Clippers vs. Heat

[ClipperDomination]

DJ and MT looking fly!

[JJ LoDuca]

I haven't seen anything on Gordon yet, since he arrived to the arena before anybody else so that he could be embarrassed. Hopefully some will surface soon. Props to DJ and Mr. T for being good sports.

Haha, that seems like something Gordon would do. Its definitely a good look for DJ and Taylor tho!

[ejftw]

Anyone know what Gordons status is for the game @ Dallas?

[TheBluest]

More on the Heat reaction to the inbound play from the Miami Herald -

Dwyane Wade seethed that the referees stole a potential victory from the Miami Heat Saturday night, saying, "We won the game, they took it from us." Wade stole Clippers guard Baron Davis' inbound pass with 7.2 seconds left in the game and collided with referee Courtney Kirkland as he passed the ball upcourt.

Kirkland inadvertently blew his whistle, and moments later he huddled with referees Greg Willard and Ron Olesiak and determined that Miami had possession because Wade had thrown the ball before stepping out of bounds.

But if the play had not been stopped Wade could have had the game-winning assist. Shawn Marion, Udonis Haslem and Mario Chalmers were open and in position to score. But play was stopped and Wade's attempted buzz-beater fell way short. The Heat lost 97-96.

"It was a clear steal," an angry Wade said after the game. "I was shocked they came back and tried to overturn the call and say they (saw) me step out of bounds. It was some (expletive).

"It wasn't even close to being a call. I don't even know how you can call something like that. We won the game. They took it from us."

"We had a three-on-zero fastbreak and they didn't see the play," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said.

LOL @ Wade!

NBA: Heat aided, not hurt, by errant whistle
By Ira Winderman | SunSentinel.com 8:48 PM EST, November 30, 2008

OAKLAND, Calif. - Apparently, nothing was taken away from the Miami Heat.

At least that's the view offered by the NBA after the officiating confusion at the end of Saturday's 97-96 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center.

In the immediately wake of the loss, after it appeared an inadvertent whistle prevented the Heat from scoring the go-ahead points in the final seconds, Heat guard Dwyane Wade said, "We won the game, and they took it from us."

Ultimately, the accidental stoppage might not have worked against the Heat after all, at least upon inspection of video forwarded by the league.

To recap: With the Heat down by the final score, Wade intercepted a sideline inbounds pass by Baron Davis in the Clippers' frontcourt and tossed it toward three open teammates in position for a go-ahead layup or dunk. However, as Wade made his pass while falling out of bounds, referee Courtney Kirkland inadvertently blew his whistle, amid confusion over whether Wade had stepped out of bounds.

After the referees huddled, without the assistance of instant replay, which is not allowed in such situations, possession was awarded to the Heat in its backcourt with 7.2 seconds to play. The Clippers then burned a spare foul, forcing the Heat to inbound again with 2.9 seconds left, with Wade missing a wild 3-pointer at the buzzer.

For the Heat, there was indignation about Kirkland's whistle.

"We had a dunk, a three-on-zero fastbreak," said coach Erik Spoelstra, who gave his team Sunday off in advance of Monday night's game against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena.

While such an inadvertent whistle cannot be overturned with an appeal, a league official noted that as Wade was falling out of bounds following his steal, and before he had released his pass, his right shin brushed against Kirkland's waist.

By rule, contact with an official stationed out of bounds would have made Wade out of bounds, thereby allowing the Clippers to retain possession.

Essentially, the possibility of a breakaway basket by Udonis Haslem, Shawn Marion or Daequan Cook never was a reality, since without Kirkland's inadvertent whistle, the Clippers would have retained possession.

Either way, the Clippers recognized their good fortune,

"Right or wrong," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said, "I heard the whistle blow."

[ejftw]

Forget about Wade and the coach feeling stupid, I wonder how stupid the fans feel.

[mkwest]

I think it's best if we all just accept that we won this game and move on to the next. Both sets of fans are going to say that the call was wrong one way or the other. People are going to get pissed off if they think they got screwed out of a winnable game regardless if that is truly the case or not.

In the future it would be in everyone's best interests to avoid conflict with other teams' fans in those types of situations. If they want to grumble amongst themselves, that is fine. Please just be select in what is said and how it is said, because 99 times out of 100 somebody is going to take something the wrong way, and then it escalates further than it ever should have. We have a great group of posters here, and it is not worth it to lose that quality due to some nonsense.

[theFRANCHISE]

I was at this game, very good game close throughout, controversy at the end. The ref made a bad call blowing the whistle but heat got the ball and had 2 chances at win, clippers finally get some good fortune! Hopefully Camby and Gordon arent seriously hurt.

Z-BO was great and the clippers NEED TO RUN MORE!