Sickening. I don't know which hurt worse, watching something I've watched for years, which is the lack of respect for Rockets team and players embodied by poor officiating and calls/non-calls among other things... and watch it play out again and again in the final minute of the fourth quarter in a playoff game, or watching Yao miss those free throw shots. I can't blame him... and perhaps that was a sign that we just aren't as ready as we know we could be... but I'm not one of these stoic high-road folks that just can't see the writing on the wall. THIS WAS UP FRONT. Mistakes THIS large should NOT have been made with the Commish in attendance after all the hooplah. Complete lack of ability on their part? I don't think so, but regardless, the officiating is unacceptable and IS making the surmounting of other NORMAL obstacles in a game either too difficult for us. Should we have done some things better (Free throws, some substitutions, whatever) SURE. But that's EVERY GAME. No game is perfect, and if you allow the refs to hide their inability/favoritism/predjudices within the parts of your game that you didn't execute to perfection, then they will always have their way. I'm glad someone of authority finally called them out... and it seems like the Rockets Fans are behind him. I did fire off a letter to the league complaining, and have participated in all the online polls. I used to think David Stern was, if perhaps a bit misguided and too focused on marketing individuals rather than teams and league, at least somewhat intelligent. But it seems that his grand designs for ratings and world domination have allowed him to corrupt what used to be considered legitimate sport. Something needs to show change in the officiating of the NBA, something concrete and measureable, in terms of making the enforcement of the rules and the outcome of the games being based on actual performance.... or I fear I will end my 25 years of NBA watching and just.... move on. What can I say, I'm just sick about it. Rockets in 7.... in a game 7 blowout where an 8 man striped mavs team can't hold the angry giant Rockets...perhaps they have awoken. I did wonder if JVG's timing on this was right. I don't know, maybe not something you want your team worrying about.... but the way it went down in game 5, if they aren't mad enough to overcome it, maybe, again, it just isn't our time....... yet. I will say this. I've watched for years, and get upset about it with the best of them.... but one must remember. It is basketball.... for our entertainment.... a game. Don't let it affect your life.... partake so much as you enjoy, then leave the rest. *takes a deep breath* I'm hoping after this series there will be something left of it that I can still appreciate. I hate to abandon the team, but if the league doesn't do something to make this more legitimate, which may include not trying so hard to 'score a bigger market, or maybe even lower salaries for players/coaches/etc.... I don't know.... but NBA needs to take a step back and salvage the legitimacy of this thing.
Wow, did you see this on FoxSports.net "Van Gundy isn't problem ... refs are" http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3588876
Wow, so far 19,000 votes have been cast and the majority of them are pro Van Gundy: 1) What is your opinion of the $100,000 fine levied against Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy? 86.2% Too harsh 11.5% Fair 2.3% Not enough 2) Do you believe officials have ''looked harder'' at Yao Ming than other players in Houston's first-round series? 67.4% Yes 32.6% No 3) Should Van Gundy reveal the name of the official he says is his source? 72.8% No 27.2% Yes 4) Should Van Gundy be further punished for his comments? 88.5% No 8.1% Short suspension next season 1.7% Immediate suspension 1.6% Long suspension next season 5) Overall, how would you rate the performance of NBA officials in the playoffs? 40.2% Poor 38.8% Average 19.3% Good 1.7% Excellent 6) Should coaches be allowed to publicly criticize officials? 76.1% Yes 23.9% No 7) Do you believe officials officiate individual players differently? 95.2% Yes 4.8% No 8) Ming is averaging 19.8 ppg and 7.8 rebounds against Dallas. How would you describe his overall performance in the series? 61.3% Adequate 30.4% Impressive 8.3% Disappointing 9) The Mavericks lead the series 3-2 after Monday's win. What will happen? 37.3% Mavericks win, 4-3 36.5% Rockets win, 4-3 26.2% Mavericks win, 4-2
Van Gundy is going to be in deep trouble if he doesn't reveal who the referee was who called him. I've got a solution. How about telling Stern it was Bennett Salvatore, the clown that told JVG that Finley was inbounds when he stripped Barry. That would be humorous.
Something my brother and I were commenting on during the game is that the refs seem to by more apt to whistle ticky-tack fouls then the hard fouls. Obvious hacks are noncalls while irrelevant touch fouls get the whistle.
Just watched the game on Tivo--what was up with that "the referee anticipated the foul so he called it " BS....!! It came right after that out of bounds Finley play!
Van Gundy doesn't have to do jack. If Stern decides to play this out, Stern will get more attention than he would ever want. More specifically, a prolonged and harsh sentence will distract the NBA from more pressing issues and will put the spotlight on the one area they always try to avoid discussing - officiating.
If Stern makes a big deal about this, this will turn out to be the biggest basketball story of the year, even bigger than the Pacers-Pistons brawl. You think Houstonians will stand for any kind of suspension for JVG? Heck, forget Rox fans, I'll bet 80% of the true basketball fans out there will support JVG. Suspend JVG? OK, let's take this to court then. During discovery we can finally find out how this little black box called the NBA officiating actually works. With enough publicity, I'll bet a couple of refs will write a "tell all" book and expose the NBA for the fraud it is.
What do you expect him to say? BS. He wants to set an example and disuade others from taking this approach. if he stirs the pot after the season, it'll rehash the entire event and once again people will be reminded how Yao is getting ripped off. Plus, there will be a lot more media attention, especially from overseas. He doesn't want that publicity hanging over the NBA when they also have labor issues.
Then he should be smart enough to know that this favoritism, if it is deliberate, accidental, or whatever, will show, and be recognizeable to the pseudo-consistent NBA fan who has the benefit of replays.
I hope Stern can come to Game 6 so we can boo him and the officals. I think desperate times call for desperate measures and I think we should show the league that we are not at all impressed with the treatment towards Yao Ming...and the entire Houston franchise. I have never had such strong feelings of hate towards the NBA. Have you?
You ever notice that when Yao first came into the league, he was so polite to the officials whan they called a foul on him. Now they have screwed him so much that they have transformed him into a real NBA player.
That pretty much sums up the feelings of most of us. We complain about refs from time to time and generally think that the officials' treatment of Yao these past three seasons is pretty shabby given his status. Perhaps we've even cried "Wolf!" a few times over it. Maybe even a few times too many. But Jesus H. Christ, this series -- especially Game Five -- has been ... just.... so ...freaking ... ahhh ... I .... WWWWWWOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!! (really this time)
There were some bad calls and Rockets fan has a reason to be pissed. Although, Yao missed HOW MANY FREAKIN' CRUCIAL FREETHROWS towards the end of the 4th quarter>>?!?!?!?!?!?! Another reason for Rockets fan to be pissed when the calls go your way too.
sorry about that but the refs didnt lose this game for us, we lost it by missing free throws. what the refs did do is take away any chance we could have had to win/tie despite the miscues at the line uhh humm did you read waht you just wrote? the refs didn't lose it for us? "BUT thEY TOOK AWAY OUR CHANCES OF WINNING"
I have to say Avery and Cuban gotta be some ignant to complain about an officiated game that saw Dallas get what 47/57 foul calls to Houston's 17 fouls. Dallas got a host of fouls called for Dallas, (Dirk). You couldn't breath on Dirk with out getting a foul called. How in the h3ll can you complain about/to officials? I can bring up tapes too Cuban of games 1,2,3 and 4 and fouls Dirk got and got away with. Dallas got fouls and whistles and there wasn't contact at all. Dallas got lopsided calls all night in game 1 and still lost and Avery Johnson complained? How dumb can you make yourself look? Dallas went almost a whole half without getting 1 foul called on them. How many were called on Houston? It's in the books....or should be you never know. Yao was watched close in game 3 and 4. Don't give me the BS it was no such thing officials weren't singling Yao out, like everybody in Houston haven't been watching the games. I noticed something was smelling before Jeff said anything Stern. The Rockets got called for some cheap fouls. Bowen, Matambo and Yao foul trouble in game 3. Yao with an offensive foul from a take down by Dirk? (Dirk tossing/pushing Yao to the floor and Yao was called for an offensive foul.) 2 or 3 wierd offensive fouls, in game 4, on Yao and 2 offensive not defensive but offensive on Matambo also. 4 offensive fouls on both players, in the most crucial part of the game, along with the questionable defensive fouls called and Dallas still, only win by 4, I may add. They (Dallas) lost the most lopsided called game of them all (game 1). The one called on Yao because the man hand was in Yao's arm pit almost crack me up more than Dirk's take down. When Houston made a run in game 3 and 4 there was some freak calls. It was some in game 1 that was scary. I can show on video, like Cuban showed on his behalf, Dirk wrapping his arm around Yao trying to make a break to the basket and not 1 dm call. But Yao get a foul for straight up clean defence on Dirk. No contact, no swipe, no contact and Yao got a foul called on him. I can show awhole lot of BS Dallas (mainly Dirk) got away with on tape. Cuban and Avery what in the H could you be possibly be complaining about. Dallas gets way more fouls called than Houston. Alot of them cheap calls and they felt they (Cuban) should have gotten more fouls? When Dallas get away with the stuff they have and still loose and almost didn't win elsewhere. It's not the refs I'd be crying to Cuban..... How many times did Dirk get to the line compared to the Rocket's whole team? I'm curious. They called fouls on Houston in general on the outside for hand checks. Steve Finely put 2 hands on T'Mack nearly everytime he made a move. I believe it was the beginning of game 3. Maybe Cuban's Million dollar fines years earlier is paying off now .......... I mean maybe it wasn't fines after all. Just curious Cuban. Bradley throwing elbows and Sura get the foul taking up for himself. You gotta be the biggest Joke of them all Cuban.... I bet I can show a whole lot more Dallas got away with. Why do Stern feel the need to bring all of this down now in the middle of a play-offs on the Rockets head coach? If you are gonna further investigate into the issue of what Van Gundy said, what in hell did you throw the fine for already? Stern what? He has to further investigate into the situation with Van Gundy, but he needed not investigate into the situation with the calls Gundy is speaking about. Will you further investigate into the situation Van Gundy is speaking about? Why do it feel like Stern already concluded it before Gundy said something about it? I've already seen Ming on the bench most of the series. Maybe Stern is this upset because something rings alittle true about it? Don't give me the balony there was no such thing going on Stern. 4 offensive fouls equal somebody / somebodys was being watched real close Stern. Your not just being a jerk because you are in denial. I had rather you not said anything at all. You are being a jerk because you said something stupid and think we are stupid enough to believe you and we are not intelligent enough to see something was weird ourselves. What does Stern need to know the source for? Are you going to look into what was told you Stern? The only reason you would not and would have concluded so soon, already, is that you already knew something before you were asked or notified. You're going investigate further into Van Gundy himself but you don't need to investigated into what Van Gundy is talking about and the refs in question. Why is that? I love that Usher song.. You know that it's true let it burn. I wouldn't worry about the calls. Of course it's going to be closer when they tie Yao and Matambo's hands behind their back with the phantom calls for most of the series. If we knock down some big time shots here and there. Don't need to worry about the weird calls. They won't be able to make these calls the whole series or playoffs. I think. It's got to stop sometime. I think. I think Rockets fans need to step up and step up load in Gundy's defense. It would be more sweet to give Cuban the calls he's begging for and still send him, CUBAN, packing for the summer. That's what would be real sweet. I don't mind losing and saying, hey the best team won good game. I'm not a sore looser. I can't stand losing this way though. It was brought to attentions and these jerks still pulled it off. If it don't happen, which it's no reason it shouldn't. Cuban, The refs and Stern can have what ever it is they are trying to get/accomplish. They can have their stinking series along with Cuban. I'm proud of the efforts this whole Rocket team gave. Every single player on that bench and starting. With Van Gundy you know it was 100% and you can see from the play of the players that it was just that, 100%. 100% work and no begging and crying Cuban, Avery. Cuban came on with the first impression crying about calls it's why he started getting fined since he's been associated with basketball. We really shouldn't be suprised. He's got something to whine about every year. With his baby bottle in one hand and money in the other Houston Rockets isn't the first team Cuban has cried to officials to/about when his team lost. In the last 4 games I have noticed these calls have come when Houston was making a run..... The phantom offensive fouls on Matambo and Yao game 3, the points taken back from Yao, the offensive foul call on Yao in Game 5 ala Henderson, The Dirk take down......
