Playoffs are already over?
I was going to wait until after the NBA playoffs were over to write this, but my bitterness has gotten the best of me. These days it’s very difficult to be unbiased. Every sports fan on the planet has teams and players they love and root for and those they hate and want to fail miserably, it’s unavoidable. However, it’s not impossible to look at things from a neutral perspective, so I’m going to try.
The playoffs are over, they ended Friday night when the San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns in game 6. Every one who watches the NBA (what is left of them) knows the destiny of the entire playoffs hung in the balance in this series. The winner was basically handed the NBA championship trophy. Pending LeBron turning into, well, what he should be or Boozer putting up Wilt numbers that comment will hold true when the Spurs win in a few weeks.
A few columns back I spoke of this years playoffs bringing back the good ole days of quality basketball, so where does my bitterness fit in? Well, as I suspected the players kept up their end of the bargain. Tim Duncan had a quality series. He put up big numbers to remind us he is not getting old. Even the athleticism of an Amare Stoudemire wasn’t enough. Steve Nash proved he was worthy of a third straight MVP (even though the honor went to Dirk). Bowen and Bell played as physical as they could have. Effort was certainly not lacking in this series. The games themselves were brutal: Blood, fouls, and suspensions. Every shot was important, every moment was precious, and every game was life or death, the way the playoffs are supposed to be, the way they used to be. And it felt just like I thought it was going to feel: like I was watching some special.
The problem, as fantastic as it was watching this unfold it was almost just as frustrating watching it being controlled. Each games will was being taken away by the league and its officiating. There were so many errors I don’t know where to begin, so I’ll try and steer clear of the obvious (Bowen’s knee to Nash’s groin, Stoudemire’s suspension, and Horry’s “shove”). I’m going to mention a few things which I’m sure we’re noticed but never really mentioned by anyone.
I know everyone was talking about Bowen’s great defense on Nash all series, and how “physical” he was, but consider this. During the season, you couldn’t find a more collected point guard than Nash, yet, most of the series (especially towards the end) he was complaining and not just complaining, losing it yelling wildly at the referees. What is more likely, Nash all of sudden becoming a whiner or the referees blowing a call? I’d bet on the latter every time. If you watch any of the endless replays TNT runs you’d see Bruce Bowen picking up Nash at mid court every time and basically just slapping, pushing and body checking him until he passed the ball, sometimes even when he didn’t have the ball. The refs blew a lot of calls, on both sides. Tim Duncan complains every play and I think it started to get to the referees because he was getting calls left and right he did not deserve. I’m sorry, I wanted to talk about the petty things, but I just can’t…the NBA not suspending Bowen for the kick to Stoudemire is questionable but not doing anything about the knee to the crotch of Nash following an attempt to take out Amare is inexcusable. Not to mention the league interpreting their ridiculous bench rule so literally it resulted in what could be considered the reason the Suns lost. How else are rules supposed to be altered without precedents? Point is, the series could have been something even greater than it was, instead it is tainted and damaged forever, and worse it’s clearly in favor of one team…the Spurs. So for all you Spurs fans out there enjoy it while it lasts because by the look of Nash towards the end of the series I would NOT, repeat WOULD NOT want to be there next year when he faces you again.
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