Alum- We played bad at times, we blew the free throws- But there is a point to be made. Playoffs are a war- a best of seven game war. Dallas makes mistakes we a make mistakes, we do some great things, they do some great things. Look at the margin of victory. This is a highly contested war. The refs have a huge impact that is often out of the players and coaches control. For either team. And I am sorry but the facts remain if you have to overcome the 'bad calls' as much as all the hell of war it can definately swing the battle. You must admit that if we had gotten the calls and it cost Dallas the win we would all have the attitude- TOO BAD! But it can go against you, and the refs can be the difference makers in many ways. In spite of our poor play at times in the balance of the warfare we should have won the game or at least we should have had a chance at changing the ending. The ending could have been very different if several (several, several) bad calls were not made. You do not have to have so many bad calls. I believe with all my heart that the questionable calls are going against the Rockets. Could we be GREAT enough to overcome it. Oh yes we could. Are we pretty evenly matched against Dallas, yes and we will not overcome the Mavs and refs. I posted this yesterday before the fine and the game- I stand by it (I know I am whining because we lost- I am not saying the refs are against us I am saying they definately can decide a playoff game and I believe they are deciding some of these games) Here was my post: Contrary to all the political spin in the world the truth is (especially when teams are fairly evenly matched) that most times the difference in winning and losing can be a few critical calls by the refs. Reality is when a call goes against you it can hurt you more than a good play by the other team because... 1. It can effect momentum big time 2. It can affect the player(s) shafted (can disrupt what they are doing, rythmn, get in their head) 3. It can dictate to one team's strengths or weaknesses 4. It can push a team out of what they are trying to do. 5. It can cause players to back off of something they should be doing 6. It has residual effect on later possessions 7. Player foul trouble 8. Team fouls 9. Substitution patterns, combinations on the court 10. It can cause players to press and force things to compensate. This is a short list. Karl Malone is a prime example of a physical flopper who could play the refs and get to the free throw line and yet play dirty and physical and get away with it. (The biggest crier whenever he was called for anything) Michael Jordan- went from great player to god when he started getting the Jordan rule. If he drives to the rim he will score or it is a foul. Then the rule was expanded to if he misses the shot he must have been fouled. These guys were a nightmare to guard because the refs could take them away from you. Now I am not saying that the Rockets have the refs to blame for the last two losses, but it is true that the refs have alot of control over who wins. The fact that we must overcome the Mavs and the Refs cannot be overlooked. The fouls being called are not about the Mavs driving the lane. TMac has been fouled repeatedly driving the lane and he isn't even getting the calls. The biggest problem is with Yao, Why is Mark Cuban all over this?? Answer that. Because he doesn't believe the Mavs can stop the Rockets if Yao isn't called for those moving screens. He thinks they were shafted in the first two games. If there is anything to argue here it should be were the Mavs beaten the first two games because of Yao's moving screens. Cause that is the reason Cuban is ranting to the league.
Like MFFL indicated, we got calls also. That call on Dirk to get his 5th was NOT a foul. We hit those free throws I believe we are TIED. I understand the frustration. But I stand by the fact that we HIT THE FREE THROWS WE STILL WIN THE GAME. No matter the refs. WE STILL WIN! Do you know how many spin moves Olajuwon had over the years? I can bet at least 30 percent were traveling. Nobody complained. You think Dream didn't have fouls ruled as blocks that caused other teams to lose?If they complain, we would get on our soapbox and preach sucking it up to us having the most dominant force at the time. You can't look at the Rockets not getting calls. EVER or otherwise. Its part of sports. You have to overcome it. Period. We are not the only team to complain about NBA refs. Happens more than any other sport. Cuban complains about EVERY call in EVERY Mavs game. Like Shaq says. Name one time that his free-throws cost his team a playoff win. Never happened. Great players make free-throws when it mattered. I don't remember Dream missing them either. I am upset about last night. I am mad about the refs making the calls they did ESPECIALLY the Finley call. I am more mad us not switching on defense,not boxing out and not playing like we did when we made the comeback. Most of all, I am upset at Yao and T-Mac for not making key free-throws that would of overcame the so called NBA Conspiracy against the Rockets.
All I'm gonna say is that if you are anticipating calls on the court you shouldn't be out there. You have some more training to do.
Alum - I certainly agree with you and I know my own responses ARE out of frustration. But the facts remain- bad calls happen and they have very significant effects on the outcome of games. I don't think there is a deliberate anti-Houston bias and I do think the missed free throws and some horrible defense cost us the game. But I also see the Yao thing that Van Gundy is exposing. He is officiated very poorly. And the calls in the game made a big difference. The calls are not made in a vacuum. They affect so many aspects of play and the score. So I am sure we should have overcome the calls, but that doesn't make me feel good at all about the Finley play out of bounds. That was a back breaker. Make the right call there, we get the ball down 3, Tmac makes or misses a crazy three- different out come. Anything could have happened other than we get a bad call and they get free throws. I don't think we should have to overcome bad calls any more than the Mavs should have to. But when a series is so even in terms of play on court. The calls will probably decide who advances. Sorry, but that is what I believe will be the ultimate difference maker. I believe with all my heart that some 'bad calls' against the Mavs over the next two games could give us the wins. I will say TOO BAD if that happens, but thats the way it is. Let's not deny the fact of how much refs really can control an outcome.
Rhester, I also agree with what you are saying. But not last night. I KNEW we were going to win the game. We had the opportunities right there despite everything. Since we are all angry now, how about having a packed house and making some noise when the Rockets come home? By the way, I am listening to sportstalk today in the NYC area and everyone is all over the refs and defending their beloved Gundy. Maybe...NYC can use its "influence" it receives from the league to maybe pull some strings and get us a couple of wins? Maaaaaybe?
Give me a break. Jerry Sloan's complaints about Hakeem's traveling were completely wrong. Dream never got 1/2 the respect as other "superstars". There are some players that are completely untouchable. Dirk gets a crap load of calls whether he's aggressive or not. He's yet to have a good game and yet he goes to the line about 10 times a night. If Yao was 4-15, he wouldnt sniff the foul line. That double standard is ridiculous and incredibly harmful especially when this team only has 2 really good players. When was the last time you saw anyone pass the ball to Shaq with less than 30 seconds remaining. There was a reason the Lakers always setup the last play for Kobe. You can't miss free throws you don't take. And MFFL? Who the hell cares about them. They have to rationalize the situation otherwise they'd be admitting the refs robbed us- which is not a good strategy when the series is still going on. You don't think complaining works? BS. Magic Johnson complained on every fast break when he would initiate contact. Larry Bird always complained as did Michael Jordan. These players knew the psychological advantage to put officials on the spot during the game, especially in crunch time.
Riet... Do you think the game is ONLY decided in the last 30 seconds? They start Hack-A-Shaq at the 5 minute mark. Did that ever work?
While I totally agree with Almu's stance regarding handing "yo bidness", one should not completely ignore the fact that we got screwed on that Finley play. If I were JVG, I would have earned a tech on that call. It was blatently obvious to anyone watching the game and I was watching it with a Mavs fan who knew they got away with one. I'm just hoping the refs get their acts together and call the next game as it should be called while we take care of our business in our house. We must not let the Mavs or the refs come in and dictate how the game will be played. Our guys need to do the dictating.
Most of us here have no problem jumping on our team for its mistakes- - Man we just have to make clutch free throws that is just plain unexusable - TMac where has your crazy take over game in the final minutes Rambo, Terminator spirit gone? You have not stepped it up three notches in the 4th qtr. - JVG why are you putting our players in so many defensive mismatches, I don't want to see David Wesley on Stackhouse one more time - Why is TMac on Dirk all the time???? Go back to Bowan until he fouls out - When Yao is fronted- get that high pick and roll, rolling pronto - Stop the stupid turn overs - Box out and rebound on the defensive end. - Stop rotating off shooters especially Terry and Dirk Now having harped on the team- REFS--- Get a grip you are killing us!!!!!!!!!! in the 4th qtr make the right call!!!!!!!!! Stop the Yao foul- the one where you have to give him one because he can't play physical so it must be a foul?????? You know the Yao foul that other stars get away with over and over. I know you refs are unbiased, but you are definately not getting the message that Yao is to be officiated like an all star, and by the way that is how the league works...
It never worked because nobody fouled Shaq continuously for every possession for 5 straight minutes. It's much better to play defense and get stops. Why? Oftentimes, teams slow it down considerably in the last 5 minutes of the game. They are much more deliberate with the ball because every posession counts. More often than not, it's much more difficult to score because you can't get easy baskets and teams heighten their defense. There's a ton more pressure on the players to score, especially for players who aren't used to having the ball in their hands. To give up 1 point on every possession is neither feasible nor is it a good strategy. Also, you only have so many fouls to give on your starters. If you bring in the bench just to foul, you're stuck with them on the offensive end after you get the rebound so now you're stuck with a 5 on 4, unless you want to waste all of your timeouts just to make substitutions. Also, teams can adjust to missed free throws with 5 minutes left just like the Rockets overcame all of McGrady and Yao's FT's to come within 3 with 50 seconds left. In the last 30 seconds, you have very limited time to make up for lost possessions which is exactly why the Lakers never passed to Shaq if the game was close.
So you would stand by your remark that Shaq never missed a FT within 5min mark in a Playoff game? Now you are really out of it.
In sports, officiating is often nothing more than pure luck. Sometimes your team is lucky and the refs are in perfect position to make a call in your favor. Sometimes their not. What it comes down to is that the Rockets have been very unlucky so far in the playoffs and the Mavs have been very lucky. There's no point in dwelling. To continually blame the officials makes no more sense to me than blaming a basketball for bouncing right into Jason Terry's hands so he can hit a 3. It's unfortunate. It's frustrating. But them's the breaks. Teams have to overcome bad officiating. Just like they have to overcome injuries or a lot of unlucky bounces. It's apart of the game. The Rockets had plenty of opportunities to overcome the bad officiating last night, but they squandered them.
Micheon, re-read my post... I said that Shaq stated he never missed a free-throw that cost his team the game. New Jack, excellent point. Which has always been my stand.
Not last night? So the offensive foul on Yao when Henderson was clearly pushing him out of position (with two arms ) and had his arm fully extended to keep Yao from going aroud him is not bad call? It also killed the momentum that we had going at that point in the game... The (anticipated) foul called on Padgett at the end of the game when he was trapping on the sideline to put Dallas on the free throw line wasn't a bad call? It extended their lead... And last but not least the ball slap from Finley when he was clearly out of bounds and I might add standing right next to the official that caused the scrum under the basket which led to the foul call on Barry wasn't a bad call? These all happened in the last few minutes of the game. Now I am not going to say that the whole reason we lost the game was due to officiating (clearly it should not have come to this) but you cannot tell me that these calls did not have a negative impact on the Rockets play and outcome of this game....I watched them live and replayed them on Tivo many times in disbelief.
I'm with Almu on this one. The Rockets had a chance to really get back in game 5 and take it, but we couldn't hit our FTs and we couldn't get them off the offensive glass. Yeah, the Finley-Barry play was a bad call against the Rockets, but I don't think the refs saw the play completley and gave the benefit of the call to the home team. Even given this situation, the Rockets (if they had taken care of the FTs) could've taken the game.
Lets get real here. Don't believe in this conspiracy talk. I will never believe that because one day the Rockets will win a title again, will it be because of some conspiracy? Come on now, the refs are trying to get Yao in foul trouble? I don't understand, wasn't foul trouble for Yao a problem all season long? Why is it a conspiracy now and not during the season? Yao just needs to get better at avoiding DUMB fouls. As far as Dirk getting calls. That dude has been getting calls for most of his career, oh well, T-Mac gets his calls too. The refs MISSED calls. Finley out of bounds. Phantom fouls on McGrady and the one that should of been a no call on Padgett. Dirk should of fouled out. A few others. My point is that they simply missed calls, on purpose? I doubt it, they missed them because every ref misses calls, this time they hurt the Rockets maybe next time they'll help them. Remember game two? Yao set an illegal screen, they MISSED that call. Nobody complained and blamed the win on the refs then.
