On espn.com: David Stern, NBA Commissioner stated that he is looking forward to seeing: 1. The resurgence of the Eastern Conference 2. The young talent of Portland 3. The return of Andrew Bynum 4. What do Artest and Scola (off of an impressive Olympic showing) do for Houston? I think David Stern has been waiting for the Rockets to win a championship and really push the popularity of Yao and the NBA in China. His goal is world presence and a Rockets championship will help him move one step closer This is not a message to the fans but a message to the refs:"stop the bs calls on the Rockets and unleash the beast".
^^um.. since when have the refs been "kind" to the rockets? Your lack of knowledge of historical precedent (2005 mavs playoffs ring a bell?) combined with blind optimism scares me as a rockets fan. You should know better than to trust a miser like David Stern.
^^.. umm. I'm pretty sure david stern is NOT asking refs to call BS calls on Yao. as if the chinese are bad for basketball business.
which was the basis of his post...and if you think somehow the referees and david stern are separate entities then i can't help you.
It's so kind of him to say that. Actually, had stern taken a look at the vedio of the series hou@dal of season 04-05, he should know that the victory shouldn't belong to mavs whose owner did something off court and stole our victory.
who said anything about a conspiracy? refs make bs calls on yao because they don't know how to ref someone of that size, i never said david stern ordered the refs to do that.
I've thought this would be the case ever since Yao's 2nd year, when he started to blossom. I thought, "Wow, the NBA should be favoring the Rockets in the officiating department because it's really good for business for Yao to succeed." Then, of course, reality set in. Yao keeps getting killed in the post. Refs don't say anything. And the Rockets never went anywhere.
If the conspiracy of fixing wasn't a conspiracy at all but rather a real issue, I'd be afraid that the media and refs might go easy on the Rockets just because their popularity shot up from the Artest trade. If get out of the first round, if we win the west, if we win it all, I want it to be completely fair and hard-earned. I don't want to see any Michael Finley out-of-bounds steal (2005 playoffs) going in the Rockets favor. I don't want to see any Robert Horry flagrant fouls going in the Rockets favor by suspending an opposing team's key player(s) (2007 playoffs). I'm not going to be a hypocrite and defend any Rockets win in that situation. I fear that we may see that this season/post-season. I seriously hope we won't though.
From the same article: Stephen Jackson, Golden State Warrior There'll be big talk in Houston, because Tracy McGrady has had his injuries and everyone knows about his trouble in the playoffs. There will be some clash in people's minds when he and Ron Artest work well together. And the Warriors -- we'll be there at the top of the West even without Monta Ellis for the first part of the season, and people are going to be talking about that. http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop...of-2008-2009.html?lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos1
