Game 5: Heat @ Wizards (11-04-09)

[dobrojim]

I watched the 'encore' showing of the game last night, arguably a big mistake.
I just got more po'd at the refs.

game starts and immediately FO gets called cause DWade bumped into him.
It didn't appear as though FO did much to initiate the contact. Later Haywood
would get a bogus illegal pick call. Meanwhile MIA is fouling/grabbing
Gil everytime he runs past a pick, making HARD contact with the screener
every time they tried to fight over a pick/screen.

Haywood got hammered just about every time he touched the ball.
Gil on almost every drive.

But the absolute worst may have been down the stretch in the 4th
when Caron drives the right baseline, got hammered by TWO, count em,
two MIA players, front and back, winds up in a heap on the floor. No whistle.

It was pathetic. There was a serious double standard going on.
We deserved much better and a definite discrepancy in FTAs.
In our favor.

[DCZards]

But he is coming off a prolonged absence like Gilbert. And if you didn't notice, Gilbert is also struggling from the field. People who are hating on Stevenson are still too busy sipping the Arenas koolaid who has struggled for the last 7 quarters. In the last game, he shot 33% and had 2 critical turnovers down the stretch. Of course, I think Arenas's play will improve as the season goes along but by no means is Stevenson the only one to blame for the Wizards loss.

You knew the hate was coming DS's way after he missed those two critical free throws. I was also pissed when, instead of pulling up and getting the ball to a better shooter, DeShawn drove to the basket and then proceeded to miss the free throws.

But you absolutely have to give DS props for the hard-nosed defense he ALWAYS plays. Yeah, Wade got his points, which he does against every team, but at least DS made sure Wade knew he was in a battle.