wow, I thought that this criticism was directed toward Yao until I saw TD's name next to it. So how many thread will there be to claim that TD is a wussy and will never be a true dominant player? The game has started, guys.
I believe the NBA sends its own officials to handle the time managment operations for playoff games. As for the duncan shot the clock usually stops when the ball touches the floor not at the exact moment the ball finishes going through the net. This has been the case for pretty much every other game i have seen throughout my life. So I think that was quite allright, but it still mind boggling that a person could catch turn and shoot all under half a second. He made the shot good for him SA better play well on saturday
Common sense and objectivity say that the "Law of Physics" make the shot an impossibility. If they still want it to stand, they're denying physics, and siding with fiction. I don't care who won. Just the way this game ended. It's physically impossible to catch, turn, jump and release a basketball in less than half a second. Try it.
btw, the replay show Fisher got the in-bound pass and then made that turn-around shot WITHIN 0.4 SECOND!?
I heard on the radio that an on court official starts the clock from a remote device on his person. There is also a timekeeper and he is from a neutral site. I think protesting was a bad idea. It will leave a bad taste with the officials. It makes you relive the moment rather than focusing on the next game. It sends a message to the team and fans that you think that you needed that game to win the series. Most of all, there was no way it was going to get overturned. It should have been used as a rallying cry. They took this one from us, but we do not need it. We are going to win the series anyway.
I think it they were jusitified in trying to protest, because there is no guarantee they will will game 6 and thus game 5 is that much more important. And yes my dad is a huge laker fan and engineer and he was happy the lakers won too, but said it was impossible for him to catch turn and shoot in under half a second even 10 grade physics can teach you that. He doesnt really care for all the 'conspiracy' theories going around because of course it helps his team out, but he said that they(the league by not overturning) cheated the spurs in the worst way. its weird never seen my dad say this but he wants the lakers to lose today to make it fair and so it'll just be set up for a game 7 on wed or tues
What is overlooked is that Fisher is left-handed. Thats the only reason he was able to get the shot off.
though the series is over, what also should be noted by saying that is that fisher has one of the slower releases on the lakers just by the way he shoots the ball, there is no way that shot could have taken under .04 seconds seems most people agree course the only person who doesnt agree, david stern, happens to be the only one that matters in this issue.
of course fisher couldn't have gotten it off with .04 seconds left. fortunately, he got it off with the .4 seconds that were left on the clock (which should have been at least .7)
Another thing people seem to forget is that .4 seconds in the NBA NEVER equals .4 seconds. As long as you have actual people operating the clock, it would be virtually impossible to start the clock at exactly the moment it hits the player's hands. Clock operators can't anticipate the moment the ball touches a player just like a ref should not anticipate a foul in situations when they normally occur. They have to play it like they see it, and that means you have to account for reaction time. So the .2 or .3 or maybe even more seconds of reaction time between when the operator sees the ball hit the hands of Fisher and when the clock starts could easily account for the extra time he would need to get that shot off. The picture posted earlier in this thread really is enough to squash this lame protesting though. It is quite obvious that the clock management is not an exact science, but it is highly likely that whatever time discrepancies might occur even out over the course of a game. The damn Spurs should have had their **** together so that it wouldn't have come down to a final possession. I hate the Lakers, but this official protest by the Spurs is beyond lame. Take it like men, candy asses.
So the human reaction time for time operator to start the clock is 0.2s, but for Fisher to receive the ball, react, jump, turn and shoot only requires only 0.2s or 0.6s (if you think the remaining time should be 0.8s) more?
Watch the replay, guys. The clock didn't start for approx 0.2 secs (human reaction time), and the ball left his hand as the clock changed from 0.1 to 0.0 (and before the board lit up). If it hadn't, the refs, who were standing on the court in hostile territory, would have reversed the call after review. Or the NBA (which consists of more than just David Stern, by the way) would have turned it over. It was amazing. It was lucky. It could probably never be duplicated. But it was legit. I admit it, and I'm not even a Fakers fan.
I'd have to disagree. Their watching the action; they can see when Fisher's reception of the ball is imminent, especially since that is what they are specifically watching for. You shouldn't expect any lag.
so you're asking the clock person to anticipate the catch? I'm sure they were looking at kobe or shaq. That inbounds pass was pretty much right in front of payton. Human error is going to account into the slightest of delays. I'm not a lakers fan either but man let's give fisher some credit here.
Remember those immaculate reception referees huddling, "I've got two I don't knows and four what ifs. If we reverse this call we will not make it out this staidium alive. What do we do?"
As someone else mentioned, I would imagine the operators were watching Shaq and Kobe more than Fisher. Hell, who here really expected it to be Fisher that got the last shot? I figured they would just lob it up for Shaq to attempt to go get it. And you can be sarcastic all you want, but watch the replay closely. It doesn't seem possible for Fisher to catch the ball, turn and shoot in .6 seconds, but by god that's what he did. The little b*stard did it fast. In fact, it really wasn't even much of a shot, but more of a fluid heave. The turn and shot were pretty much all one motion. The fact the ball went in was pure luck.
