3-1....

I just finished watching Game 4 of the Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs game. I am disgusted right now having just watched bad officiating and great acting take over a competitive game and ultimately give the game to the Spurs. I don’t have too much to say other than I think that the team of Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili make up the most despicable duo in team sports. Below is an excerpt from an article by Bill Simmons on espn.com that I read not too long ago that echoes of my feelings about fouls in the NBA:

“The single most disgusting NBA development of the past few years? The flopping... Slowly, regretfully, inexplicably, the sport is morphing into soccer --I blame the influx of European players for this trend because flopping has always been an acceptable part of soccer; they grew up watching that crap and understood that it could work in basketball as well, especially if you have a group of largely incompetent referees calling the action. So it started a few years ago, it's gotten worse and worse, and now, it's affecting the overall competitiveness of these games.
Here's the problem: Because we don't have any anti-flopping rules, it behooves defenders to fall backward every time a low-post player lowers his shoulder, and it behooves them to slide under airborne players and plant their feet for a charge (even if they might end up breaking the guy's neck in the process). Not to keep bringing up the pickup basketball analogy, but geez ... can you imagine if somebody pulled this crap during a game among friends? The prevailing reactions would be, "What the hell are you doing?" and "If you do that again, I'm gonna sock you." But because the NBA refuses to do anything about the flopping, it's evolved into a savvy defensive maneuver. For instance, if you're Barnes and you're giving up 50 pounds to Boozer on the low post, there's only two ways you're stopping him: Go for a strip if he puts the ball on the ground, or jump backward if he's dumb enough to lower his shoulder as he's turning around. Those are your two options.
Is that basketball? Hell, no! In fact, when I was a little kid -- and I swear to God, this happened -- a guard named Mike Newlin flopped to draw a charge from the great Dave Cowens, a fiery Hall of Famer who played with a remarkable level of passion and fury, to the degree that he burned himself out after 7-8 years. Completely and utterly outraged that Newlin committed such a phony act of sportsmanship, Cowens berated the ref who made the call, yelled at him some more, then started running back on defense when he noticed Newlin dribbling up the court. Now, our seats were at midcourt, so this happened right in front of us and nearly caused me to pee my pants -- as Cowens was running, he snapped and suddenly charged Newlin like a free safety, bodychecked him at full speed (much, MUCH harder than Horry's foul on Nash) and sent poor Newlin careening into the press table at about 35 mph. Then he turned to the same ref and screamed ...
"NOW THAT'S A F------- FOUL!"
Did Cowens get kicked out of the game? Of course. But there's a moral to the story. Once upon a time, these guys had a code of honor. They played hard, respected the game, defended their teammates, and if anyone stepped out of line, there was always someone that would take care of them -- whether it was another player, a referee, a coach or whatever. When fights or altercations happened, they were considered natural side effects of a physical sport. When two players talked smack, it was considered a good thing, a sign that the game was heating up, that we were potentially headed for a more competitive place.”

After tonight it makes me not want to watch what I saw on TV. That is not competition, it’s acting. Unfortunately it is making my transition back to following professional basketball very difficult because it devalues true play and removes the sense that a fair game is being called by the officials. I do not respect the San Antonio Spurs AT ALL for the accolades that they have been rewarded. They do not deserve to be in the Western Conference Finals since they instigated a brawl that resulted in a bogus suspension to two of the Suns players. They play dirty, ugly, cheap basketball. For those that argue “but they win” enjoy your nap if they meet Detroit in the finals… it will be as boring as the Mayweather/ De La Hoya fight…

I encourage you to read the whole article, it’s quite interesting… http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070516&sportCat=nba