My wife & I are here in Houston visiting our granddaughters.....and son & I couldn't get them off their computer before I fell asleep. They have no respect for Rockets fans. Where did my son go wrong? Anyway, I watched the 1st half at my brother's (sonny doesn't have comcast). Didn't see anything legally wrong with what McHale did. He was in the coach's box the whole time and gave Duncan more than 2' of clearance(which is what players have to give on an inbound play). There wasn't any obstruction of view or ball path. McHale just won the mind game!:grin:
He was just doing it so he would get calls in the second half, and boy did they ever. Calls heavily favored the Spurs last night. It was one of the only games this year where I felt like the Rockets were getting the short end of the stick on nearly every call. Most of them have been surprisingly even so far IMO, as opposed to the last few years where the Rockets had a ton of bad calls against them. That's probably just another good thing about the Howard signing. Two proven superstars on the field= less BS calls (against Smith, for instance lol). I do agree with this. Pops is an amazing coach, and can really make a lot out of nothing with little details. As happy as I am that we won, I never for a second (even when we were up by 23 points) thought it was anything close to a guarantee that we were coming out with a victory. The talent and coaching of the Spurs are just that good. I remember that as well. Part of me was surprised Pops was allowed to do what he did last night. He literally yelled at the refs about it for a combined 6-8 minutes between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half. Most coaches will get a T for doing that for 30 seconds. Not sure why Pops is allowed to do that for 12-16 times longer and still not get another T. I mean I guess I do know why, but it's just unfortunate. I feel like some people are missing part of the situation. The Rockets and if I remember correctly even Bill Worrell and Matt Bullard were annoyed at how long Duncan and the Spurs were taking at bringing the ball back in. Is it, therefore, really out of the question that McHale walked across thinking that Duncan still wasn't ready? Even if not, I think he would be justified since the Spurs were being jerks about bringing the ball in. Given this and the fact that the Spurs were heavily favored overall by the refs tonight, and I don't really see the big deal. I would gladly trade McHale getting a T or w/e in exchange for the 16+ points we were cost from all the bad calls.
Nah. It's conceivable that McHale's position would have interfered with Duncan's throw if he wanted to throw it to the right corner of the court or something, but Duncan could see everything and he didn't hesitate to make an unobstructed throw. If he were Jason Kidd he probably would have deliberately nailed McHale with the throw, trying to get a technical or something. I love what McHale did
man heres what i think- ppl who hate on mchale are like the same ppl who hated on morey. just haters. what mchale did was in the right IMO, and what pop did was ridiculous. the guy shat all over the ref and court and he was thrown a T, gimme a break.
RULE??? Show it, don't pull something out of your ass. If you look at the video, Pop is standing in the exact same position as McHale right at the edge of the coaches box. The only difference is no pass in front of Pop. McHale has the right to his coaching area.
The way I see it...it didn't affect the inbound pass at all because look where the pass went. They probably got the best possible shot in that scenario given where all the players were located and it was just a missed jump shot.
The only reason I watch Spurs on espn or tnt is for Pop's classic interviews between quarters. Such enthusiasm and spirit for the game.
I never thought i'd say this, but McHale out-coached one the best coaches out there. That move was genius! The fact that he did it so nonchalantly is what's so cool about it. Popovich was Popo-pissed!!!:grin:
I was laughing the whole time. My daughter asked me what was going on, and why I was laughing, and I told her, "Two coaches jacking around with each other. One, Coach McHale, is playing mind games with Tim Duncan and his coach. The coach of the Spurs, Popovich, is trying to get his team fired up. At this point, I'd call it even!" The funniest part of this crazy espisode was the look on Duncan's face when McHale walked in front of him. Want "roll-eyes?" You had classic roll-eyes from Timmy D. :-D- I wouldn't have laughed if this had been the end of the game. What a nail biter!
Watch Pop's reaction after the pass from Duncan, etc. He seems fine. Had Manu or whoever shot the ball made it....no complaints from SA.
Former NBA Ref Ronnie Nunn discusses the McHale situation here, starting at 2:45 or so: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nE7JRc5UKx8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> -According to Nunn, McHale did not violate the letter of the NBA rules but the rules also gave refs the discretion to move him out of the way, which Nunn thinks that the ref should have exercised in that situation. -Some nice slow motion shots with the faces of Duncan and people in the crowd reacting as McHale walked back across in front of Duncan. I think the woman in the lower right hand side works PR for the Rockets. She appears in a bunch of videos where Rockets players are interviewed by reporters (after practices, games, etc.).
