If you still have tonight's Portland game on your DVR, return to the last 3 minutes. Yes, I mean illegal. There were about three or four times when members of the Portland bench, including the Portland coach, stood up or otherwise distracted the free-throw shooter by doing something that shouldn't be done. On another sequence, Juwan Howard can be heard screaming for Ariza to miss, and he even throws himself on the floor to get the shooter's attention. I am not saying the refs should be calling a tech, but isn't that just a bit unsportsman-like? What do you all think about this? I don't think I've ever seen OUR team do such thing. Matt Bullard even mentioned that the Blazers were the 3rd best team on "free throw defense" (knowing when exactly to put their hands up, movement, etc.), and I know that's been discussed here before... but... there is LEGAL defense and then there is ILLEGAL defense, and I think this should be one of the times called. Just like there are rules for those on the court, there should be rules for those sitting on the bench of the defensive team. Should it be a rule? I think it should.
Point made and well taken, sir. I didn't even think about that, but there's cheering and then there's cheering, and they're the ones getting PAID to cheer for their teammates, so their bosses can tell them WHEN to get up and when NOT to get up. Good stuff, sir. I agree.
yeah i noticed that too. they were screaming and waving their towels....i was like...wtf. sit yo ass down
It was very, very bad. I don't ever remember seeing such a cohesive effort by a team to distract the free-throw shooter.
i thoughti t was funny. on the last free throw there was even a trailblazer who threw himself on the floor. i think its all in good fun. at least it looks like the opposing team cares about the game. too often do bench players just sit with no emotion.
wasn't there a study done on how athletes get more distracted when there is a constant noise and it goes away suddenly? AKA WHEN SOME DUMB PPL START CHANTING AND STOP RIGHT BEFORE OUR GUYS SHOOT?
Carl Landry just got fined for it... so yeah, we do take offense. What's your justification for calling people out?
I noticed this too and I'm glad there's a thread about this. I wasn't necessarily offended more so than perplexed. I didn't expect it. This isn't baseball with silly "unwritten rules," but this is about as close as you get to one in the game of basketball, especially at the pro level. I expect and have experienced this type of action in the collegiate level -- a different environment which does not allow for "artificial" noise, where an unusual set of pressures exist at the line (namely the one-and-one). It doesn't belong in the NBA and I do believe the Trail Blazers should, at the least, be warned and reprimanded or else every team would be doing this.
Let's fine the entire home crowd every time the away team shoots free throws. In the great words of moestavern: r****ded thread is r****ded.
did you watch the game??? i watched it with my friend and we were both like WTF, i've never seen players done that bf.
I even saw a towel thrown - not far, but aggressively enough to catch my eye. Glad this was brought up - I thought it was bush-and-a-half, or worse.
Yeah I did and every team has done that before. I guess you don't watch enough basketball. It's not just on ft's either, they do it when the opponent is shooting on their bench side in close games. I can bet you NO ONE on the Rockets gave a second thought or even cares what they did. Don't get your panties wet, if any fines are given, it will be because of the prolonged standing and not the "illegal" (sigh...) defense from the bench.
