Finis
Misery. Grief. Sadness. All over a complete collapse.
Of course, I saw the writing on the wall after game 5; any time that a team resorts to kicking the ball, punching things in the locker room, expletives, blaming the refs, questioning the calls, and falling into a pattern of anger—it’s over.
Blaming the officials is never a way to win a game. In fact, it’s a prime way to lose a game. Tonight, during the first half (when we were up), you could see Josh Howard expressing his anger toward the officials at some “non-calls” in his opinion. Of course, my opinion corresponds with his, but that’s beside the point. He was still jawing with the officials about a call that he could no longer affect.
And you saw the digression throughout the evening. Marginal calls led to scowls and disappointment—causing the team to lose the focus needed to win the game.
At the end of every series, the better team wins. Period. And in this series, the better team was the Miami Heat. They showed it night in and night out, and they should be commended for the job they did. They played within the style of officiating and won three really close games. And throughout the playoffs, I kept reminding myself that good teams win close games. If you don’t win close games, you’re not that great of a team. And our 1-6 record in games decided by 3 points or less pretty much sums that up.
In spite of my concession about the better team (Heat) winning, I do have a number of problems with the officiating in the NBA playoffs this year. I know it is spurious and fantastic to propose this, but it seems possible that the NBA (if only by accident) tries to make the playoff series long and close. The longer and closer the games, the more money that the NBA pulls in. It seems as though the officiating crews make certain calls during close games that help to achieve this goal. Think of the playoffs this year: Suns vs. Lakers: Steve Nash is fouled repeatedly before turning the ball over, consequently leading to Kobe’s game tying jumper. LeBron James scores dozens of points (many on free throws) against the Detroit Pistons, and I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t fouled on many of the shots. Dwyane Wade has 25 free throws against the Mavs in game 5 of the series.
Of course, all of these situations could be the result of bad calls in close games. Unfortunately, bad calls do affect the end of the games, and it affects the outcome of all of the series in some way or another. But good teams and good players move on from bad calls. They don’t kick the ball and storm off in anger.
But I do see a problem of the number of touch-fouls in the games these days. There is a huge disparity between the guards and the big-men. If the guards were as physical as the forwards, every guard would foul out in the first half. But of course, the NBA is not equitable (neither is life, for that matter)…and so Dwyane Wade is always going to get different calls than Dirk Nowitzki.
But at the end of this ever-lengthening post, I must admit that I definitely feel there is a lack of equitability in the NBA. And that’s a huge problem for me. In order for me to enjoy a sport, I must have the belief that the rules exist to make the game work, and I don’t want to question the integrity of the officiating.
I’ve been a Mavs fan for many years, and I’ve never felt so cheated out of so much. I can’t put my finger on it, but something does seem awry. And sadly, it could possibly taint my perspective of the league for all time. And that’s terrible, because I love basketball more than all of the other sports, but this bad taste clouds my mouth and forces me to reconsider my allegiance and the integrity of the sport.
Perhaps the sting of defeat has tainted my ability to make clear decisions, but I still believe the NBA has some huge officiating problems that must be worked out. And like Mark Cuban, I could see myself ditching the league if they can’t work their problems out.
Comments
Kayla Said: (June 22, 2006 01:26 PM)
I echo these exact sentiments in regards to the World Cup. I know the U.S. team didn't play World Cup caliber football, but Game 2 has 7 cards (3 red/4 yellow) resulting in a 10 v. 9 second half and Game 3 is won by Ghana on a questionable penalty kick. It's absolutely ridiculous and FIFA needs to take a long hard look at the futures of those officials.