Is there any doubt Stern wants the Cavs in the Finals?

[PosImpos]

Are we allowed to call a player a juicing freak with no evidence?

as long as you harbor an irrational  hatred of said player based on a conspiracy theory that apparently the league forgot about for the OT period while the magic snuck in a win, absolutely.

Because, as we all know, teh NBA playoffs are fixed, and they are scripted for maximum ratings, not actual basketball *

I mean, it's all so simple. The league doctors this game and then in the over time the magic heroically battled against the fix, to the point where the ref's defied thier evil leader to call the game fair enough to let the magic eek one out.

Don;t you know how the NBA works RR? gawd.



* except 2008 when the Celtics won. Despite the league fixing every playoff game to keep to a script in standered "Its all rigged!" doctrine, the 2008 Celtics championship is not part of the league wide conspiracy. That teams inherent goodness overcame any hint of irregularity.

Celtic fan conspiracy theorists appreciate you not pointing out the huge logic hole involved in the above. thank you and goodnight!

Actually I have a feeling Stern loved the idea of revamping an old rivalry with a Celtics / Lakers Finals filled with stars - Kobe, Pau, Pierce, Allen, K.G. etc.  Having the Celtics win essentially revived a franchise and re-energized a massive group of Celtics fans in New England that had been languishing in disgust, disinterest, or despair for the last couple of decades.

I'm not saying Stern "fixed" it for the Celtics to win in '08, but I think you can hardly say that the Celtics winning is proof that Stern doesn't always get his way.

[angryguy77]

Orlando Magic leads series 3-1 over Stern

I was wondering how long it would take the conspiracy theorists to rationalize the fact that even though they knew the fix was in, the NBA somehow let the magic win despite it's best efforts. Can;t let logic or reality get in the way. That didn't take long at all.

The magic are like the rebel alliance, standing up to the empire against all odds 

Your in denial if you think the officiating was remotley close to being fair tonight. Conspiracy? No. But I have to wonder what the mind set was of the officiating crew comming into the gaem was. Both teams were being aggressive and only one was going to the line consistantly. Dwight should have been to the line a few more times than he did. They bailed the cavs out on almost every drive, it was disgusting. I'm sick of this clown Lebron getting every benefit of the doubt call  when he drives the basket. IF the last play wasnt a fould on av then the  play before should have never been called either. Lebron tripped over his own feet. Any other player doesn't get that call-game over.
Also why was he not t'd up tonight for the elbo and for the way he went at the ref after a non call? Its called favoritism, and its blatant and insulting to us fans at that.

[crownsy]

Are we allowed to call a player a juicing freak with no evidence?

as long as you harbor an irrational  hatred of said player based on a conspiracy theory that apparently the league forgot about for the OT period while the magic snuck in a win, absolutely.

Because, as we all know, teh NBA playoffs are fixed, and they are scripted for maximum ratings, not actual basketball *

I mean, it's all so simple. The league doctors this game and then in the over time the magic heroically battled against the fix, to the point where the ref's defied thier evil leader to call the game fair enough to let the magic eek one out.

Don;t you know how the NBA works RR? gawd.



* except 2008 when the Celtics won. Despite the league fixing every playoff game to keep to a script in standered "Its all rigged!" doctrine, the 2008 Celtics championship is not part of the league wide conspiracy. That teams inherent goodness overcame any hint of irregularity.

Celtic fan conspiracy theorists appreciate you not pointing out the huge logic hole involved in the above. thank you and goodnight!

Actually I have a feeling Stern loved the idea of revamping an old rivalry with a Celtics / Lakers Finals filled with stars - Kobe, Pau, Pierce, Allen, K.G. etc.  Having the Celtics win essentially revived a franchise and re-energized a massive group of Celtics fans in New England that had been languishing in disgust, disinterest, or despair for the last couple of decades.

I'm not saying Stern "fixed" it for the Celtics to win in '08, but I think you can hardly say that the Celtics winning is proof that Stern doesn't always get his way.

you missed the point of the entire post. If you admit that the celtics might have been the team the league was fixing games for last year (in theroy), than you break with 95% of the conspiracy wack jobs around this place.

The standered conspiracy theroy response to the above is that the celtics were so good, that dispite the leagues best efforts to give the lakers a title, somehow we overcame like luke and han vs. the death star.

[ACF]

This is a joke. The Cavs couldn't be any more babied by the refs. If Orlando wins this game, Cleveland is pathetic.

It looks like Cleveland is pathetic 
And the Magic is a great team.

[supamike46]

Hey guys, I don't post often and I'm not sure if this is the proper place to post this, so please hang with me... The officiating has been consistently horrendous all season, but I found tonight's bailout of Lebron as he hurled himself into Pietrus was particularly blatant.

I really don't have any solutions to this abhorrent reffing, since they are human and often make mistakes, but I do have one suggestion.  I know most people hate anything that would bring this closer to soccer, but why not institute a rule where only the captain of a team and the coach can talk to the refs?  First off, a captain doesn't really do anything, so this would add some teeth to the title, and secondly, we wouldn't have to see someone like Anderson Varejao or Big Baby whining to the refs on one end in order to get a call on the other (not that I'm complaining when it works for Big Baby).  Instead, make Lebron argue on behalf of Varejao, if he can get a call for that guy, he deserves the MVP.

I don't think this would fix terrible officiating, but then we wouldn't have 10 guys on the court constantly complaining about calls.  Do you guys have any other suggestions as to how to fix reffing?

[star18]

Stern's worst nightmare is and always will be Kevin Garnett.  No way he ever wanted the Celtics to win anything.   He was so happy when the ping pong ball gave them 5th pick. With 24 wins the year before Stern was all happy setting up the Lakers to win the title last year and to set up Kobe Lebron for this year.   However, Danny and Kevin flipped it on Stern, just like he did 12/10/87 the call that started the nonsense we know as the Stern era.   Ainge misses a free throw, ball goes up between Mychael Thompson and McHale, neither of them had possesion ball goes out of bounds.  They gave a timeout and the ball to the Lakers. How can you call a timeout when you don't have possesion, exactly what Danny & Kevin were saying after that play happened. Magic Johnson hit the bank shot and the Stern era began. Now its Kevin Garnett's turn.

[KG Living Legend]

remind me again why i want Orlando to win this series?  Is it so that the Lakers have an easier route to the title?  idungetit

 

 News Flash. Lakers do not win the Title. If the Lakers advance they lose to bo the Cavs and Magic.

 But Denver I feel could beat either team.

[get_banners]

orlando is a matchup nightmare for most teams. they are more than capable of beating anyone, including any of the remaining playoff teams in a 7-game series. i don't know that they will, but they certainly could. they need to go to rashard a lot more, though.

[Rondo_is_better]

David Stern's 3 favorite teams in order:

1. Lakers
2. Cavs
3. Magic

The team that beat us in the semis, and the two teams that had better records during the regular season than we did:

1. Lakers
2. Cavs
3. Magic


Now I'm no expert.... but there seems to be a pattern here. Or so Tim Donaghy told me. He sent me a message in my cheerios--it said "ooooooooooooooh".

[PosImpos]

Are we allowed to call a player a juicing freak with no evidence?

as long as you harbor an irrational  hatred of said player based on a conspiracy theory that apparently the league forgot about for the OT period while the magic snuck in a win, absolutely.

Because, as we all know, teh NBA playoffs are fixed, and they are scripted for maximum ratings, not actual basketball *

I mean, it's all so simple. The league doctors this game and then in the over time the magic heroically battled against the fix, to the point where the ref's defied thier evil leader to call the game fair enough to let the magic eek one out.

Don;t you know how the NBA works RR? gawd.



* except 2008 when the Celtics won. Despite the league fixing every playoff game to keep to a script in standered "Its all rigged!" doctrine, the 2008 Celtics championship is not part of the league wide conspiracy. That teams inherent goodness overcame any hint of irregularity.

Celtic fan conspiracy theorists appreciate you not pointing out the huge logic hole involved in the above. thank you and goodnight!

Actually I have a feeling Stern loved the idea of revamping an old rivalry with a Celtics / Lakers Finals filled with stars - Kobe, Pau, Pierce, Allen, K.G. etc.  Having the Celtics win essentially revived a franchise and re-energized a massive group of Celtics fans in New England that had been languishing in disgust, disinterest, or despair for the last couple of decades.

I'm not saying Stern "fixed" it for the Celtics to win in '08, but I think you can hardly say that the Celtics winning is proof that Stern doesn't always get his way.

you missed the point of the entire post. If you admit that the celtics might have been the team the league was fixing games for last year (in theroy), than you break with 95% of the conspiracy wack jobs around this place.

The standered conspiracy theroy response to the above is that the celtics were so good, that dispite the leagues best efforts to give the lakers a title, somehow we overcame like luke and han vs. the death star.

I'm not agreeing with the conspiracy theorists, I was just pointing out that it's not like the Celtics winning the title last year was somehow an example of Stern not getting his way. 

So I'm not really disagreeing with you either.

[dlpin]

I don't think Stern et al are in the business of fixing games. I mean, if they were fixing anything, would we ever have a Spurs Cavs final like we did?


However, I do think that there is a clear suggestion that is "when in doubt, be pro exciting plays," which means rewarding driving and slashing, and helps players like Lebron, Kobe, and, yes, Pierce.

[star18]

dlpin gotta remember it was actually Pheonix Suns in the finals.  Then Robert Horry, Spurs 8th man, completely cheap shots Steve Nash Suns #1 man, and knocks him into the scorers table when the game was already decided.   Of course Amare & Diaw get suspeneded and they didn't even touch anybody.  NBA rewards Horry for one of the cheapest shots in sports history, how about the fix in that series. That's what you do you take your 8th man and plow directly into your opponents #1 guy directly in front of their bench and the NBA rewards you for that. Stern took the first championship ever away from the city of Phoenix.

[dlpin]

dlpin gotta remember it was actually Pheonix Suns in the finals.  Then Robert Horry, Spurs 8th man, completely cheap shots Steve Nash Suns #1 man, and knocks him into the scorers table when the game was already decided.   Of course Amare & Diaw get suspeneded and they didn't even touch anybody.  NBA rewards Horry for one of the cheapest shots in sports history, how about the fix in that series. That's what you do you take your 8th man and plow directly into your opponents #1 guy directly in front of their bench and the NBA rewards you for that. Stern took the first championship ever away from the city of Phoenix.

I didn't say they weren't incompetent. I said they don't outright fix games.

Phoenix is a bigger market than San Antonio, with more marketable stars and a more entertaining game. Why would they fix it for the spurs? If they outright fixed games, why wouldnt the knicks be in the playoffs every year?

[star18]

I can't say any game is "fixed", but the intent to favor one team over the other is definitely there.  I don't know why Spurs would be favored over Suns, except that the Spurs already won 3 championsihps because if the Suns won their first who knows Sacramento might be next.   However how can you say the Spurs weren't favored in that series.  If Horry doesn't cheap shot Nash, and it was one of the worst cheap shots I've ever seen at the end of the game by a losing team, Spurs most likely lose the series. So how can you reward Horry for a play like that.  I look at it this way.  Yes Amare and Diaw moved a step out of their seat, but techincally so did Bowen and Duncan earlier in the same game. So if you suspend Amare & Diaw so should Duncan and Bowen. However Amare and Diaw didn't go past Nash, so if they didn't go past Nash how could they be escalating the fight? That was why that rule was placed there to prevent a fight from escalating.   Amare and Diaw did nothing to escalate the fight.   I agree with Barkley on that one because he said every rule shouldn't be interpreted down to the last letter of the law. The correct call would have been Horry suspended 2 games thats it. 2nd correct call would have been suspend Amare,Diaw,Bowen & Duncan 1 game.  No way can you suspend Amare and Diaw 1 game (2 games total) and Horry 2 games.  Horry initiated the contact and there was no retaliation. Spurs had to be suspended more games than the Suns for that, and they gave each team 2 total suspended games.  A clear intent to fix a series.

[star18]

Remember that play isn't any different then putting your 8th man in the game early in the 1st QTR to either hurt your opponents #1 guy or to start a fight to hope and get both players ejected. Getting Amare & Diaw suspended wasn't on Horry's mind I bet, but the intent to injure Nash to possibly keep him out of the next game most likely was. It wasn't a frustration foul, it was a how can I injure someone or take out one or more of my opponents foul. Actually Horry should have gotten 5 games suspended for that.