Van Gundy Challenges Officials and Says an Owner Is to Blame

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/PressPoint/show.php?id=21776


Game #4: Dallas Mavericks (97) @ Houston Rockets (93), 5:30 p.m. ET - Series tied at 2-2
Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Doug Collins and David Aldridge

Collins on the officiating in the playoffs compared to the regular season: "I think all eyes are on the officials. At the beginning of the playoffs, we wondered how they were going to call these games - were they going to be different, were they not going to call the hand-checks. That has not been the case. We've seen a lot of high scoring games and a lot of free throw shots. The games are being played at the same tempo as the regular season. The question is - as the playoffs go on, will this continue?"


TNT's NBA Insider David Aldridge reported that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has complained to the league several times during this series about what he perceives to be illegal screens from Houston center Yao Ming.


Collins on Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady and what it takes to be a great player in the NBA playoffs: "He knows that he has to make things happen, even if doesn't score, to get everybody involved. He's got to get David Wesley shots, John Barry shots, Bob Sura shots, he has to get the ball to Yao Ming, and he has to defend Dirk Nowitzki on the other end. That's what greatness is and greatness makes adjustments. Great players render adjustments meaningless...they will find a way to succeed. That's what makes championship team - when great players do whatever is necessary, and this guy has been great."



Collins: "I think the team that wins this game will win the series."



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I just hope this causes Yao to be able to play the game on the court, rather than watch from the bench. If he can play for 30+ minutes and get 15-20 shots - we will win.

(Even if he doesn't get that number of minutes or shots we will still win )

 

1) Correct
2) Correct
3) Correct
4) More every day.

 

I don't remember a time in any sport the owner has made such an impact as what this Cuban guy is allowed to get away with.

You don't see in Hockey the owner sitting with the players on the bench
nor in baseball the owner sitting in the dug out nor football by the players on the sideline.

You certainly don't see the owner having the chance to call out and make remarks to the refs when the game is being played. It only seems to happen in BB and even in BB I look around the league and I don't see the Lakers owner or Bulls, Knicks sitting by their players and trying to change the game like this Dallas guy.

Something is just wrong here when the owner with major capital invested in the league is allowed to get away with influencing the game at such a level. In pratically every sports we only see the owners either up in the stands with the crowd (in good seats) or in one of the luxury boxes.

In the NHL for example we rarely see the owners at all and the only time is when their team has won the championship and their asked to come down and share the team championship picture at ice level.

This Cuban guy has cornered a certain niche controlling position in the NBA that he can have such access to manipulate the game like the way he has been doing.

that is just scary for any fan of the NBA.

 

Only if Dallas actually ever wins a championship... which they won't.

At first, I thought that he was just having fun with his new toy... and eventually, he'd become like most owners. But, he went the opposite route... by spending so much time around the bench, the huddles, and practice, he feels like he's an active member of the team... and he's now unable to watch the game from the box or the stands like just another "fan".

Eventually (or when Dallas starts to have sub .500 seasons), he'll back off... but for now, let him go on to continue to embarass himself, and that hick town up north, because I don't know anybody (even dallas fans) who actually 'likes' what he's doing out there.

 

I really don't understand Cuban's point when he says:

"I will tell you what we did do, and I can tell you it has had zero impact on the officiating of the games. We sent in a list of what we thought could be moving screens on Yao and Dikembe from a game in the series. We wanted clarification from the league if our assessment of what was going on was correct. The league came back and told us of the 28 that we turned in from this game, nine were actually moving screens and should have been called but were not.

"We have the same type of examples from every game in the series. So if anything, he has it completely backward."

Is he not proving JVG's point with that statement? He's admitted that he complained about the screens.

I am so sick of this freakin moving screen business. Did we send video tapes of all those moving screens by Malone over his 20 years in the nba? Moving screens have occured in the nba playoffs since its existance. Every big man in the series is doing it, and only our guys get called for it; in the critical 4th quarter, mind you. Never mind the fact that the refs let it go for 3 quarters, only to blindside us when the stakes increased. Cuban is such a b****. I despise him, and his flopping, overpaid players. And learn to freakin dress.

 

Its funny how he makes sure that he mentions both Yao and Dikembe so it doesn't seem like he's just targeting the impact player. However, Doug Collins and David Aldridge both reported that Cuban had complained about Yao specifically.

JVG's bringing up Cuban's complaints also puts a doubt in the MAVS minds--they'll be thinking "Did we really win the last two games because we got so much better or was it because their 2nd best player was kept out for most of the game ?"

 

I found this JVG quote really interesting:

"I talked to Ronnie Nunn a few times early in the year about refereeing size better. He's a great man. He was a great official. But that had a more negative impact than a positive impact. I think Yao and I both got more frustrated. We just accept whatever bias there is against him and work through it."

Kind of makes you feel really bad for Yao. He's already spent a lifetime having to deal with getting treated differently than everyone else simply because of his immense size. Nobody respects his privacy, everyone has unreasonable expectations of him, and he's had to carry the pressure of representing China since an early age. This quote makes me wonder if he even enjoys playing in the States anymore with all this "bias" working against him.

 

No. Rich and Vandy will still be talking Texans and Astros.

 

What a great coach!!!!

No wonder his players love him!!!

 

Finally! Bias, Bias, Bias! I have been seeing it all year. It is unfair to officiate one player differently than all the rest. And it must STOP! And there is no time like the present.

 

Look how this thread grows In a quiet Sunday, hungry Rocket fans just wait something to happen, and something to argue or discuss about. It's about damn time. On top of that, JVG really stood up for his player, in a genius way, to call attention in the media. I love JVG.

 

Team Yao

I would guess it is not hard to find a couple of guys email online.

 

alright guys..... here's a good one

what do you tell an official with two black eyes?


nothing! the b**** has already been told twice

 

John Huizinga

john.huizinga@chicagogsb.edu
Phone: (773) 702-7272
Fax: (773) 834-1859

 

what's that? magic blow donkey balls?

 

It's exactly because JVG is a "no excuses" guy who seldom publically whine about officiating that makes this complaint weighty.

 

The last two games, Dallas role player do a better job than ours. I mean those who wear the stripe uniform.
JVG never complaint about refs and always suck it up. But it is getting way out of hand in this series.

 

hmmm,let me see, how about staging some mass protest against those bloody corrupt NBA bastards? Anyway it's a week-long public holiday in China right now, we have much time and energy to spare.

let's go Nuclear!

 

Right after the game, there were already calls for CBA to call back Yao immeidately to " leave the abuse and humiliating of a great player from NBA referees and one dumb owner"