Refs controlling the FINALS?

[cyman3]

dont get me wrong, im not complaining about the refs being one-sided. however, i do think that they are greatly influencing the game.

i dont think its a coincidence that each team wins at HOME by significant margins. Detroit + San Antonio are both great teams and great road teams.

its just interesting how one team tend to lose by AT LEAST 15 points in every game. i mean, c'mon what happened to close matches?

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here my theory (oh, yes- i used the word "THEORY")

A) Refs are giving all the little pushy/touchie fouls in favor of the home team. If it can go one way or another, they give it to the HOME TEAM. As a result, home team has won every game.

B) Refs arent allowing teams to gain momentum. As a result, teams dont have big leads and its a close game (for the most part) til the 4th quarter. the last team to gain momentum in their favor wins.

i donno, just a thought.

now- wouldnt it be something... if the home team wins each time by 15+ points (every game).

and its game 7, in SAN ANTONIO. if ur detroit, u gotta be worried!

i still think it'll go 7 games. which way? well, according to my theory- i guess i have to go w/ San Antonio?

[Plainview1981]

I do think the refs was off... but it was not so

great on both sides. But didn't it seem like Detroit

had the most fouls in games 1 and 2 and lose? Tonight

it was just the other way. Spurs commited a boatload

of fouls in the 1st period tonight and Detroit wins.

[cyman3]

while some calls are questionable, i think its fair on both sides. theyre pretty consistant.

if ur gonna go easy on the home team, gotta do it both ways- right!

thinking about it more, i dont blame them for calling the game the way it is. these are the 2 most physical teams- so if one player (on either side) gets frustrated over repeated missed calls... someone could get hurt, punches could be thrown, and suspensions could be given out.

something u do NOT want to see in the finals.

[Plainview1981]

i think its fair on both sides"

I'm saying its effected the aggressiveness

of the teams in the game IMO.

[chillzatl]

it's the reason why people give ref conspiracy theories in the first place. The game just is not called consistantly in the NBA. One gets the feeling that the refs want to make sure that the league gets at least 6 games out of this series, so they're going to give the advantage to the home team every time. But you can't blame the outcome on the refs. Everyone, players included, expects the game to be called in favor of the home team. It's just how it is.

Ben Wallace energized his team early and Chauncy and Mcdyss hit shots late. That was the difference in the game. They were able to keep it close and when SA sat Parker in favor of Udrih early in the 4th, Detroit trapped, got 3 consecutive turnovers and easy baskets, and that did it.

Detroit did what they had to do. They won a must win game.

SA can't be too upset with the results. They got zero production from Ginobili and nothing from Duncan in the 2nd half and were still tied going into the 4th. They had about four key negative points that had htey not been there, the game could have gone their way.

But now it's a series. Now the chessmatch begins. Duncan rarely has back to back bad games. Lets see whose adjustments pays off in game four.

[Diesel]

You knew tht they would play on Sunday Right?

I think they should move the game time up on Sunday to about 4:00 P.M. EST...

I'm tired of these Night games with everybody and they mama performing before the game...

[Diesel]

I still think Detroit took Stupid Shots.

I still think that Detroit is not utilizing it's best advantage:

Rasheed Wallace.

Love him or hate him.. Nobody on SA teams can match up well with him and Wallace.

When Horry guard R. Wallace... Horry gets took.

When Duncan guards R. Wallace... Wallace may settle for an outside shot, but Ben Wallace outrebounds Horry 9 days out of the week.

The best thing that SA has to stop that is Nazr!!!

And even he is terribly ineffective when B Wallace is moving.

Yeah.. But last night, Detroit could have blown SA out, but they settled for a lot of dumb shots.

3 on 1 break.. Billups pull up for a 3.

[chillzatl]

[chillzatl]

Rasheed just isn't reliable though. He runs his mouth at the refs for EVERYTHING. He almost got T'd up several times early for running his mouth about no-calls on missed and made shots.

But yes, I agree, they took some dumb shots. But I think that has to be expected. The Spurs defense just doesn't give up a lot of easy baskets. The Pistons like to play that grind it out style, where their defense leads to offense. But against the spurs, it doesn't work nearly as well.

As for the blowout, I don't think Detroit has the 3-pt range across their lineup to blow SA out for an entire game. It takes good 3pt shooting to do it, as is evident by last nights 4th quarter. Chauncy started hitting some 3's and all of a sudden they were up 15. Without that kind of accuracy, they aren't going to pull away from the Spurs. I don't think they can hit those shots consistantly enough to take them the entire game without SA making them pay dearly for the misses.

The series still belongs to the spurs. Duncan won't have back to back bad games. Just as he did in the previous series after a loss, Pop will drill them hard on protecting the ball and on having good floor spacing and that will make a huge difference. If they had good spacing last night, they would have saved at least 6 turnovers.

[Plainview1981]

Rasheed Wallace.

Love him or hate him.. Nobody on SA teams can match up well with him and Wallace"

If a guy doesn't want to be the main guy it just will

not happen alot of times. Sheed is often to unagressive

and it will be amazing if Detroit wins again with such

little production from him.

[Plainview1981]

They missed alot of easy shots around the basket like

they have been doing the entire series. It actually

looks pretty embarassing IMO. It's the reason the game

stayed close most of the time.

[Diesel]

This guy should be coaching somewhere...

He was talking about how to beat the Spurs and he said that detroit would last night..

But what he said is that they have to be more Physical and find different ways to attack the SA switching...

Mainly.. He said is that they got to stop argueing with the refs..

Then he said something that is very true but i had never thought about it before.

" NO ref has ever changed a called in the history of basketball because a player barked at him"...

He basically said, Larry Brown should be the one initiating conversations with the refs... The players should just play the game... When you think about a hothead like Rodman, I see how Daly was able to tame him...

Daly also said you have to change the angles on your pick and rolls... and it will catch San Antonio out of position. He made the point that in a series, a team gets to focus on what you do. However, if you change up what you do a little, it will disrupt a teams gameplan... You're still doing what you do, you're just not doing it the way that they expect to see it...

I think BK ought to hire him as an advisor or something... There's a lot of wisdom with Daly and Hubie... and Dr. Jack if you can dig him up...

[Diesel]

I think that the Detroit defense is good enough to hold the SPurs Scoreless for periods...

I think you saw this in the first half of the first game.. and the first quarter last night.

IF Detroit puts up smart shots and hit the easy ones when they apply that kind of defense, I think it's blow out city... Even without the threes...

I think that Horry and Ginobili has been a godsend offensively because they kept SA in games... Also give some credit to Arroyo and McDyess. Last night, I thought McDyess was a double secret agent for SA the way he played offensively and defensively.

Maybe he can punt or play special teams or something..

[Plainview1981]

Quote:

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IF Detroit puts up smart shots and hit the easy ones when they apply that kind of defense, I think it's blow out city... Even without the threes...

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You can say this about other defensive teams that

don't score alot. Problem is Detroit averages 93PPG

and most nights it should be less againest a good

Spurs defense. Detroit's defense was good, but some

careless passes helped also.

It's about adjustments. The ones Detroit tried in game

3 didn't work... They did in game 3... Now SA has to

make the adjustments. It's the way it should be the

rest of the series. IF SA's adjustments go over well

they will probably win... If not, it will be another

loss.

[chillzatl]

we can watch SA in one game and say "they're unstoppable because of X, Y and Z" and then Detroit goes home and we can watch them and say "they can win if they do X, Y and Z". It really boils down to the gameplan and who is able to execute it the best. Everyone and their mother knew Detroit would win last night. I fully expect the spurs to win the series and I'm rooting for them. But even I knew they would win last night. Their energy would be higher, their defense would be livelier and shots that didn't fall in SA, would fall at home. It's just the law of averages I guess?

the problem for them is that despite all that, they were still down going into the 4th quarter. Offensively, they played as good or better than they can be expected to play on any given night. Especially against a defensive team like SA. Detroit isn't good enough to drop 96 on the Spurs in all of the remaining games of this series. SA has also shown that in a grind it out type game, the can still outscore Detroit.

I think that what you say about their defense is true, so long as SA allows them to do it. Just like the 1st quarter in game one, SA allowed Detroit to take them out of their offensive scheme and they started settling for shots. Also, just like in the first quarter of game one, they rushed plays and made sloppy passes into the post that resulted in a lot of turnovers. Ginobili looked out of it from the opening tip. He wasn't making crisp passes and Detroit was able to get hands on them. Horry was also guilty of this. He made lots of lazy bounce passes that got picked off.

I don't see horry and Ginobili as being the guys that kept them in games. They're the guys that turned close games into blowouts. Without Ginobili and Horry, SA was still in the lead entering the 4th quarter. If Ginobili had scored 14pts by that point, well below his average, SA would have had at least a 10pt lead to open the quarter and Detroit would have been on the ropes.

It's still going to be very hard for Detroit to win. Duncan and Ginobili aren't going to have bad games on the same night again. If either of them have a big or even average game, SA will be in position to win.

[Diesel]

[pathway23]

May I ask why you pull for the Spurs Chillz?

I personally like Detroit....I don't see why people in the East can pull against the East representatives like that

[cyman3]

i personally have no preference. could careless who wins. but im watching all the games and if i had to accurately guess the final outcome- id go w/ SPURS in 7.

the reason i cant pick is b/c i love...

1) Ben Wallace- blue collar guy, workin his butt off. how can u NOT root for a guy who works so hard?

2) Tim Duncan- prob the only superstar in current professional sport who doesnt want spotlight to himself. perfect leader in every way. actions speak louder than words. this is the same guy who shows up at training camp w/ all the rookies and guys who may not even make the team- while 6-7 yr old role playing vets are sitting at home waiting for the season to start.

3) Ginobili- the offense/Spurs version of Ben Wallace.

4) Rip Hamilton- the "Ginobili" for Detroit.

5) the 2 great respectful coaches who preach discipline + teamwork.

[cyman3]

again, Detroit wins... BIG

Duncan and rest of the spurs are frustrated with "missed" calls.

and the home town wins by a huge margin.

theres no reason to doubt the outcome of the GAME 5.

DETROIT wins, by DOUBLE-DIGITS

[Plainview1981]

The Spurs haven't brought intensity the last two

games and have quit cutting and moving without the

ball... Played rather unagressive. You got to give

Detroit credit for plenty of that... but I don't

believe it is ALL them.