Stephen A. Smith "NBA Needs to Fall Back"

[hpantazo]

It wasn't just the techs though.  I thought the biggest BS call of the night was the foul on Pietrus, when he played solid D on Lebron, forced a fadeaway shot with on chance of going in as the clock expired.  The ref blew the whistle after the ball went past the hoop.  Pietrus may have put a finger tip on James wrist as he was coming down from the shot, but that was it.

It was a momentum-killing kind of a call when we could least afford it.

If we are going to be hit for those kind of fouls on Lebron, the series is over.

Pietrus bumped him with his body and then reached in and swiped.  Pretty easy call for the official to make when you reach out of front you and swipe your arm and aren't even close to the ball.  It was pretty weak contact, but a very easy call to make and one that will be called all day long.  You should never reach in and swipe.  Ever.

Pietrus bumped him???  Pietrus jumped up in the air (when Lebron should have jumped into him if he really wanted the foul), then Pietrus came down standing up straight.  THEN Lebron lowered his shoulder into Pietrus creating a "bumping" appearance.  THEN Lebron leaned back into a jumper.  If the "bumping" was the foul, then that is on the floor, not shooting.

And I'm not so sure that he "smacked" lebron on the elbow.  It was a grazing at best.

And those kind of minor grazing contacts (while legally fouls) happen all the time in the NBA.  Sometimes they are seen by the refs and called, while 90% of the time they are not.  When the ref waits literally seconds until the ball has airballed before the whistle is blown, the ref was clearly giving Lebron a bail out there.

I would be fine with it if those type of "grazing" contact fouls were being called both ways, but from every replay I saw they clearly were not. There were multiple replays where the espn commentators said :and you see there was no contact, that was a good block" and you see Rondo getting smacked in the head, or Paul or Ray or Bass or KG getting hit on the arm. It was almost comical.

[esel1000]

It wasn't just the techs though.  I thought the biggest BS call of the night was the foul on Pietrus, when he played solid D on Lebron, forced a fadeaway shot with on chance of going in as the clock expired.  The ref blew the whistle after the ball went past the hoop.  Pietrus may have put a finger tip on James wrist as he was coming down from the shot, but that was it.

It was a momentum-killing kind of a call when we could least afford it.

If we are going to be hit for those kind of fouls on Lebron, the series is over.

Pietrus bumped him with his body and then reached in and swiped.  Pretty easy call for the official to make when you reach out of front you and swipe your arm and aren't even close to the ball.  It was pretty weak contact, but a very easy call to make and one that will be called all day long.  You should never reach in and swipe.  Ever.

Pietrus bumped him???  Pietrus jumped up in the air (when Lebron should have jumped into him if he really wanted the foul), then Pietrus came down standing up straight.  THEN Lebron lowered his shoulder into Pietrus creating a "bumping" appearance.  THEN Lebron leaned back into a jumper.  If the "bumping" was the foul, then that is on the floor, not shooting.

And I'm not so sure that he "smacked" lebron on the elbow.  It was a grazing at best.

And those kind of minor grazing contacts (while legally fouls) happen all the time in the NBA.  Sometimes they are seen by the refs and called, while 90% of the time they are not.  When the ref waits literally seconds until the ball has airballed before the whistle is blown, the ref was clearly giving Lebron a bail out there.

I would be fine with it if those type of "grazing" contact fouls were being called both ways, but from every replay I saw they clearly were not. There were multiple replays where the espn commentators said :and you see there was no contact, that was a good block" and you see Rondo getting smacked in the head, or Paul or Ray or Bass or KG getting hit on the arm. It was almost comical.

Did Lebron even get a foul last night? Just wondering

[action781]

It wasn't just the techs though.  I thought the biggest BS call of the night was the foul on Pietrus, when he played solid D on Lebron, forced a fadeaway shot with on chance of going in as the clock expired.  The ref blew the whistle after the ball went past the hoop.  Pietrus may have put a finger tip on James wrist as he was coming down from the shot, but that was it.

It was a momentum-killing kind of a call when we could least afford it.

If we are going to be hit for those kind of fouls on Lebron, the series is over.

Pietrus bumped him with his body and then reached in and swiped.  Pretty easy call for the official to make when you reach out of front you and swipe your arm and aren't even close to the ball.  It was pretty weak contact, but a very easy call to make and one that will be called all day long.  You should never reach in and swipe.  Ever.

Pietrus bumped him???  Pietrus jumped up in the air (when Lebron should have jumped into him if he really wanted the foul), then Pietrus came down standing up straight.  THEN Lebron lowered his shoulder into Pietrus creating a "bumping" appearance.  THEN Lebron leaned back into a jumper.  If the "bumping" was the foul, then that is on the floor, not shooting.

And I'm not so sure that he "smacked" lebron on the elbow.  It was a grazing at best.

And those kind of minor grazing contacts (while legally fouls) happen all the time in the NBA.  Sometimes they are seen by the refs and called, while 90% of the time they are not.  When the ref waits literally seconds until the ball has airballed before the whistle is blown, the ref was clearly giving Lebron a bail out there.

I would be fine with it if those type of "grazing" contact fouls were being called both ways, but from every replay I saw they clearly were not. There were multiple replays where the espn commentators said :and you see there was no contact, that was a good block" and you see Rondo getting smacked in the head, or Paul or Ray or Bass or KG getting hit on the arm. It was almost comical.

Exactly

[UnionJim]

Hi,
I tried loading that video up and it's nowhere to be found. Do you suppose ESPN deleted it? I also tried finging it on Youtube. No luck. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

[esel1000]

Hi,
I tried loading that video up and it's nowhere to be found. Do you suppose ESPN deleted it? I also tried finging it on Youtube. No luck. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Holy crap espn actually deleted it??? Stern must not be happy with Stephen

[esel1000]

Here's a link of what the vid was about, cant believe espn deleted it
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/05/29/espns-stephen-a-smith-suggests-nba-wanted-technical-fouls-called-on-celtics/

[tgreanier]

It is not surprising the video was deleted. The NBA flexed their muscle again. Better to eliminate the video than deal with the problem.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Hi,
I tried loading that video up and it's nowhere to be found. Do you suppose ESPN deleted it? I also tried finging it on Youtube. No luck. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

When I clicked the link, it took about a whole minute to load.

[action781]

Hi,
I tried loading that video up and it's nowhere to be found. Do you suppose ESPN deleted it? I also tried finging it on Youtube. No luck. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Holy crap espn actually deleted it??? Stern must not be happy with Stephen

THIS is getting really sketchy...

[slamtheking]

glad to hear someone spoke up.  SVG was making a similar point in the broadcast while Stool-Sample Breen was doing his best to excuse those technicals -- especially the one on Doc.  To his credit, SVG wasn't having any of it.

[guava_wrench]

It wasn't just the techs though.  I thought the biggest BS call of the night was the foul on Pietrus, when he played solid D on Lebron, forced a fadeaway shot with on chance of going in as the clock expired.  The ref blew the whistle after the ball went past the hoop.  Pietrus may have put a finger tip on James wrist as he was coming down from the shot, but that was it.

It was a momentum-killing kind of a call when we could least afford it.

If we are going to be hit for those kind of fouls on Lebron, the series is over.

Pietrus bumped him with his body and then reached in and swiped.  Pretty easy call for the official to make when you reach out of front you and swipe your arm and aren't even close to the ball.  It was pretty weak contact, but a very easy call to make and one that will be called all day long.  You should never reach in and swipe.  Ever.

Pietrus bumped him???  Pietrus jumped up in the air (when Lebron should have jumped into him if he really wanted the foul), then Pietrus came down standing up straight.  THEN Lebron lowered his shoulder into Pietrus creating a "bumping" appearance.  THEN Lebron leaned back into a jumper.  If the "bumping" was the foul, then that is on the floor, not shooting.

And I'm not so sure that he "smacked" lebron on the elbow.  It was a grazing at best.

And those kind of minor grazing contacts (while legally fouls) happen all the time in the NBA.  Sometimes they are seen by the refs and called, while 90% of the time they are not.  When the ref waits literally seconds until the ball has airballed before the whistle is blown, the ref was clearly giving Lebron a bail out there.

No, it was not grazing. He swiped down with his hand and made solid contact that obstructed Lebron's motion. Easy call and obvious because the swiping down brought attention to the act.

I agree that the grazing fouls are regularly ignored, such as one Pierce had on a Lebron jumper, but Pierce merely raise his hand up for the block. Pietrus swiped and made solid contact on Lebron's arm. Good call by the refs on that one.

[action781]

No, it was not grazing. He swiped down with his hand and made solid contact that obstructed Lebron's motion. Easy call and obvious because the swiping down brought attention to the act.

I agree that the grazing fouls are regularly ignored, such as one Pierce had on a Lebron jumper, but Pierce merely raise his hand up for the block. Pietrus swiped and made solid contact on Lebron's arm. Good call by the refs on that one.

My problem isn't whether there was contact or not, I actually admit there was contact on that play.  But, again, there is contact (illegal contact, at that) on tons and tons of shots in the NBA.  The obvious ones usually get called and you hope the unobvious ones get called a fair amount on both sides of the court.

My problem is when the foul was called.  It wasn't until the ref noticed that it was an airball that the foul was called.  If the shot went in, do you honestly believe the whistle would have been called?  Because the whistle was clearly blown after the result of the shot was known.  That is a bail out call for a superstar.

[esel1000]

No, it was not grazing. He swiped down with his hand and made solid contact that obstructed Lebron's motion. Easy call and obvious because the swiping down brought attention to the act.

I agree that the grazing fouls are regularly ignored, such as one Pierce had on a Lebron jumper, but Pierce merely raise his hand up for the block. Pietrus swiped and made solid contact on Lebron's arm. Good call by the refs on that one.

My problem isn't whether there was contact or not, I actually admit there was contact on that play.  But, again, there is contact (illegal contact, at that) on tons and tons of shots in the NBA.  The obvious ones usually get called and you hope the unobvious ones get called a fair amount on both sides of the court.

My problem is when the foul was called.  It wasn't until the ref noticed that it was an airball that the foul was called.  If the shot went in, do you honestly believe the whistle would have been called?  Because the whistle was clearly blown after the result of the shot was known.  That is a bail out call for a superstar.

I agree with this, a late whistle call blown right after the shot missed. Celtics weren't getting those kinds of calls all game...

[Finkelskyhook]

I'm surprised steven i smith had time for commentary between his collective orgasming over the messiah and duhhh----wwwane wade.

Nauseating.

Maybe like VanGundy...steven might point out the overt traveling that his binky the messiah does on practically every posession and duhhhhhwaaaaane's palming.

During the Indiana series the officiating was pretty even...

Last night was an 8-on-5 WWE handicap match.  The heat didn't need the help.

[D Dub]

Hi,
I tried loading that video up and it's nowhere to be found. Do you suppose ESPN deleted it? I also tried finging it on Youtube. No luck. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Holy crap espn actually deleted it??? Stern must not be happy with Stephen

THIS is getting really sketchy...

BUMP

 
For those keeping track at home, not only does it look like a duck but now it's also quacking like a duck....