http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/8817762/dallas-mavericks-owner-mark-cuban-complains-officiating-loss Interesting quote about the 2006 Finals: What happened in that series besides the lopsided officiating in game 5?
Cuban's just pissed that Dallas isn't at the top of the ref favoritism hierarchy. I never see him getting pissed when Dirk was going to the line on phantom fouls against his fadeaways. Nor does he ever say anything when his players use moving screens, but when Yao did it, it's "gotta be fixed." Not a single peep from him regarding the mythical out of bounds play by Finley. But you know he would've cried bloody murder if the call had went against the Mavss. I agree with the principle, but Cuban's not a crusader so much as a whiner.
Yup, just a bad loser. He cannot accept they will miss the playoffs this year. And the problem is that his whinning works... If it wasn't for his complaining to the refs we would have probably beaten Dallas in that series. Still pisses me off.
No, no. That series was rigged. Donaghy alluded to have worked the 05 HOU-DAL series very strongly. No amount of owner whining could make this pass:
Ha! ... yeah, maybe it was because the Houston contingent of Me, Rockets2K and SmeggySmeg flew to Dallas and offered to buy his franchise for a pen to sign the paper with and a one way ticket back to Houston (Yes, for all three of us ... and we even negotiated down from our demands to take our Dr of Dunk back home with us, too)
Wade was just a pioneer in abusing the "slam into a guy in the paint and get a call" foul. Everyone does it now and teams have conceded it as being a part of the game. If you don't cut off the driving lanes early, you can't touch the offensive player, or let him touch you (sometimes, you literally have to runaway from him to prevent the foul call).
I will never forget the time I scared my dog so much she was shivering when I screamed at the TV for 2 minutes when Ginobody got a charging foul on Yao by spinning backwards into him. Yes, Ginobody hit Yao with his back. But you have to give it to Ginobody...he thought quickly off is his...and said to himself...**** I'm going to have to spin my back to him to avoid the inevitable evitability of leaving his feet too soon when approaching a 7'6 guy. All I can say is that I'm still glad I didn't buy season tickets for my dog.
I wish Cuban would ask Stern how the hell Lebron James can go six games without being called for a foul ....
Cuban has a point most of the time. The media criticizes him yet they'll question the officiating if it's a team that they like or if they can use it as an argument against a team they dislike. In the 2010 playoffs, the Spurs got a lot of calls over Dallas. There were 2 games this season against OKC and Charlotte that Dallas lost after bad calls helped those teams pull ahead. In the 2006 finals, Wade shot 10 free throws in game 1, 14 in game 2, 18 in game 3, 9 in game 4, 25 in game 5 and 21 in game 6, 97 for the entire series. Driving to the basket is the common argument for calls like that. I don't agree, Wade got plenty of calls on the perimeter. I've seen other games where that "attacking the basket" argument was used despite that team or player rarely driving to the basket, getting phantom calls and calls on the perimeter. Jerry Stackhouse didn't deserve to be suspended either. I was looking forward to the 2006 finals. I enjoyed both teams and it was fresh seeing them in the finals. The treatment Dallas got took away from it. I never cared about the alleged moving screens by Yao Ming. What bothered me was the constant calls and non-calls against Yao (not in that series against Houston). I appreciated that Houston's announcers often pointed out the silly calls against Yao. Despite mostly playing on the perimeter, Dirk endures plenty of contact, more contact than most stars. Players can get very physical with him. Sometimes he deserves more calls. Other stars get all kinds of calls on the perimeter despite little to no contact.
The mavs got robbed in 06, and Cuban is right for calling the league out. He did what he had to for his team to win whether it be complaining and getting fined a quarter of a mil.
I'm pretty sure we got robbed against Cuban in the previous year's playoffs, and Cuban still achieved nothing GO CUBAN! I'm going to have to let you fine me $125,000 -- jvg
The 05 series was called badly against the Rockets. But 06 was ridiculous to a point where the only possible explanation is that it basically was Stern giving Cuban an elephant sized middle finger salute. The funny part is that Cuban still hasn't gotten your message. Open your mouth too often, and you'll get sterned.
Wade has always gotten the calls Lebron hasn't. I don't know why. Lebron is a much more physical player, but Wade gets free-throws for being sneezed at.. When Lebron beats your team, you have to accept it because he is an athletic beast who has refined his game. When Wade does it with 18 free throws, most of them in the 4th quarter... you are left with a sour taste.
That series was rigged, as much as I hate the Mavs that heat vs mavs finals was the most obvious case of rigging in any sports I have watched
Not true. You should have seen how players were fouling Wade with their eyes. Some even dared to breathe on him. #Disrespectful #FoulTroopers
Lakers v Sacramento game 6. The interesting thing about Donaghy is they were never able to find evidence of him fixing matches, all he ended up being done for was gambling on nba games while a ref, an employment issue, hence why he was able to write that book etc.