*The Official 2011-12 NBA Thread*

He won't be surpassing Lebron anytime soon on the court but best player doesn't have to equal the most marketable one.

 

I agree. I didn't understand your definition of "Face of the NBA". My fault.

 

Lebron won't be the face of the NBA if he loses this series, Durant will. No doubt about that. Especially if he keeps it up with these boss 4th quarter performances.

 

I agree from a marketing stand point.

 

durant is one of the most humble guys.
Having said that lebron is doing what he had to and good to see wade being wade-ish. OKC has to bring their a game from the start. No more slow start bs.

 

Echoing Ozzy.....Durant handled this pretty well, cuz the media would have went ape-sh$t

 

they all are pretty classy about it. Gotta respect it:

"In my opinion, I think it was (a foul), but I'm not the referee," Thunder center Kendrick Perkins said. "He must have seen something different.

"But it shouldn't have come down to that possession. We should have put ourselves in a position that it didn't come down to the last shot."



"That would have been a nice opportunity for us to make that or get to the free-throw line and send it into overtime," Brooks said. "But, unfortunately, we didn't get the play and we moved on."

 

99% of the time you aren't going to get that call in that context.

 

It was a foul but it also wasn't the decider of the game. A player as good as Durant still could have very easily made the shot.

Buckle in, these are all going to be nail biters. When we were up by 17 it only felt like we had scratched something like a 2 point lead out. The Thunder can erase the hell out of a lead.

This is a heavyweight bout.

 

I think the goaltending call was far more egregious than the last shot. Oklahoma was on a run got the rebound and was pushing it up the floor with a numbers advantage I believe. That play cost the thunder four points in all probability, two at the least, and killed the momentum they had built up. That play was more significant IMO

 

You could also point to the play where Durant ran over Battier with five fouls and Battier got tagged with the block. Durant's a superstar so I get that he gets the benefit of the doubt but he easily could have been ejected on the play. I think refereeing wasn't perfect in the game but it also didn't decide the outcome.

 

Exactly.

 

He should've just took those karate chops to the chest and drove to the hole....it was bad defense because after seeing the play Durant could've took two steps and layer it in.

It's a foul that I believe should NOT get called in that situation, even though he pulled up and shot instead of taking the layup is beyond me but either way he had an easy look at the hoop. As far as the officiating goes?? Fine with me OKC got no "home cooking" I just hope it remains consistent the rest of this series.

 

I kinda wondered the same thing in the moment.

He had the ball on his left so Lebron was pretty shielded and the path looked clear. The shot clock wasn't the issue. He's such a good jump shooter I guess he just saw the look was open and decided the percentages were good to just take it while he had it.

I really think he wasn't just talking the talk when he said he didn't realize he was fouled in the postgame presser. He was so dialed in I'm not sure he felt the contact while he was sizing it up.

 

Dear ESPN:

U MAD?

 

the previous charging call on durant was bull****.

 

This. When Bosh is out of the game, there's a conga line to the rim. Haslem simply cannot handle Westbrook/Durant/Harden when they're attacking. Joel HAS to be in the game when Bosh comes out. You have to have a shot-blocking element in the game against this team. Hopefully Spo recognizes this for Games 3-5.

 

That's how I see it. Bad calls, but bad calls for both sides. That's just what happens with so many subjective calls. It's been even enough that I wouldn't say that any team is winning or losing primarily due to the officiating.

 

So defensive. I wasn't saying the call decided the gm. Sleepwalkimg through the first decided the gm. I was just pointing out what was the worst call made in the gm since fouls were brought up

 

Not defensive in the slightest, I think the Thunder are an outstanding team and am glad for the win.

 

They were equally bad calls. So they canceled out. Battier clearly had position on Durant's no-call.

 

cheers

 

leave it to a heat fan to want more fouls called

 

I doubt we see more Anthony. The issue is that he provides no spacing.

Hopefully Spo stops playing Norris Cole though. He hasn't been very good IMO.

 

Durant fouled out. Was given 2 points for fouling out, and then scored 7 more after that. SO kiss our *** with this "lebron fouled him" BS.

 

I can show you the tape from game 2 vs. Boston and show you the tape of this game, and then have you explain to me how OKC DID NOT get home cooking.

They got it in the form of no calls. Sefolosha is a joke. He fouls out in the first 3 minutes in every game.

Our "turn" to get the calls now. Whoopee!

 

Alfredo sauce never disappoints.

 

awwww when the heat get fouled and lose its omgdz its a conspiracieeeezzz . When we see a blantant foul on the last shot on their rivals it's eh fouls happen, it was even, it was payback lol de-lusional.

 

You attacked that strawman like Frazier and Ali.

 

Tim Legler sure wasn't happy.

 

Oh? In what way?

 

Looks like Simmons is gonna add another asterisk if Miami wins the series.

Lets see
*Rose Injury
*Avery Bradley injury
*Game 2 robbery against Celtics
*No call on LeBron (edit) in Game 2

Am I missing any?

 

eh. The okc deserved to lose the game. I just don't understand the every which way justification of the non call. The only thing I will say is I can see them just not calling it that late in the game.

 

Lost in all this "No call" controversy is that Lebron stepped up and made 2 very clutch free throws to seal the deal. I totally expected him too miss atleast one.

 

he was crushed.

I think the group of Broussard, Magic, Barry, and Wilbon revealed themselves last night.

Broussard: rooting for Heat, attacks them a little harshly at times to fake being objective.
Barry: hates them with all his heart, but is itching to jump on the bandwagon, he hates cautiously now.
Magic: Loves the Heat. Secretly wants to coach them. He's Riley's buddy, so he roots.
Wilbon: Just another disgruntled Bulls fan praying that the Heat lose and that a meteor hits the AAA and kills all of us as well.

 

LOL.

yes.

Jeff Green and Chris Wilcox being lost for the year to the Celtics. Those guys would have turned the series, because they are more important than Chris Bosh.

 

I do agree that Sefaloshia (sp?) seems to get away with fouls on every play. He hits Lebron more on every play than the amount of contact that people are complaining about on that last shot by Durant. If just a third of those fouls are called on him when the series gets to Miami then he'll foul out and Lebron gets another 8-10 FT attempts.

 

Referee discussion is the worst. I think he was fouled and probably should have gone to the line. I agree when Adamprez says that the goaltending call was even more egregious. That being said, there were plenty of calls that went OKC's way, and more importantly, about a 120 other plays that weren't effected by the referees that either team could have used to outplay their opponent fairly and swing the game in their favor.

I just really hate discussing referees. There is nothing so terrible in sports as when fans use refereeing as an excuse for why their teams lose. Thankfully no ones doing that here, I just hope that continues when the results are reversed.

 

It's funny because when he was fouled, I was saying stuff "Yeah just sink both free throws and we're gold. Wait, what the hell am I saying? Just hit one. I'll be happy with one."

 

A strawman argument is when the person arguing invents a caricature of his target that bears little to no resemblance to his target's actual position or belief. By attacking the strawman, the speaker purports to be discrediting the position of his target, but is in fact discrediting a fallacy that the speaker himself invented.

You forgot one.

Barkley: just really wants to see Le Batard in a Speedo.