So I went to the game tonight...

[Bibbilicious]

Two Questions:

1. What was John Salmons doing for the coach in the locker room?
2. What was Dallas doing for the Ref's in the locker room?

Overall I had a great time but MY GOD all of us were SCREAMING for John Salmons to be taken out after like 5 mistakes in a row. I could not believe he was kept in the entire time while Tyreke and Cousins were constantly subbed out. Also, when DeMarcus' flagrant came up I could not believe it. My dad and I had moved to lower seats at that point so I was right there to watch 3 Mav players absolutely POUND DMC down low with no call. It was ridiculous the way the refs were making calls tonight.

I do concede that a lot of the issues came from the Kings in the end but I thought they played a great game until the end of the 4th. I am glad to see Tyreke looking really good tonight, at least in my opinion. He seemed to be pretty much in sinc. But why IT was kept on the bench so long I'll never know.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Cousins was getting hammered every time he went in the paint. he could have shot 40 free throws


for example when he passed to Isaiah for the game tying 3, he was getting mauled

 

[Bibbilicious]

I could not believe the refs tonight, so frustrating.

 

[Flopi]

I could not believe Smart's coaching tonight and that small ball lineup during 5:20 in the fourth quarter that totally put Dallas back in the game, so frustrating.

 

[LWP777]

Quit whining about the refs. That's what common, boring fans do. We're supposed to be more intelligent around here. The refs were fine. DMC shot like 17 FT's and you're still complaining that he was mauled. The flagrant foul can be debated as to whether it was a 1 or 2 but the bottom line is DMC might have cost the team the game with that silly foul. He needs to stop losing control of himself and doing stuff like that. He'll also probably get suspended a game for it too which will further cost the team.

 

[Jordan Goins]

Yeah, DMC was fouled on that last one, before he got ejected. That should not have been a flagrant 2, by the way. Should have been a flagrant 1, at the most. Also Thomas was fouled on that (Bibby like) desperation 3. We should have won by 1 point at the end of the fourth. But oh well, time to move on. Got the Heat tomorrow. We need PRACTICE!!!

 

[hrdboild]

Quit whining about the refs. That's what common, boring fans do. We're supposed to be more intelligent around here. The refs were fine. DMC shot like 17 FT's and you're still complaining that he was mauled. The flagrant foul can be debated as to whether it was a 1 or 2 but the bottom line is DMC might have cost the team the game with that silly foul. He needs to stop losing control of himself and doing stuff like that. He'll also probably get suspended a game for it too which will further cost the team.

You obviously don't think the refs were a problem but clearly a lot of people disagree with you, even Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith pointed out on their TNT broadcast that they thought it was a problem. Maybe you should stop trying to bully everyone else into agreeing with you and simply accept (like the "intelligent fans" around here) that it's okay for people to see the same game differently?

For instance, the problem specifically that I had with the refs in the game last night is that they were inconsistent. Four Dallas players were reaching in on Cousins on the play that earned him an ejection. That's the kindof play that sometimes results in free throws, sometimes not. I'm actually okay with a no-call in that situation if it's being enforced that way for both teams, but in this game it wasn't. If you're going to allow that level of contact in the paint than you can't also call Thomas Robinson for fouls for breathing on Elton Brand or Jason Thompson for having a hand on Dirk's back as Dirk losses the ball. See what I mean? It's not necessarily that the refs are biased for one team or another, it's that they aren't consistent about what level of contact is or is not a foul and if you're inconsistent than how are the players going to know what's acceptable? If I get called for a phantom foul at one end and then two plays later someone grabs my arm and strips the ball and the refs ignore it, what am I supposed to think? Either the refs don't want me to win or they're bad at their job.

There is no set standard for determining what does or does not constitute a foul in the NBA. There's a range of opinions, so the level of contact allowed is dependent on the crew that is reffing the game. When you say definitively that something is or is not a foul, I think you're missing the point. Even in playoff games there are plays which would be a foul 90% of the time but if the ref doesn't blow the whistle, it's not a foul. That's a given. That level of ref influence is a part of the game. It's not that different from umpires in baseball having different strike zones from game to game. But when you're inconsistent about how you're calling plays within the same game, it can unfortunately become a distraction and in my opinion that was the case last night.

 

[VF21]

Quit whining about the refs. That's what common, boring fans do. We're supposed to be more intelligent around here.

Veiled insults and innuendos need to stop. We've got enough angst without this adding to the mix. You can disagree without being disagreeable about it. Thanks...