The first round playoff this year is much more entertaining than before. I beleive it has something to do with the quality decline of the super star players in the NBA. Before you have those superstars like Shaq, Kobe, MJ etc playing in the league, the league under Stern believed that promoting Superstar calls during playoffs will benefit the league, raising total revenue. Now with the new commissioner and the quality decline, the NBA might find it beneficial to move to a NCAA-type of playoff competition, i.e. everybody gets the same referee treatment. Stars do not get preferential treatment. As a result, games are played more tightly, more overtimes, more entertainment for fans. That's why, the first-round playoff this year is so much entertaining, and so much better. Now you can understand why Harden can't get calls. Basically he gets calls the same way as everybody else gets.
Derozan averaged 1 less FTA/game than Harden during the regular season but is averaging 12.3 FTA compared to Harden's 7.7 FTA during these playoffs. I've been watching that series and he's getting calls Harden isn't getting on the same drives.
I can only say that via the eye test the Rockets vs Blazers has been fixed...the Clippers vs GSW have also had some attriciuos officiating too, but all in all the other series have been pretty well officiated...(I haven't watched Mavs vs Spurs yet)
Why would the Blazers Rockets series be fixed ? Rockets have Howard ,Harden who are more popular and bring more eyes to TV.
either they're trying to get brooklyn out of the way to make it easier for MIA……or maybe they just feel sorry for canada
Portland are the likeable underdogs with unheralded Lillard and LaMarcus "Dirk 2.0" Aldridge and a team of hustlers and hard workers that literally put their heart on the floor every time they play! MAN AREN'T THEY SO LOVEABLE? I ****ing hate that lovey dovey underdog bull****. We have Howard, who everyone thinks is an immature, sex-crazed, selfish *******. And Harden who plays literally no defense and all he does is shoot free throws. The NBA wants us to lose.
someone brought up an interesting point in another thread last night……..lillard did just land a ~ $100M deal with adidas..
I read on the portland bbs and twitter - Portland fans think Houston is getting all the calls, so which one is it? Can you guys just admit that you're being bias? The NBA is not favoring portland over Houston due to Lillard's Adidas contract. You can't be serious. smdh
That makes no sense. Rockets get eliminated, get ridiculed for a few days and forgotten until next year. Rockets move on and people can continue rooting against Dwight for a couple more weeks, if the attention of Dwight's fan/hater base is all it takes for NBA to fix a series. This series has been officiated pretty terribly but I haven't seen any consistent bias against the Rockets. I'm actually pretty sure that last game the Rockets got more terrible calls in their favour.
Portland fans think that their being ****ed by the refs as well. The reason we keep losing is because were the 2nd worst 4th quarter team in the playoffs!
lol you should just stick to posting you 14 disinfo tailormade for the blind sheep evil-russia articles per day in the D&D :grin:
I'm OK with it if it wasn't. The flagrant (Parsons) and techs that have been called for nothing (Howard) and close to nothing (Bev and Jones) are just the tip of the iceberg. This has been discussed ad nauseam so I don't feel the need to list off all the bad calls in the closing minutes of these tight games. It might sound like a wild allegation to say the series is "fixed" but these calls are totally off base and without a doubt the worst timed BS we could ever hope to witness.
the point is that it's not possible to admit anything either way. both you and i are operating from a position of ignorance because neither of us are privy to this league's internal workings. i can only form questions and surmise about possibilities based on my knowledge of the game rules. you on the other hand, fooly convince yourself of one narrative and then (for some reason) feel the fervant need to push everyone around you into that same herded direction.
