Wednesday Night Wrap-Up
Thanks, NBA.
My form of protesting the lameness of the NBA is refusing to do a Wrap-Up tonight.
Question: are there any NBA fans left after this whole debacle? You can feel the air coming out of the big balloon that is professional basketball.
12 comments:
No doubt. Even the Inside guys seemed like they couldn't muster the strength to care anymore. This is so depressing.
Not to mention that Cavs-Nets atrocity. What once started as a pretty exciting NBA playoff season (Warriors beat Mavs, Bulls sweep Heat, Nets-Raptors was decent, etc.) is just total crap now.
What is disappointing as a fan (a Suns fan) is that it leaves you feeling disempowered. Listening to talk radio for the afternoon, you can tell that many people wish something would happen (i.e. Suns dress Stoudemire and Diaw anyway). But you know it isn't going to happen. And there is no indication that the league even cares about this feeling from the fans.
It's also tough to tell how many chances the Suns have left. It's a team the fans love, but Nash is getting old. He doesn't sit on the bench; he lies on the sideline for his back. And Sarver doesn't want to get hit by the luxury tax, which means that a star might get moved at some point.
Sarver's on the phone with the NBA all day. He knows that if he doesn't win now and if he has to deal a star away after the season, he's already going to lose fans. Having the NBA issue the decision that it did will not help his cause in Phoenix. But the commissioner's office doesn't seem to care. Do they even care what the overall effect will be?
That doesn't even get into the perverse incentives the situation creates. Does anyone doubt that a Bowen suspension earlier in the series would have put the Spurs on notice? And how about the fact that now the Spurs have been rewarded for a cheap shot? But that angle has already been well-covered...
Does anyone know of a site on the web with a recording of Dan Patrick's interview with David Stern? ESPN.com requires an insider subscription, I believe. At any rate, having heard clips of it, he sounds incredibly defensive and embittered. It was, admittedly, a tough interview (it seems), but his words felt somewhat unprofessional.
Again, this is all from a Suns fan, and maybe a homer at that, but these are my thoughts.
And I had such high hopes for the playoffs this year.
Oh well, still excited to see what moves my Blazers make in the offseason.
I agree, I heard the interview with David Stern and I couldn't have put it better!! He sounded like Fox news spinning the latest Bush scandal... He didn't answer any questions DP asked, and he consantly talked over DP. It actually pissed me off more!! I don't think the NBA realizes how much they are fu*king over the average fan..
dkh, you should read a previous post where Adam mocks up a script of a "new Fox sitcom" about "Stu Jackdaughter's" life. It is pretty funny, especially his portrayal of "Daniel Strict," the commissioner. There is a pretty specific reference to "Strict" not caring about fans. I imagine you would agree.
First of all, Robert Horry didn't hit Nash that hard. Watch the tape, it deserved an intentional foul but Nash flopped a bit too.
That kind of thing happens to the Spurs too, they just don't over react. By far the most dangerous play in the series was when Nash trips Bowen from behind at full speed, but no one brings that up because Nash is the league's little darling, and the Spurs don't whine. The same reason no one calls Nash on the embelishment of the body check.
I'm sad about the suspensions too, it cheapens the win tonight.
At the same time it's hard to feel sorry for a guy when he flops.
keller:
Yea, I did read that post. I appreciate the wry humor in it, and yea, some of it could not be written more accurately.
Let it go, Spurs fans. We're done debating the nuances of Horry's cheap shot. Everyone is just bummed this thing went down the way it did. But to call out the victim of the cheap shot for flopping lacks class. And as for your claim that Nash tripped Bowen, I suggest you watch the tape. Bowen only "fell" when Nash tried to untangle himself. Why would he need to do that? Bowen was hooking and grabbing him all the way down the court. In fact, that was yet another "dirty" or "tricky" (depending on which team you are rooting for) play by Bowen. It had almost nothing to do with Nash. Bowen could have made himself fall while guarding a chair on that play.
To all Spurs fans: Read Bill Simmons article on Bowen today. He just said what needed to be said, no apologies. Bowen is the anti-christ of basketball.
I wonder if the Suns know what they are playing for in games 6 and hopefully 7. If they pull it out they all of the sudden are in big market status, many people becoming fans just seeing them overcome. If they fail many people; including me, will loose faith and interest in the NBA. It makes me sad to say but it is true.
I've been a hardcore NBA fan since I was a baby and my dad would hold me while watching the Warriors. Until this season, I've put up with dealing with plenty of crap... my teams losing, teams I hate winning, etc. and its never bothered me to the point that I feel like I could never watch another game... until this whole situation with the Spurs. I cannot stand it and felt physically ill during last night's game. I just knew that someone on the Spurs would hit a huge shot and of course it was Bowen.
I hope he gets injured horribly in the next game. Its about time someone hurt him before he got the chance to hurt another player.
Think the officiating in the L is terrible and L policies are stupid, but I think the whole Bowen thing is over blown. If you exam any player you'll find questionalbe plays. Players complain about him, because they don't like someone in their jock for 48 minutes. They call that kind of play hard nosed when it's white guy.ie John Stockton, Mark Maddsen, Brian Cardnal, and Matt Hapring.
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