+1 I've been saying this forever....
What's really been making me mad all season (especially this game) was that Antoni doesn't say crap to the refs when they keep calling garbage fouls against us. I counted 10 different fouls today that either went uncalled or that we're called against us and Antoni said NOTHING to the refs.
And how the heck do they call a foul on us with :20 seconds remaining when the defender ran directly into Anthony? Of course he's gonna stick his arm out, it's human nature when someone runs into you... Add that to Douglas getting tripped on the very next play that goes uncalled and I swear this league is rigged. Seriously.
I said that this crap was going to happen before the series even started and boy was I right. I'm getting tired of investing my time in this league just to be rewarded with loss after loss because the refs give the opponents team the game. With less than a minute remaining the refs need to let the teams play or call the game evenly. The only solution I can think of to fix this is for Antoni to start getting on the ref's asses... I don't know what else to say...
You sure did hit the nail on the head. I can live with calling 2 quick fouls on our best player 3 minutes into the 1st quarter; I can live with allowing BOS to turn up the heat in the 3rd quarter, letting the game get way more physical than normal; and I can even live with the refs suddenyl turning the switch off and suddenly not allowing such contact in the 4th quarter. And, finally, I can even endure a sequence of events we saw with a few minutes left... when on two consecutive possessions they call that foul on Douglas when he barely touched Allen (for a AND-1 3-point play), then not call a foul on J-O'Neill when Amar'e went hard to the basket, spun and got hit when he made the basket.
Refs gave BOS 1 free point, and took away a point from NY by not calling the foul. That +2 point favor for BOS was the game.
I can live with that. ALL PART OF THE GAME.
BUT, what I wont stand... is calling that foul on Carmelo with 20 seconds left, NY up by 1 point, and the ball is 27 feet away from the hoop and 'melo has his back to the basket. 2 star players jostling for position. BOTH players battling and making contact with the other. NO CLEAR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE WAS GAINED. Let the players decide the game, as coach POP in SA said yesterday.
THEN, on the very next possession... THE SAME REF STANDING RIGHT THERE LOOKING DIRECTLY AT THE ACTION, they don't call the foul on KG when he jumps into Douglas' space attemtping to set a pick with 11 seconds left... AND TRIPS DOUGLAS... A CLEAR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE WAS GAINED on this play.
Take the Allen-Amar'e back-2-back plays, and then the Carmelo-DOuglas back-2back plays... and there's your ballgame. Exactly how a refs whistle... a call or non-call can sway the game and determine the outcome. Simple as that.
After Game-6 SAC-LAKERS... YOu cannot draw any other conclusion that the NBA is fixed. THEN, when a ref gets busted... What? You think there's only 1 crooked ref here?
This is my problem with the NBA... There are bad calls in all sports, and just like NFL & MLB so many calls are subjective and left to the discretion of the refs/umps/judges/whatnot. BUT ONLY IN THE NBA DO YOU AWARD FREE POINTS to a team when you make a bogus call.
OH FREAKING WELL.
BOS still won the game. The refs did not win it for them. Knicks still lost the game. Carmelo missed that final 3, and we avoided Amar'e down the stretch.
Still... It leaves a bad taste.