I thought the officiating for last night's game was, without a doubt, the best it has been all series... Anybody know if this will be the same crew working Saturday's game? They allowed much more of a physical game, which aided the Rockets D. A very stark contrast to the ticky-tack fouls being called earlier in the series. It felt like an Eastern Conference game.
Definitely if they are gonna let them be physical then we have the advantage because it's gonna stop the mavs from just flying into the paint and drawing the fouls. Deke gets to be deke like he was last night w/o drawing stupid fouls. They really let the players play last night. I think it was 25-17 in favor of Houston for FTA.
More physical play is usually allowed in playoff series. Why the refs have gone away from this in the first 5 games does make you wonder about a conspiracy. Anytime you get to game 7 of a series the refs should allow more physical play. As long as they call it the same on both ends we will be fine. The way thay did it in the first five games was just mind boggling. I was mad after the first 2 games even though we won. One other point. I think refs ought to watch game film of the previous game and look for any flops from either team. For every flop in the previous game they should call any kind of cheap foul (for each flop) on that player just because they got away with one in the previous game. The rockets have been dealing with floppers for years whether it's K. Malone, Dirk, Vlade, etc. they always seem to get screwed on flops. I cannot remember any rockets player that has tried to make flopping as a consistant part of his game. If I was a ref I would be looking to pay guys back for every flop that they fooled me on.
I was just telling my wife this morning that the officials were a total nonfactor. Part of that might be that the game was a blowout, but it was great nonetheless.
