Yes, he does - I mean, does he seriously believe that the entire NBA league is out to get his poor, poor Ming? Does he realize that Erick Dampier and Shawn Bradley got into as much foul trouble as Yao Ming in the play-offs? Yao has 3.3 PF/game average in the regular season vs. 4.8 in the play-offs. Damp has 3.1/gm in regular season vs. 4.2 in the play-offs. Another big stat? Yao Ming has been 30 mpg in the play-offs vs. Dampier playing 20.6 minutes. Do the math and you will see who is getting more fouls called on them per minute.
All stats aside, I think even ethically what Mark Cuban did was right (and I admit 90% of the time Cuban goes over the top on issues). Cuban had a problem with the way Yaoi was setting moving picks and he sent the league the tapes to review - if that results in the refs being more careful while calling fouls and more vigilant, I am all for it. If JVG thinks they are missing calls (I can think of the obviously missed call against Finley when he was out-of-bounds while stealing from Barry), he should do the same. Just like the non-called fouls on Yao that may have made a difference for the Mavs in the first two games but didn’t, these missed calls while reviewed, will not help anything but to prevent such mistakes in the future.
I don’t think NBA officiating is all that great - every single fan out there feels like the referees have it out for them. That doesn’t mean it gives the coaches free rein to talk conspiracy theories. Play ball and leave the “truth is out there” fantasies to the X-files crowds, JVG! I hated it when the Mavericks used to whine for calls last year (they are much better this year) and I feel JVG is as pathetic in not recognizing his team’s weaknesses that are killing them and trying to focus the issue on stupid things instead.
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Hi….
Was just reading Phil Jackson’s book “Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior”. In the book he mentions that in the 1991-92 season, the Bulls had to face the Knicks in the conference semis and Pat Riley (the then Knick’s coach) made a public shoutout to the press about Michael Jordan running amok without getting called. And when the series started, and Jordan ‘seemed’ to be targeted by the refs, Phil Jackson says that he ended up reacting (just like Van Gundy) and accusing the league of trying to make sure the series ran close. He also ended up arguing with a ref and getting ejected during the second half of a key game (3rd, if I remember right). He says that he learnt not to react henceforth and the Bulls went on to win in 7 games. The point I am trying to make is that Cuban might be the perp here and that Gundy’s just fell for what might be a old trick! But I am all for Cuban, cos he is totally the “player’s owner”!
And ya, heard about the Finley call! Can’t watch games these days :(
Posted by: aNTi at May 3, 2005 9:20 PM
aNTi, I think it really is all an off-court, psychological game as much as it is on-court like you pointed out. I am just glad Cuban owns my favorite team :)
Posted by: Shanti at May 4, 2005 7:34 PM
Jeff Van Gundy may be a lot of things - overzealous, too intense, too controlling but of all things he is not is dishonest. The guy is a very straightforward coach - he has been since he coached the Knicks. If he says he received this call….he received this call. Another key difference between Pat riley and Phil Jackson’s outbursts about the NBA is the kind of repour Van Gundy has with the officiating. This season he has been questioning the officiating all season…but if you read espn insider there’s an article that notes that of the active NBA Coaches who have coached 5 seasons or more he’s second to last on the list of coaches receiving the most technical fouls…he doesn’t berate officials or run them off the floor like Avery Johnson did - this is not a guy who lacks self-control…its a guy who obviously feels very strongly about the subject. I don’t think the fine is too much…but banishing him from the game is a real stretch and an action that will be met with a lot of negative reaction.
Posted by: Colin at May 5, 2005 10:36 AM
I don’t think JVG is being unreasonable as Colin notes. IF he recd a call, then he recd a call — I don’t think he is cheap enough to make up that stuff. I think JVG is pissed off about a lot of things:
* Rockets blew a 2-0 lead. Damn this is the playoffs! How can you goof up like that?
* Mavs can survive even if Nowitzki doesn’t get going — as has been the case in all the quaterfinal games. But for Rockets to win T-Mac simply has to produce.
* The 5th game turned out to be a back-breaker. Not only was Finley out of bounds in one of the plays, towards the end of the match, one of the officials granted a foul on Finely when 2 Rockets defenders were simply trying to corner him into a steal.
* Referres are human beings too and the league must realize they are prone to make mistakes too in a pressure cooker situation with coaches/players berating from all sides for every call they make. I think in the end some calls go your way, some calls don’t — they cancel out ultimately.
Everytime T-Mac worries about not making beyond the quaterfinals in playoffs he should just look at J-Kidd. I think not moving to San Antonio must be one of the biggest blunders any player made in NBA since Bosox traded Babe Ruth to Yankees in MLB. Ok — thats not a fair comparison but youget the idea!
Posted by: Dilip at May 5, 2005 4:36 PM
Colin, some fair points but when did Avery Johnson run any one off the floor? That is news to me. He was fuming at the refs at the end of game one, but he shut up after that. He didn’t say a word about the moving screen Yao set on T-Mac when T-Mac hit the game-winning shot at the end of Game 2. Dilip? Does that mean that the NBA has a conspiracy against the Mavs? Heck, No!
As for the two blown calls in Game 5, the phantom foul in the last few seconds near Finley hurt the Mavs since it gave the Rockets additional time left on the clock to run a play.
Even if as JVG said the league is looking harder at Yao due to the blown calls in the first two games, I still don’t see anything wrong with it as long as the fouls they are calling are legit. Is it wrong to not let a player get away with illegal plays?
Posted by: Shanti at May 5, 2005 6:10 PM