OT: Refs give game to Lakers....

[tlee324]

All I know if that was a purple jersey with 24 on the back, or a maroon jersey with 23 on the back, that would have DEFINITELY been a foul. But it's Brent Barry and he doesn't sell shoes, jump over cars or sell vitamin water.

What about last year when Bowen reached out and grabbed Lebron in Game 3 of the finals when he was attempting a game-winning shot? No foul called, and that was more blatant than Fisher's jump into Barry, hell Bowen was trying to give the foul and it still wasn't called. And Kobe just went a whole game without getting to the line once. So I'm not buying that DEFINITELY would have been a foul if Kobe or Lebron had been involved.

I really don't think it was a foul, but either way, I think at best its a 50-50 call, and the Spurs didn't get it. If Barry hadn't sidestepped Fisher, I think it definitely would have been a foul. But Barry tried to take a dribble around the airborne Fisher, instead of going straight up and allowing Fisher to foul him.

That's just more examples of bad officiating. The truth is, it was a foul and it's a damn shame the Spurs are now 3-1 with that call going into LA.

[wigglestrue]

So the NBA says it should have been a floor foul? I guess. I still don't see it as a foul, I think for the good of the game the league should just tell players to stop trying to blatantly initiate contact. "Dear players: Don't be so ******* desperate with your desperation shots. We're* not bailing you out anymore**. Try to actually get open, and try to actually make that shot. K? Thanks. Sincerely, David Stern."
















* In letters to players, David Stern uses the royal "we".
** In small print: "...unless you have a major sneaker contract"

[GuyClinch]

It looked like an obvious foul to me. In the NBA they ALWAYS call that as a foul. it's the exact same play the TA got burned on.

[wigglestrue]

It's somewhere halfway between his bite on Billups and his non-bite on Ginobili. I don't think there was nearly as much contact as there was on the Billups gamewinner, nor was Barry even close to shooting the moment he was bumped.

[Celtics_85]

If it is a foul in the first period it is a foul at the end of the game. This has been the problem with officiating all over the NBA this year, they have been plain inconsistant, and it should be an embarrassment to the league and the officials union. The rules that have been made throughout history were not meant to be twisted whenever an official wants to be biased for a star player and not to a non-star player. This is a huge buisness and it is run like one, not like the NBA the Sport. Every facet of the game has changed from 20 years ago from the players to the officials and to tell you the truth the sport just doesn't seem to compete against itself without the officials or the powers to be having their hands in the outcome of the games.

[bruno sundov]

why is the officiating so bad? I wonder how many donagny,sp? are out there?

[MyInsatiableOne]

A foul is a foul, regardless of who commits it or who it's against. Until the NBA addresses this, no fans will have any confidence in the integrity of the game. None