Watching rigged sports entertainment is always special

doogsinparadise said:

Rulebook truthers are the worst, pretty obvious that there was a foul and then Jackson booted the ball in a separate motion.

I actually didn't have a problem with that call. It was such an obvious foul that giving the ball away would have been wrong. It wasn't a ticky tack foul like Draymond Green's on Chris Paul in the first round, Barnes nailed Jackson on the wrist. It's the 3 point bailout foul on Paul that was bullshit. That shouldn't be called at any time, but especially at the end of the game. Enough with the fouls on threes. A shooter kicks his legs out or initiates the contact and gets the call. These are NBA shooters. The defender needs to be able to challenge the shot.

dnc said:

He_Needs_More_Time said:

Craig Sager II ‏@CraigSagerJr 2m
Zach Randolph suspension and the phantom 3-pt foul. We're running out of wrapping paper.

I love this comment just comes out and says it like it is.

I'm still pissed about the Randolph Dajuan Blair suspension

dhdawg said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjRcTiwVEwo

I will never forget this game. It's pretty fucking obvious the NBA is rigged, they do it every single fucking year.

I miss 90's basketball, I really do.
As doogles said, there is no such thing as actual basketball anymore, the amount of 3 point fouls is appaling

^^This. For me, the NBA just died sometime in the late 90's and hasn't been the same since.

How is this a phantom foul?

HeretoBeatmyChest said:

allpurpleallgold said:

How is this a phantom foul?

I stand correct but if you touch a guy its a foul?

On the arm while shooting? Yes. That is probably the easiest, most universal call there is. Touch a shooters arm and it's a foul every single time.

CuntWaffle said:

Since it looks like the Thunder will be beating My Clippers now I am now rooting for G-Pop (I like to call him G-Pop). Never thought I would see the day where I wanted the Spurs to plunger a team.

this

And before APAG comes back with the "well if the Clippers would have made plays down the stretch they would have won the game" argument, I agree with that as well. It's hard to completely blame the officials when you have the game in your hands and don't execute in the end.

But at the same time, the officiating was terrible. Bennett Salvatore shouldn't be an official in any league. Tony Brothers is downright terrible. Having both of those guys on a crew for a Game 5 of a series is an absolute joke. How much of a joke - consider the following:

Game 1: Clippers shoot 30 free throws and commit 24 fouls; OKC takes 23 free throws and commit 22 fouls.

Game 2: Clippers shoot 23 free throws and commit 26 fouls; OKC takes 22 free throws and commit 21 fouls.

Game 3: Clippers shoot 25 free throws and commit 26 fouls; OKC takes 28 free throws and commit 23 fouls

Game 4: Clippers shoot 29 free throws and commit 24 fouls; OKC takes 34 free throws and commit 27 fouls

Game 5: Clippers take 20 free throws and commit 28 fouls; OKC takes 36 free throws and commit 21 fouls

So as a very savvy basketball observer, I am to believe that somehow the Clippers went from averaging 27 free throws a game to taking only 20 in a game, on the road, that if they win they take a 3-2 lead home with a game to clinch the series? You are going to have me believe that two players in Blake Griffin and Chris Paul who routinely are attacking the basket shoot 5 free throws each for the game? You are going to tell me that KD shoots 12 free throws himself and Westbrook 16? You want me to believe that DeAndre Jordan fouled out in 20 minutes on the court yet has averaged 32 minutes per game during games 1-4 and only had 5 fouls in a game in one of those games? And, you want me to believe that the effect of getting OKC to the line so often in the first quarter had nothing to do with the effect of taking the biggest deterrent to Russell Westbrook running into the lane out of control out of the picture in Jordan?

Sorry, I don't buy that.

The refs can't go out of their way to make it ridiculously obvious that they are tilting the game in one direction or another. But there are plenty of subtle ways that they can do so. The first is getting Jordan into foul trouble. Getting him out of the picture lets Westbrook have a big game. Then, when there's close calls down the stretch, they interject themselves back into the game to make sure that the right calls go in the right direction.

The Clippers got absolutely robbed in Game #5.

They also will win Game #6.

My hope is that the league has enough common sense to throw 3 quality officials at Game #7 so that the best team actually wins the series on the court.

Tequilla said:

And before APAG comes back with the "well if the Clippers would have made plays down the stretch they would have won the game" argument, I agree with that as well. It's hard to completely blame the officials when you have the game in your hands and don't execute in the end.

But at the same time, the officiating was terrible. Bennett Salvatore shouldn't be an official in any league. Tony Brothers is downright terrible. Having both of those guys on a crew for a Game 5 of a series is an absolute joke. How much of a joke - consider the following:

Game 1: Clippers shoot 30 free throws and commit 24 fouls; OKC takes 23 free throws and commit 22 fouls.

Game 2: Clippers shoot 23 free throws and commit 26 fouls; OKC takes 22 free throws and commit 21 fouls.

Game 3: Clippers shoot 25 free throws and commit 26 fouls; OKC takes 28 free throws and commit 23 fouls

Game 4: Clippers shoot 29 free throws and commit 24 fouls; OKC takes 34 free throws and commit 27 fouls

Game 5: Clippers take 20 free throws and commit 28 fouls; OKC takes 36 free throws and commit 21 fouls

So as a very savvy basketball observer, I am to believe that somehow the Clippers went from averaging 27 free throws a game to taking only 20 in a game, on the road, that if they win they take a 3-2 lead home with a game to clinch the series? You are going to have me believe that two players in Blake Griffin and Chris Paul who routinely are attacking the basket shoot 5 free throws each for the game? You are going to tell me that KD shoots 12 free throws himself and Westbrook 16? You want me to believe that DeAndre Jordan fouled out in 20 minutes on the court yet has averaged 32 minutes per game during games 1-4 and only had 5 fouls in a game in one of those games? And, you want me to believe that the effect of getting OKC to the line so often in the first quarter had nothing to do with the effect of taking the biggest deterrent to Russell Westbrook running into the lane out of control out of the picture in Jordan?

Sorry, I don't buy that.

The refs can't go out of their way to make it ridiculously obvious that they are tilting the game in one direction or another. But there are plenty of subtle ways that they can do so. The first is getting Jordan into foul trouble. Getting him out of the picture lets Westbrook have a big game. Then, when there's close calls down the stretch, they interject themselves back into the game to make sure that the right calls go in the right direction.

The Clippers got absolutely robbed in Game #5.

They also will win Game #6.

My hope is that the league has enough common sense to throw 3 quality officials at Game #7 so that the best team actually wins the series on the court.

You're overthinking this one. Getting Jordan out has nothing to do with Westbrook having a big game. I get what you saying because Jordan protects the rim, but look at his series stats. He's had a big game every fucking one except for game 1. The refs were terrible and inconsistent.

He_Needs_More_Time said:

He_Needs_More_Time said:

dhdawg said:

Sorry boobs. The refs were awful but chris Paul blew this one

I like to live a life of abundance and blame both. There is a reason why I tweeted to Paul directions to walk fucking home!

Also Bill Simmons called this shit over an hour ago.

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 1h
You can't assign these 3 guys to THIS game. You just can't. I am so disappointed.

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 1h
The lousy refs are about to ruin one team's season. Lock it down. I am assigning @Jpdabrams the Game 5 oral history right now to save time.

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 2h
Bennett Salvatore, Tom Washington and Tony Brothers reffing a genuinely important NBA playoff game - what could possibly go wrong?

Again a guy who works for an NBA studio had tweeted all this after the first quarter.

He also said Spurs-Suns 2006 game 3 was rigged immediately after. Donahue officiated that game btw.

Wasn't Donaghy involved in Suns-Sonics game 7 in 93?

Tequilla said:

Not over thinking this at all.

Westbrook had 16 free throws last night ... only in Game 1 did he have double digits (10) when the Clippers were as interested in putting him on his ass than anything else.

He had 38 on 23 shots last night - 1.65 points per shot attempt.

In the previous 4 games, he was averaging 1.52 points per shot attempt ... 1.40 points per shot attempt if you take away the Game #1 rat ball game where OKC got ran off the court.

Yes, Westbrook is having a great series (and Game 1 was arguably one of the best games he's had in this series from an efficiency standpoint). But Westbrook is a guy that throughout the season averaged 1.27 points per shot attempt. Granted that the Clippers don't have a great matchup for him defensively, but taking Jordan out of the game really hurts their ability to keep him at least out of the lane. And from a defender standpoint, you definitely defend differently when you know you have Jordan back there that can help clean up mistakes.

He's having a great series and had a great game. There were a few plays in the 4th that could have been fouls that weren't called on drives to the basket. The crowd yelled and Steve Kerr mentioned it after each one. He got those same calls in the 3rd.

I don't know what your point is about the averages. Guys sometimes do better, they sometimes do worse than their averages. Is it not possible for Westbrook to have a great game? He got to the rim a lot and when you do that, you get calls, especially when you are an All Star like Westbrook is.

Jordan is averaging 3.5 fouls per 36 minutes in the playoffs. Sometimes, guys get into foul trouble. You want to complain about the end of the game, fine, but the rest of your post is fucking stupid.