RealGM

In the land of game-fixing, David Stern has officially gone native.

Y'all know how I complain that the refs give too much respect to the . . . bums who play alongside of James, Wade and Bosh for the Heat. 2 nights ago, they beat the San Antonio Spurs at San Antonio without James and Wade and Chalmers. Now, they're beating the Knicks on a night when Anthony is going crazy with his scoring.

It's not the FTs, it's the no-calls when the Heat are on defense. They are simply not that good on defense. These players have a history of NBA play on other teams - they weren't defensive stars. It is inconceivable that they could just transform into defensive demons by putting on the Heat jerseys. Rashard Lewis, Udonis Haslem, Chris Bosh, Norris Cole and, especially, Mike Miller are not an all-NBA defensive lineup. To call "defense" the grabbing, holding, bumping and hacking these guys do is to profane the word.

Knicks win - Anthony went for 50 on 18-26 shooting (7-10 from 3).

Heat-lite shot 27 FTs, Knicks 20 (with several in the waning minutes to bring the number up). 25 fouls called on the Knicks, 19 on a very aggressive (almost MMA-like) Heat team. When Mike Miller can play 37 minutes against J.R. Smith and hold him to 5-15 and have NO FOULS called on him, you understand my consternation. The guy is simply not good enough to guard SFs, much less an agile SG.

I've accepted cheating for the superstars; do we now have to tolerate cheating for the superstars' lousy teammates?

Is this what Michael Gearon, Jr. meant - when asked about championships - by saying that the goal was entertainment?

Same treatment Luc Lngley, Toni Kukoc and Ron Harper got wit MJs Bulls.

Same treatment Devean George, Rick Fox and Luke Walton got with Shaq's Lakers.

It's always been that way.

its not just the heat alot of elite defensive teams get away with alot of no calls because they play a very physical style of defense where they foul almost every possession from start to finish so the refs will let alot of physical contact slide.

teams like the pacers, bulls, and celtics use very similar tactics.

The bulls are the biggest culprit in this which is why they can have a game where they hold us to 58 points and are able to overachieve with such a **** offense and less talent.

Thibs (bulls coach) is the master of teaching his players how to foul and without getting caught by the refs.

That is the kind of culture I wish the hawks would pick up its dirty but thats how you win in this league.

Yungsta404 wrote:its not just the heat alot of elite defensive teams get away with alot of no calls because they play a very physical style of defense where they foul almost every possession from start to finish so the refs will let alot of physical contact slide.
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That is the kind of culture I wish the hawks would pick up its dirty but thats how you win in this league.

CLE was a very good defensive team when James was there; the same players weren't when he left. They no longer get those calls from the refs. Did they forget their culture . . . or did the refs stop the preferential treatment?

parson wrote:

Yungsta404 wrote:its not just the heat alot of elite defensive teams get away with alot of no calls because they play a very physical style of defense where they foul almost every possession from start to finish so the refs will let alot of physical contact slide.
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That is the kind of culture I wish the hawks would pick up its dirty but thats how you win in this league.

CLE was a very good defensive team when James was there; the same players weren't when he left. They no longer get those calls from the refs. Did they forget their culture . . . or did the refs stop the preferential treatment?

The defensive culture changed big time when they fired Mike brown who was an ALL Defense No Offense coach to byron scott who isnt a completely different style of coach.

No offense parson, but this type of thread is below you.

San Antonio came within a Ray Allen 3 of beating Miami earlier in the season when they benched EVERYONE, even Danny Green. A fully healthy Miami with LeBron, Wade, and Bosh all playing. Was David Stern rigging that game as well? Doubtful, considering he fined the organization that same day for benching starters.

This defeatist attitude just lets us make excuses when we lose - oh, we lost because the refs cheated us. Yes, refs can have an impact, but at the end of the day basketball is basketball. David Stern HATES San Antonio, but they're the second winningest team in the league, because Pops and Duncan are bosses who DGAF. They just take care of business.

I'm absolutely certain the NBA fixes games. Years ago, I remember an interview with Marty Blake, who said the owners - in the 1950s - complained so much about their stars fouling out that they demanded, and got, preferential treatment by the referees for their best attractions.

But that's not the point. My complaint is with the pretense that some poor player - Mike Miller, for example - is a defensive wiz just because he put on the Heat uniform. There is no way that that old, slow, clumsy SF can basically shut down a faster, quicker SG for 37 minutes and not have one foul called on him . . . unless he is allowed to grab, hold, bump and hack. And it wasn't because his man was missing from long range. J.R. Smith kept trying to take him to the basket, as well. When James played for CLE, it was Mo Williams who was the tough defender at PG and Chalmers was just some guy. Now Chalmers can shut down Steve Nash completely while Williams is just some guy in Utah, who desperately needs a PG but doesn't want Williams to be that guy. I hate that it's not who you are as a player but whether you're on the preferred team that matters.

By the way, when MIA returned to SA, THEY sat 3 starters but I seem to have missed hearing about Stern's fine for them. Popovich called MIA on it, remember?

Yeah it sucks but what can we do about it besides sit and watch.

GS fans screaming fix. I found this post interesting:

Jester_ wrote:I've generally taken an Occam's Razor approach to this whole thing... we all know the Lakers get favourable calls, but I never thought it was the tune to being a systemic thing. Then I saw this stat: Over the last 10 games LA has become #1 in free-throw advantage and Utah has become #29 after being #12 the whole year.

10 games out of 82 is enough of a statistically significant sample that the discrepancy from the regular season numbers is unsuual. So is this conspiracy a real thing?

Link: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1244869

I'm tired of being called a bad sport for complaining about what is becoming more and more obvious. When I watch LA play GS or the Heat play BOS - teams I have absolutely no emotional attachment for - and see powerfully biased refereeing, bad sportsmanship on my part is not the problem.

Maybe the NBA has always been fixed. Maybe they needed BOS in the early years to develop into a brand name to attract casual viewers. Maybe they needed to force owners to trade superstars to BOS in order to establish that name. Maybe owners take turns winning, based on demographics and TV markets. When you watch enough 8 on 5 games, you begin to believe anything.