04/23/24
May 09, 2009
NBA Admits Officials Blew Mavs-Nuggets Call: Not sure what good it does, but the NBA has acknowledged that a foul should have been called on Antoine Wright against Carmelo Anthony in the final seconds of game 3 in the Denver Nuggets-Dallas Mavericks series. After no foul was called, Anthony got an open look and sunk a three-pointer, and the Mavs are now in a 3-0 hole that no team has climbed out of in league history.
posted by rcade to basketball at 11:12 PM - 16 comments
After no foul was called, Wright quit on the play and Anthony got an open look and sunk a three-pointer, and the Mavs are now in a 3-0 hole that no team has climbed out of in league history.
Clearly a mistake by the refs, but Dallas can't blame the loss on them. Wright quit on the play, he should have stayed on Anthony until after the shot. I'm not sure if he was just anticipating the whistle or thought he heard it, but either way you have to stay on your guy even after the call just in case there is continuation.
posted by curlyelk at 10:08 AM on May 10, 2009
Dallas made only 50 percent of their free throws down the stretch, which kept Denver in the game, so that's also on them. But still, if refs aren't going to call the intentional foul in an obvious situation, they force defenders to foul harder in that circumstance. NBA officiating is so bad sometimes you'd think the refs were gambling on the games.
posted by rcade at 10:51 AM on May 10, 2009
It's easy to blame this non-call, but what about the other 47:57? If it wasn't for Dirk's 33-16, Dallas would not even have been close at the end. You want to issue blame, look at your roster.
posted by jjzucal at 01:33 PM on May 10, 2009
Right, jjzucal. How dare the Mavericks rely on their star player and future HOF-er to have a big game in the playoffs. Fools.
posted by Ufez Jones at 03:45 PM on May 10, 2009
Six seconds left. Dallas has one foul to give. Denver trails by 2. Every team in the NBA would foul the guy who receives the pass so they have to inbound again with even less time to compose a shot.
Denver inbounds to Carmelo Anthony. Wright fouls him once, causing Anthony to briefly lose control of the ball. Wright fouls him a second time. Still no call.
It's not just easy to blame the non-call, it's correct to blame it. There are some times where a mistake by the officials has an immediate and direct impact on the outcome of a game. This was one of those times, and to downplay that gives the refs too much of a free pass. The refs shouldn't work another game in the playoffs. There should be as much outcry here as Ed Hochuli caught in the NFL last season after the Broncos-Chargers game.
I know I'm a Dallas homer, but I'm dumbfounded by the refs not handling this situation properly. They blew the call so badly the league admitted it within two hours of the game's end.
posted by rcade at 04:55 PM on May 10, 2009
I'm not a big NBA fan, as the officiating has puzzled me for years. No calls against stars, and phantom calls all too often.
That being said, I can not figure out how the blatant hacks were not called. Especially, given that they were to be expected.
I hate seeing an official impact a game like this.
In every close game there are always plenty of circumstances to point at and say "if they had taken care of business then..." as way to mitigate putting too much emphasis on one item. Sure, they could have made more free throws, whatever, that's not the point. They were cheated out of the opportunity to control the end of the game.
Totally "Hochuli" level.
posted by dviking at 05:15 PM on May 10, 2009
I said it three years ago, and I'll say it again. The Mavericks will never win a championship as long as Stern is commissioner. Not that they had any chance to win one this year anyway.
posted by graymatters at 06:09 PM on May 10, 2009
The Mavericks had a 13-point fourth quarter lead in game 3 of the NBA Finals in 2006 and were the best free throw-shooting team on the planet. The Heat were in foul trouble. If out-of-his-league coach Avery Johnson had told them to drive the paint every time down, they get free throws and win that series, Stern or no Stern. It kills me they let that one slip away and their window is closing.
posted by rcade at 09:07 PM on May 10, 2009
It kills me they let that one slip away and their window is closing.
I totally understand where you're coming from but it was the refs who let this game slip away from the Mavs. To not even blow the whistle on an obvious foul and then a few hours after the game, the league acknowledges that the refs missed the call, what is that about? How is that helping the Mavs out? It only provides extra ammunition for Mav fans to feel cheated by the refs. I watched this game from buzzer to buzzer and could not believe that the refs gave this game to the Nuggets. It was a hell of a shot by Carmelo Anthony but it was a shot that should have never happened.
posted by BornIcon at 10:51 AM on May 11, 2009
Denver's my team so that final no call just felt like justice. I thought the game was poorly officiated throughout. 49 fouls shots for this Mavs squad is amazingly high. It's not that they blatantly missed calls but they just called fouls for every little bit of contact that in most games doesn't get called. This made the ending, for me, bizarre and satisfying.
posted by tron7 at 02:13 PM on May 11, 2009
I totally understand where you're coming from but it was the refs who let this game slip away from the Mavs.
Even if the Mavs got the win they deserved in game 3, they still would have needed to beat Denver three more times. Even as a fan, I don't see that happening. Denver's been beating the Mavs all year for a reason.
posted by rcade at 02:20 PM on May 11, 2009
It kills me they let that one slip away and their window is closing.
The window really was closed last year. Let's face it, they have a 36 year-old PG in a conference with a bunch a very good young players at that position - CP3, Deron Williams, Tony Parker even Billups is only 32. Also, they are really lacking in the frontcourt, they are not going to get any further than where they are right now, with Dampier and not much else to play defense inside.
As awful as that call, or lack of a call, really was, Dallas got everything possible to go their way in that game - 49 FTs, Denver bigs in foul trouble - yet they were still only up 2, at the end of the game. Also, it is still not certain that Dallas is going to win, even if the foul is called. Denver is still going to have time to get off a shot to tie or win the game.
posted by MrNix67 at 03:56 PM on May 11, 2009
I like that the NBA has come out and stated that the officials blew the call. I've seen leagues blatantly ignore blown calls (at least publicly) or come up with some excuse for them. While it doesn't make the quality of the officiating any better (I think it is the worst of the four major American sports) at least the league comes forward when a mistake is made.
That said, those officials shouldn't be calling another game in these playoffs. While Dallas probably wouldn't win the series if this call is made correctly, the call directly impacted the outcome of a playoff game. That is inexcusable.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:49 PM on May 11, 2009
The window really was closed last year. Let's face it, they have a 36 year-old PG in a conference with a bunch a very good young players at that position - CP3, Deron Williams, Tony Parker even Billups is only 32.
Yet amazingly, the 36 year-old PG is still playing in the playoffs. Interesting...
posted by BornIcon at 09:07 AM on May 12, 2009
Well this explains all the fouls.
The NBA source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is prohibited by the league from publicly addressing controversial game issues, said the referees had advised both teams that, as a result of the bunkhouse-rough tactics in the playoff series, the game would be called vise-tight. Billups confirmed the warning. "Mauer told me it would be unbelievable. About six minutes in, I said to him, 'Kenny, you're right. It is unbelievable.' "
From this article in the Post. In a game called "vice-tight" the biggest call was a no call. Strange.
posted by tron7 at 10:38 AM on May 12, 2009
It's hard to believe the refs blew this call, since everyone in the arena knew an intentional foul was coming. Denver had the ball trailing by two with six seconds left, and the Mavs had a foul to give. That's all the announcers talked about during the timeout before Denver inbounded.
Wright even fouled Anthony twice.
The series is now officially over. The only consolation is that the Mavs were almost certainly going to lose anyway. Denver had beaten them all six times they played this season prior to Saturday.
Some obnoxious Nuggets fans are showing up on DallasNews.Com's sports blogs to mock Dallas for complaining about the refs. If Denver meets the Lakers, I think we're going to hear a lot of complaining about the refs in the Mile High City.