OK, I was going by my view from the seats on the Posey call. I was furious and it looked like the #6 ref (the head ref) said, well if you are going to make a floor call, then I'm going by the book on the free throw, too. That seems fair. I didn't see a replay of the "hack" that JV described, but I have definitely seen Jordan push, Reggie push, and Malone grab, and from my experience they allow that and in return allow more by the defender until the player gets the ball and looks in control. The "looks in control" part is important, imo. When the play gets busted, like it was by Miller before Posey grabbed him, then the refs can (and probably should) let the play run out....since it is a busted play by good defense or poor offense, so why bail them out on a call that is fairly difficult to see in the flurries of the moment that accompany a busted play. that said, JV is right in principle. In practice, it is really hard to see grabs versus offensive players faking it most the time, and that's why they don't make floor calls and offset that by allowing push-offs. If you start calling grabs on the floor "by the book," then you set yourself up for offensive players trying to fake the grab. Can you really hear it in the last second with fans screaming. all that said, I still stand by the #6 head ref for chooses to play it fair both ways,,,,if the grab is called, then call the free throw violation. He still had another chance to win, anyhow.
I agree with JV and Crash, Posey made them call the foul. He raked his arm badly and got zero ball. Yeah Miller was spinning and at best going throw a wild shot with less than a second left, but you cannot rank and hold the shooters shooting arm down like that ANYTIME and not expect a call. It was a brain fart by Posey--luckily he and us got away with it. We got lucky with the foul violation call. I agree unless they called it every time Miller did the same thing in that game they should not have called it at the end. They call goal tending every time they see it and 5 second in bounds calls every time--this should be a very easy rule to enforce every time (unlike goal tending or most others) considering the action is stopped. That is what the league needs to do. In sum, yes, again, we got lucky and the Clips got hosed. But so what, it happens, it might end up giving Clips an extra ping pong ball or two and us into the first round--the only ones to maybe whine are Phx, Utah or GSW. If I was a Clips fan at this point of the season like the Rockets late last year I'd be pissed letting a close loss like that almost get away. I would be saying thank you Andre.
Just my opinions after reviewing the tape several times in slow motion. Posey made a stupid mistake with 1 second left try to steal the ball, it is a correct call. Consider if Posey make the drive with 1 second left to break the tie and win the game and Miller did the same thing, and referee let it go, will Rockets fan be quite. No way Jose. Miller’s feet never crossed lane. Maybe the rule should be modified to clarify the ambiguity. There is no way judge whether 50% of body crossed line accurately. Maybe the football stick feet rule should be applied. Bottom line is, we got lucky. Sometimes you just have to admit it. And it is no shame to be lucky.
I'm pretty sure DJ won't have him in the gym fixing his free-throw form. Hey, if it gets called 7 times out of several hundred, that's what, 5% of the time, tops? Coach DJ simply blames the refs for a lame call at the end of a game, and moves on. His incentive is NOT to fix Miller's free throw form, since 9.5 out of 10 times, refs view it as perfectly acceptable. He just views it as rediculous that such a call would be made at such a crucial time in a close game. And, I'd have to agree with him. A call like that just makes it look like the refs were calling the whole game in favor of the Rockets. And if you asked me, they weren't, but they sure looked like it at the end of the game.
Well he certainly should blame his player for his shooting form. Every time he shoots the foul shot, he puts himself at the mercy of the ref. He's not getting a significant advantage from leaning into the lane so he might as well have learned to shoot from behind the line. Whether the refs should have made that call or not, Andre Miller still cost them the game with his terrible night at the line. And, I'd point out that DJ can't afford to have too many losses as an interim coach if he wants to come back.
I look at it like this. Miller still had another chance to win the game with the second free throw and he blew it. It shouldn't have been called but those are the breaks.
HeybigPee, too bad you didn't see the foul on a replay, because you definately missed it in your seats. Miller would have had a difficult shot with two defenders in his face, but he at least would have been able to get a shot off. Posey's hack on his mid forearm caused Miller to loose the ball. The ball actually dribbled away from the basket. Miller probably would not have made the shot, but I've seen many difficult shots go in in the NBA at the end of games. It is pure bull**** to say that a foul like that shouldn't be called at the end of a game. He wouldn't have affected the attempt any more if he had bear-hugged him. The refs didn't bail out Miller, Posey did. The free throw call was a gift. The rule has been posted a few times in another thread. It doesn't specify any particular body part. It is a piss-poor rule for interpretation. Since it doesn't specify a body part, those of you trying to argue that the rule doesn't limit the infraction to stepping over the line with your foot, cannot logically say that the same rule would exclude hands and arms. The rule needs to be re-written specifying that an infraction occurs when you step over the line before the ball reaches the rim. That would accomplish the intent of the rule and eliminate any "interpretation", although we all know refs "interpret" clearly written rules all the time, mainly depending on who is doing it and where they are doing it and when they are doing it.
