well to start the quarter, they had lebron, miller, and the corpses of bibby, howard, and ilgauskas on the court and he got them a good shot with his passes on about 5 straight possessions. was he supposed to go rip the ball out of wade's hands while he was getting to the basket on kobe and the lakers' bigs? they don't need much padding: http://www.82games.com/1011/CSORT11.HTM you'll notice dwyane "heavy lifter" wade has the worst FG%, 34.5, of anybody in the top 25 in scoring. also, the greatest closer in the world (rose) is 2nd worst at 37.5%.
Are you kidding? There was a lot of outrage after that game; it just was suppressed because of the sheer volume of Laker Nation (who wanted Portland in the Finals)? Donaghy mentioned that game in particular, but you don't need his testimony.. just watch the 4th quarter. Yeah, the Blazers choked but they also sent the Lakers to the line over and over for touch fouls that weren't being called earlier. Meanwhile, you have Shaq bowling over Steve Smith and no call. Etc. The thing about the NBA is that you can justifiably call a foul on almost every play. And in the 4th quarter of that game, despite letting the players play physically in quarters 1-3, Joey Crawford decided to do just that against the Celtics, putting them in the penalty within the first few minutes. That's fine if you are going to make the same calls the other way, but he didn't. Just in the last few minutes of that game, Pau got away with a travel and a blatant shove of Rondo to get a rebound. For the ticky-tack nature of the hometown calls, the Lakers got away with murder on the boards. Just be consistent. FTs don't have to be even, as long as it's consistent. The reason I brought up those two games (+ the obvious 2002 WCF Game 6) is that it is exceedingly unusual for a team to get 20+ FTs in the 4th quarter. Now couple that with the same refs always doing these games, and the fact that they always happen to be critical games and it just smells fishy. Can you name another game-- regular season or playoffs-- where a team has shot 20+ FTs in the 4th?
If you'll notice, I said it's actually good for the team when he doesn't want the ball, because Wade is better at it. It's just amazing how afraid he is though in big games. The shot at the end of the Bulls game was him being afraid of getting fouled and having to go to the line to win it, so he tried to avoid contact and threw up a circus shot. The thing about padding clutch stats was me making fun of the 'clutch stats' that people point to all the time. Those meaningless free throws probably help his 'clutch stats', which is a joke. That's why I don't put a lot of stock in them.
They may not be 100% but they are a hell of a lot more accurate than subjective opinions. For example, if the Lakers had won tonight, people would talk about how clutch Kobe was because he hit a couple of threes. They would conveniently forget how he bricked most of his shots in the 4th and had multiple turnovers. And this is the norm for him, but the Lakers are so stacked and so hyped that he has this BS rep for being some kind of closer, when that couldn't be further from the truth (as the stats show).
Well, sure, when LeBron has Artest on him and Wade has Kobe on him, it's kind of a no-brainer who you should iso. Artest is one of the better defenders in the league and Kobe is one of the worst. Offensively, Wade & LeBron are equally capable.
When the game was tied, Bibby took out Gasol so he couldn't get the ball. Then Wade fouled Kobe on 3pts shot. Artest got the ball and Z goaltended. Next possession, LBJ had a football tackle to get Wade free lane. Kobe got a position down low, Wade grabbed his hand, all hand and no call. He did lose the ball on his own. Game. That's 5 straight possessions refs didn't need to blow a whistle to give Heat all the advantage they can bet for.
Stern to refs: "The Heat losing is really hurting revenue, it's bad for business, and it's making our big cash cows poster boys LeBron and Wade look bad...go easy on them tonight with the calls...or else"
wade and lebron can't go exchanging shot attempts for shot attempts in the clutch. some games it will be lebron, and wade will be the guy who does the other things in the 4th. and vice versa. tonight it was wade. i think both of them have to pick and choose about who has the better matchup and who is in the better rhythm. lebron plays the role of the screen setter. but he was more of a facilitator tonight. he got bosh going with some sweet passes; and got mike bibby going with some nice dishes in the 4th. that was more key also. bron will get his chances again. and he needs to deliver. wade did tonight.
statistically, wade has been terrible in the clutch (and worse than lebron this year). and we all know the problems lebron has had in the 4th recently (before that, he was pretty damn clutch). both of them are not used to having to "defer" in the clutch and it'll take some time to get used to. like i said in my earlier post, they have to get "comfortable" doing other things when the ball isn't in their hands late or be ready to hit the spot up jumpshot. no his fg% is better than wade in the 4th too. and lebron is better than wade with 30 seconds left to go either tied, behind by 2 and having to make a shot. lebron is 2-8; wade is 1-9. so no, no stat padding there. those stats have been magnified recently. again, hopefully they use these remaining games to improve their clutch play. it'll come in handy in the playoffs. when they join forces, not one guy is going to be the closer every game every possession. bibby on gasol was the right no call. both went straight for the ball. it was the same bs call deng got vs wade in that bulls game that cost the heat the game. you do NOT call those down in the game. kobe lost the ball straight up, and if your big man is going to flop to the floor by incidental contact and get a call, that would have been blasphemy. nobody complained on that 3pt shot but kobe. and when has kobe NOT complain on a missed 3pt shot? and to begin with, when you have been jacking up jumpers ALL DAY AND MISSING, you're expecting the refs to bail you out? are you kidding me? nobody complains on that screen by lebron but you. that wasn't even brought up in the telecast, but i'm sure you did. kobe got owned by wade down the stretch on BOTH ENDS. that's the game. kobe choked; wade didn't. accept it. story of the game: stop settling for jumpshots. 3pt shots. you want foul calls? force the issue and attack the basket. unless it's a blatant foul call, refs are not going to make those BS calls, esp when 2 stars go head to head. kobe was cold all game, nobody was going to give him anything. but again, you're in denial that kobe choked the game away for the lakers. but he gets a pass.
how come NOBODY brings up that but you? not the lakers. but you. stop reaching. people choke sometimes, including kobe bryant. it's ok. it's just one game.
Like I said, I can't comment on this one. I'm only going to observe that this really is the first time I have ever heard people complain about this game on the net, while I hear about 2002 Game 6 and the last finals all the time. Again disagree because I remember the Celtics actually fouling more there because they were tired because they couldn't rebound the ball and so had to keep playing defense again and again - combined with the fact that since it was Game 7, Rivers kept up the "foul to draw more possessions" strategy at the end to a much larger degree than would appear in a normal game, thus further inflating the free throw numbers. Fact is, you can whine about calls here and there, but I didn't see OMG CONSPIRACY at all in that game - not to mention, what amuses me about the conspiracy theorists is that they can alter the story to fit however it wants. We have people on this forum who won't stop whining about 2005 - and then will go on to complain how Dallas lost in 2006 because Stern hates Cuban. Meanwhile, we have claims from people who figure that Stern magically decided to favor one historical franchise over the other. .......................................given that you're on a Rockets board, of all places, I can't tell if you're serious. Or go watch a Thunder game this year.
