It feels great to be an American today... the Bulls beat the despicable Heat, and Global Warming doesn't exist. It sure isn't warm here, the rain has kept it quite cool. Maybe that's a sign that the Heat are going to lose? I hope so.
Another sign? Chris Bosh scoring 30 points, and Dwayne Wade and LeBron James scoring 33 points... total. The rest of the Heat scored 19 points. That's a recipe for success if you want to beat the Heat. It's easy to say "LeBron only scored 15 because he had a bad night." He shot 15 times, and scored 15 points. That's not just a bad night. That's good defense. Wade was 7-17 and LeBron was 5-15. The Shocker? LeBron and Wade only went to the line 8 times, total. Granted, the Heat were a perfect 15-15 from the free throw line, but that is not what got the Heat here. Partial referees or not, the Wade and LeBron are averaging around 21 FT attempts PER GAME in the playoffs. Maybe there were a couple less Snipers in the rafters in Chicago, maybe the refs never got their checks from Mr. Riley. Either way, D-Wade and LeBron didn't get into the lane like they normally do, and when they did get there, they didn't get the calls they normally get. Did the refs just swallow their whistles?
The answer, is no. The Bulls just played outstanding defense on those two specific players. Carlos Boozer said the Heat have "2 great players." That's right, they do. So the Bulls focused their efforts on playing lockdown defense, one on one, against the Heat's two best players. They gave up their own men to play helpside defense against those players to shut down the lane when they penetrated. If the Heat win this series with Bosh averaging 30 points per game, and the bench for the Heat stepping up, then so be it. But Tom Thibs (I'm not looking up how to spell his last name, and refuse to guess.. his nickname is Thibs, so that's what I'll call him) is not going to let LeBron and Wade beat him. I hope, beyond hope, that his gameplan prevails. If the Bulls win with that strategy, that will justify every fan and analyst's argument against the Heat- 2.5 players don't make a team, 2.5 players don't win a championship. Eventually, when the Heat get better role players by way of aging veterans selling out to chase a title, they will win one or more championships. There is no reason to live in denial of that. But not this year, not against these Bulls. I hope.
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When is travelling not travelling? When it's a "star" doing it. When is an offensive foul not an offensive foul? When a "star" is doing it. The NBA has the best talent in the world. That doesn't mean that they have the best basketball in the country. They have the most entertaining at times- because they play for near 8 months of the year, and get all the television time. But to say it's the best basketball is a travesty. When the rules of a sport are changed, it is not the same sport. The NBA changed rules to encourage scoring because that's what simpleton fans like- Chalupas. Hey, I like free diarrhea as much as the next guy, but I'd rather watch a game where at least twice during the game I didn't say, out loud, "That was a travel" or "that wouldn't be a foul if it were (insert NBA Star here)." Here's two examples of why the NBA and their atrocious subjective officiating ruins the game:
Last night, in the first half of the game, LeBron was being guarded by Joakim Wookie Noah. LeBron was dribbling around the top of the key as the shot clock winding down, and everyone who's ever watched him play said "Pull up fade-away." Surprise! Lebron took a dribble, and stepped back to attempt a fade-away. Now on this play, for you basketball savvies, LeBron established his left foot as his pivot foot, which anyone who has ever attempted a fade-away step back shot would know. That wasn't the travel. The travel occurred when LeBron pump faked, got Chewbacca in the air, and then stepped forward into our Wookie friend attempting to draw a foul. The Problem? He took a step with his free foot (righty) first, and followed it with a step with his pivot foot (lefty) in order to get close enough to draw the foul (which he didn't). That is only the most recent LeBron James blatant travel that I will touch on, but watch game 4 of the Boston series in the last 40 seconds and you'll see another. Count 4 steps (you get 2 in basketball... but anywhere from 2 to 8 in the NBA, depending on your star power, and how many jerseys you sell).
Which brings us to example number 2. The good ole' pump fake jump into them play. You've seen this countless times by players such as Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd and LeBronDelonte West how simple that play was when he was called for an offensive foul for that play in game 5 of the Boston/Miami series. Aaaaand that's why the NBA's officiating sucks.
Sorry Mr. Stern, but the subjectiveness of your league's officiating is the worst of all the major sports, and has gotten to a point where it's predictable which way the game will go based off the officiating in the first quarter. My dear old brother, mentioned only as "W" here, has a solution for this. 1, make him an official. But more importantly, 2, don't give tenure. Referees should be able to Ref for no longer than 4 years. There are referees that have officiated for over 20 years. There is no way that they have not developed a bias towards one team, one coach, or one player, or another. How can you develop a bias if you're only there for 4 years? The mob, but there's nothing we can do about that. But other than organized crime, that would solve the bias in the NBA. To add to W's idea, I think that all of our referees should be trained, in house in an NBA officiating school, and they should all be from a country that none of the players are from, and speak a language that none of the players speak. They make all the calls with hand signals anyway, and since players NEVER commit a foul, the foreign officials won't understand all their constant whining, and will eventually stop. This will speed up the game, and reduce technical fouls, as well as create a level playing field across the board.
Paul Pierce is an expert when it comes to the "pump fake I just got mugged and no one touched me, take me off in a wheel chair only for me to return totally fine" foul. If he acts like a soccer player on the court, I wonder how he reacted when he was stabbed 7 times? He probably died twice, met God himself and the devil and CHRRIIIIISS, came back as Doctor House, revived himself, killed Osama Bin Laden, cured smallpox then took a nap and woke up as Paul Pierce. All in a days work for Mr. Pierce.
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