That talk never should have started. Hibbert is not (and never will be) a franchise center. He won't do much better than the 13/9 he put up this year and his poor vertical and horizontal will never improve.
Pittman's foul only 3 games suspension, talk about double standards. It was way worse than Artest's elbow. The guy came in running and going for his head / neck which could've resulted in serious neck and head injury. He was lucky the Pacers didn't have Maxwell, he would've went at Pittman like a pitt-bull
You do not win championship series (to win 4 games) on luck, if it is a 1 game series like the NCAA championship, then sometimes it is luck. Dirk's performance and his career is why he is going to be HOF on the first ballot. You win with clutch performers and matchups.
Pittman deserved more, but it doesn't matter. Haslem deserved the 1 game, making no attempt to go fro the ball (show me once in his career where he ever attempted a 2-handed block). His flagrant was ALMOST as bad as Wade tackling Collison in game 2, which started all of this, and was of course ignored due to superstar bias. It will be tough, with Granger, West, and possibly Hansbrough at least somewhat injured (intentionally) by Heat thugs. Any limitations that they have will be more significant than the one game loss of Haslem. Perhaps Larry Bird's encouragement to stop playing like pansies and take it to them in the paint will help, though. Looking forward to evening things up tonight.
There was only 1 thug play and that was of Pittman. Pittman didn't injure any of those guys you just mentioned. The Heat have huge issues in the front court without Bosh and now Haslem. Please stop saying silly things like "thugs" when your guys started this physical play with Granger trying to be a fake tough guy with Lebron.
How Hansbrough wasn't suspended is interesting to me. Looks like you guys can stop saying David Stern favors the Heat. Steven A Smith even said this morning he couldn't believe Hansborough wasn't suspended 1 game. If the Heat still win game 6 with this joke of a front court they have we can at least put to rest that the Pacers are a good team.
The fact that Lebron can play the 1,2,3, or 4 is why he's the MVP. But yea, that's a pretty horrible frontcourt.
Wade started the physical play with what should have been a flagrant 2 foul on Collison in game 2. Granger's jawing started after that. Why Heat buttlickers can't understand this is beyond me.
Pretty simple. These are not equal: Are you trying to tell me that Haslem was trying to block a shot, with TWO HANDS, and just happened to miss the ball by A FEW FEET?
The Wade foul on Collison was the full equivalent of the Haslem foul on Hansbrough and it was not punished at all, solely due to the superstar status of Dwayne Wade. That is bias. Wade started it all. If he had been fairly punished I don't think that the latest set of fouls would even have occured.
here's a pretty sensible analysis of how awful officiating allowed game 5 to become a showcase for Heat thugball. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...me-5-nba-must-provide-answers-for-officiating
The polls on the officiating are hilariously one-sided. Seems about 80-20 split in favor of suspending Haslem-Pittman and NOT suspending Hansborough. Yeah man, it's a conspiracy!
That Hansbrough hit was intentional contact to the head. Anyone who goes for a block and does a full follow through... its done on purpose. The moment he feels the ball, players know better to hold back and not to do a full swing through.
The image you show is when Hansboro hits the ball. It does not now show when he continued, made a claw with his hand and raked Wade across the face, then slapped hands with his teammate as if mission accomplished. Haslem's was obviously not a play on the ball, but just because you make a play on the ball doesn't mean you shouldn't be suspended. What if He swatted at the ball and kicked his nuts at the same time? Who gives a **** if it was a play on the ball, it was still malicious in other ways. I think Haslem should have been suspended, they got it right, but Hansboro should have been as well.
It's 80-20 on heat haters vs. heat fans. Do you really think that poll is accurate? lol come on man. Steven A Smith said this morning he couldn't believe Hansboro wasn't suspended for that intentional rake across Wade's face. It was cleverly disguised however as a play on the ball so props for Hansboro's acting skills.
Nobody is saying there is any conspiracy, just fairly typical superstar bias. You cannot look at the replay of the Wade foul on Collison and tell me that it isn't a flagrant 2, by any rational interpretation of the flagrant foul rules. The argument for it being a flagrant 1 is that it was Dwayne Wade committing the foul, and that was the deciding factor. If Hansbrough or Collison had milked it like the Heat floppers do (Look at Dexter HitMan flopping after decking Srevenson!) and stayed on the floor for awhile I guess it would have helped the refs to decide correctly right on the spot. It's too bad the officiating is such that you have to add some faking to an already hard foul to get the call made fairly, but it seems to be true.
Also, when a player goes for a block and commits a foul instead, that player is usually not thrilled about the outcome because he just sent someone to the line. The fact that he slapped hands with Amundson afterwards as if he were happy doesn't show a reaction of someone who went for a block and committed a foul. It shows that he was going for Wade's head and his mission was accomplished.
OK let's drop all this and talk about the game. Is your take that if the heat weren't playing thug ball then the pacers would be up in this series? Are you saying if Haslem and Pittman wouldn't have attacked your guys, that they would have won that game?
