I love how KG gave no ground on that hit. They say he leaned in. More like he braced for impact and didn't give an inch. God forbid a player stands his ground instead of flying 15 feet after contact.
I agree completely, I was there and very close to the play, and bracing himself is exactly what KG did. He may have thrown a little extra shoulder action in there, but if he didn't do what he did, he would have been bowled over and possibly injured himself with a brute like Zaza slamming into him. Once again, the refs totally bought into a 7 ft nearly 300 lb guy falling back as if he was hit by a missile, not a slender guy like KG, just like the phantom hit in Atlanta where Zaza fell back 10 ft. when in reality, there was no contact whatsoever when KG swung his arm to get Zaza off of him. For whatever reason, the flopping is a more common practice by international players, I find it puzzling that the refs would continually fall for these phantom flops, especially by guys who it would take a Mack truck to knock them off their feet. It makes me think back to Vlade and how he would try it against Shaq, but it mostly never worked. I have a feeling if that same matchup were to happen now, that Vlade would get far more calls than he did based on how often I see refs make calls based on a players' reaction, not what actually happened. They review Flagrant fouls, it has gotten to the point where maybe they should review flops too, the ones where there is a discernible space between the 2 players, yet the defender falls back as if shot by a gun, should clearly be overturned.
It only goes to support what I have been saying for awhile, namely, that NBA refs are guessing the majority of the time, they don't really see what is happening. I mean, does any other profession have so many over the age of 65 trying to perform a duty that takes lightning quick reactions? Watching Bavetta and his pathetic performance against Barkley should have made it clear that he is well past his prime. All the announcers ever do is cite how awesome a guy is by the # of years served, never do they even raise the possibility that all those years mean they are so old, their reactions are clearly slowed, just like anyone else their age in the general population. The NBA has some of the fastest, most athletic humans running and jumping all over the place, but they have a bunch of Seniors trying to be the ones determining who hit whom and how hard. Ridiculous.
I think everyone needs to chill a bit on the supposed USA chant. As I said, I was there, didn't really hear it, and it didn't last very long. Fans will find anything to get under a guy's skin, it is all in good fun and part of the heckling fans do, it is relatively harmless and not mean-spirited in nature. It is not even close to the Canadien fans booing and whistling throughout the entire singing of the Star Spangled Banner, that is what I would call totally classless.
