Boston – I can see the TD Banknorth Garden from the hotel room I just checked into for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight. I just hope I don’t see any officiating controversy in a few hours, the likes of which has marred the series out West between the Lakers and Spurs.
I have to admit, when I first saw Derek Fisher land on Brent Barry on the Spurs’ final possession last night, I thought it had to be a foul. Definitely not a three-shot foul, because Barry didn’t lean in to take advantage of the contact in the act of shooting. But a foul nonetheless.
Once I heard the TNT guys – including Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley, who evidently had money on the Lakers – their argument made perfect sense. As the offensive player in that situation, you have two choices when the defender is in the air: 1) go up with your shot, absorb the contact, and go to the foul line, or 2) avoid the contact and try to get a better look at the basket.
Basketball coaches at the most rudimentary level teach that you choose option No. 1; when you get the defender in the air with a ball fake, go get the foul and take your chances at the line. But Barry didn’t do that. He took a dribble and tried to get a better shot off. He missed. Game over. In all likelihood, series over and season over for the defending champs, who could only beat the Lakers three times in a row if all three games were at home and Joey Crawford was NOT part of the officiating crew.
But there is no right or wrong answer here. As Henry Abbott of TrueHoop and Chris Broussard of ESPN The Magazine point out, you can’t get very far arguing that there was no foul on the play. There most certainly was, and it wasn’t called. So in that respect, the officials did what they’re never supposed to do. They determined the outcome with their whistles – by not using them.
On the other hand, I just can’t get past the notion that Barry didn’t do his job on the play. Going up with the shot once Fisher was in the air would not have been comparable at all to flopping. Flopping is creating a foul where there was none. Taking advantage of an overzealous defender who went for a head fake by making him pay in the act of shooting is just smart basketball.
I’m glad the Spurs were as classy as they were over this. If something similar had happened to the Pistons or the Celtics, I’m confident either team would’ve whined for days. I’m just hoping Game 5 tonight across the street doesn’t come down to that.
Comments (1)
Spurs has won several NBA championships in the last several years. The celtics haven't tasted winning a championship at all in the last 20 years. Detroit has a habit of whining all the time.