VanGundyGate

[SPURSX3]

Do you think Stern is right to basically threaten Van Gundy as to this "not being over" and that the fine is just the tip of the ice berg?  Is Van Gundy being treated unfairly?  Did Jeff just make up the story about a ref giving him the 411 on the yao situation?  Is Stern over using his power as commissioner?





 

[Reality]

Coincidence that Yao had by far the fewest series foul calls against him last night?
Game one he had 5 fouls in 20 minutes.

On the O end Yao failed to capitolize as he bricked 5 straight FTAs down the stretch.

Stern is the ultimate hypocrit who is really put on the spot with this.  Has has to fiegn indignation that -perish the thought- the reffing could/does include favoritism.

Van Gundy has some tough choices.  Rat out the name of the ref and cost the ref his job.  Or refuse to give the refs name and see what kind of suspension SternFish imposes.  I hope Van Gundy sticks to his guns and refuses to give up the name.  Unless the ref wants to.

How cool would that be?  The ref verifyes all of what he told VGundy is true, then tells Sternfish to blow and retires.

The remaining option would be if Van Gundy is making all this up...... :puke:

[jn]

Can anyone give me a plausible reason the NBA office would tell the refs to do this? Can anyone even give me a bizzare, IMplausible reason?  



 

[SPURSX3]

Can anyone give me a plausible reason the NBA office would tell the refs to do this? Can anyone even give me a bizzare, IMplausible reason?

I dont think the NBA told the refs to do anything, I think jeff made the story up to be honest, and i think he will just not say anything and take the fines rather than be suspended and admit he lied.  he made a big mistake and went about trying to get the refs attention...he should have left the whole mystery ref out of it...

[ziggy]

This is all about the NBA sticking it's head in the sand. For Stern to threaten Van Gundy with a lifetime ban, because he complained about officials, how flipping absurd.

I don't for a minute believe that there is some NBA conspiracy to penalize Yao, not even for a nano second.

I do believe though that the NBA is unwilling to acknowledge the problem with their officials.  When people say officating the NBA is the toughest to officiate it is just a cop out.  If it is to hard for them then get rid of them.

How many highly disputed calls did they have in the MLB playoffs the last 5 years?  How many highly disputed calls did they have in the NFL playoffs the last 5 years?  The reason there are so few in other sports is because these leagues have aggressively addressed the issue, with QuesTec and Instant replay, and so forth.  Baseball got agressive with the union and got rid of the worst umpires.
The NBA makes excuses, and deals with everything "behind the scene".

How often do arguments between baseball managers and umpires now escalate like they did in the days of Earl Weaver, Billy Martin etc?  Very rarely.  Why?  Because baseball has put the hammer down on umps who escalate things.  

In basketball if you look crosseyed at Steve Javie or Dan Crawford you get a T.  There is no accountability in the NBA, because the league ignores it's problems.  You here this stuff all the time in the NBA, from every team, throughout all the playoffs.  It is always an issue bubbling just below the surface.  David Stern's approach is to fine and threaten until the problem goes away, but it never does.