."

Is this guy serious? I haven't heard him talk a lot, but he actually sounds smarter when he raps. o_O

Anonymous Ruben said...
Haha, the comments today were hilarious. I think Cortez could probably get his own Basketbawful spinoff.
And what I noticed most after watching shaq go after Miller again, was the first person to jump on shaq's back: Ron Artest! That crazy mo'fo is everywhere!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
with d12 suspended, expect the polish hammer to explode

Anonymous Stotts Era said...
Gotta, gotta, gotta give a WOTN to Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks....with the game well in hand for the Hawks, J-Smooth on a breakaway, does up for a dunk in which he passes the ball between his legs!! This is not the dunk contest, Josh. Anyways of course he bricks the dunk and Frattelo says "You wonder if he'll ever learn." Josh Smith, easily the most immature 5 year veteran ever.

Anonymous Stotts Era said...
here's a pic of the J Smooth failed dunk... http://twitpic.com/49ofy

Blogger Nick Flynt said...
The Hornets (up to this point) are the pure face of playoff Bawful.

I have said many times this year, something along the lines of: "Remember when the Suns and Mavericks were good? Those were the days." Now I think I'll be going with, "Remember when the Hornets weren't getting beat down by a playoff record 5(7?) points? Remember when they didn't have one of the worst overall point differentials for a series? Remember when the Pistons weren't getting rolled like a douchebag math teacher's house at Halloween?

The times they are a-changin'. And if you're a fan of these teams, there will generally be no reloading, their will have to be rebuilding (Detroit, I'm looking at you, kid. Or should I say group of heartless old guys).

Blogger Henchman #2 said...
I haven't watched the Rondo-Miller foul that many times, and I was surprised that they didn't suspend him (these things usually get decided by what happens to the foulee, not what the fouler does). But I can tell you why it wasn't viewed as badly as Ariza's foul.

Rondo's foul was far more body contact. He had his arm extended, but he wasn't swinging it, he was jumping at Miller, and it resulted in a sort of lunging punch. Ariza came from behind Fernandez, made no body contact, and swung his arm all the way across, smacking Rudy in the head where everyone got a clear view of it. He even followed through. Exaggerated arm motions and follow-throughs are two of the biggest elements of flagrant foul calls and suspensions.

Blogger Emile said...
The Rondo foul probably doesn't happen if the refs call Ben Gordon for stepping out of bounds on the 3-point attempt where he was fouled by Tony "Warm Corpse" Allen. Just saying...