No more. I will not watch anymore NBA games after this ridiculous affair. How can the league let this officiating bulls^&t keep happening? How can they ignore the fact that the game SUCKS when superstars get special treatment? That the teamwork and fairplay is useless when the important calls aren't made? Well, after Shaq's 10th foul I'm no longer gonna let it get to me. I quit watching games. I'll read about it - sure. But no more wasting my time. A basketball game is not a basketball game when the teams are made unequal by officiating. Thanks NBA. I can now read more books. I can now get more work done in the evenings. I can damn sure save money by never going to a game again. No more. Needed to vent - and I apologize for the tonality, rhad
I'm with you my friend, i know the feeling but i'm not gonna let these refs affect my love of basketball. take a vacation and come back when Rox play for the playoff against the Lakers. It's a good thing that they lost to them tonight so when they meet during the playoffs, there's no pressure on our side. Another good thing, I think we can beat the Lakers in the playoffs.
Not to throw more fuel on your fire, but the refs really did blow several obvious calls... 1) The no call on the block as Francis was about to dunk over Devan Geogre. 2) The shaq kicked ball. 3) The several no-calls on Shaq (towards the end of the game) as Yao missed some crucial shots.
all truisms....but how about francis and mobely hitting some open jump shots.....I just cannot believe how poorly Steve is playing from the perimeter and overall....his lack of efficient offense is killing us...we cannot rely on his pressure shooting like years past...that was the difference....also, why play Yao at the top of the key towards the end of the game? Refs were terrible, but we let this one get away both from the bench and on the court
... How about Shaq flagrantly tripping Steve? No call there, and it woulda fouled shaq outa the game. Yao woulda won it for us from there. that was aweful. -- droxford
i know the refs screwed us but i believe in kharma and i'm sure we've gotten some lucky calls in the past, or will get some in the future. i feel for the refs, it's harder than it looks. maybe if the rockets made a comeback and the refs ruined but i think everyone would agree that the rocks are every bit to blame as the refs. we should have finished them. we let this one get away with a little help from the refs. still no excuse.
How bout Cuttino trying to save the ball from going out of bounds and having the ball hit the out-of-bound line and the refs not calling it which resulted in a Francis score. Stop complaining about the refs. If the Rockets didn't choke in the 4th, people wouldn't be b****ing.
why don't they have replay like what they are doing in football? refs are human after all so aside from human errors they bound to be biased, one way or the other. if a team can challenge the call and watch the replay everything will be settled. and the refs would be careful making calls or not making calls, cuz they know the replay would hunt them, again, and again... and it won't look good for their resume.
That's true too. I'm ticked because of the way they played as well. At the end of the game in the 4th quarter, with the Lakers on a run, the rockets took a bunch of jumpers instead of going down to Yao, who had ~30 pts in 3 quarters! Why!!?? But really that does not change the fact that the refs hosed this one. We were up 9 going into the 4th. Foul out shaq after the tripping call (~2:30 left) and we win no matter how good their run was. It just ticks me off. The "superstars make the rules" mentality is poisoning this game. I'm not surprised by it anymore, but it burns me to see it so falgrantly employed. And if I here one more anouncer say "well the fans didn't come here to see the stars sit on the bench." I'm gonna scream. WE CAME TO WATCH A LEGITIMATE AND FAIR GAME OF BASKETBALL! Yeah I'm still pissed. --rhad
The real question is should superstars get special treatments. The answer is no. Its not written in the book and so it shouldnt be. Notwithstanding, Shaq did get hack a lot, he also committed many offensive fouls inside the paint that werent called over the years.
AMEN! The refs didn't kill the Rockets - the Rockets killed themselves. As is often the case, their schizophrenic offense did them in. The Lakers were desperate - they NEEDED this game after their belly-flop in Atlanta on Tuesday so you knew that they weren't going to roll over and die. It was up to the Rockets to drive that stake into their chest and slay that beast. Instead, they relaxed and produced their usual disappearing offense in the 4th period which allowed the Lakers to claw their way back into the game. Once the Lakers took the lead, the Rockets were done - simple as that.
Cuttino was 2-12 and Kobe had 12 assists and lots of points. One more made shot or one stop and Rox win. It's all on him. Sorry, Cat lovers. Cuttino was totally outplayed this game. He's gotten Kobe before, but this time Kobe came to play.
