Call me a bit biased, because I love the Mavs more than probably any other non-affiliated to the team person alive. However, watching the Mavs game against the Spurs today just hurts me inside. And call me a sore loser, but this has just gotten horrendous.
The officiating in this game was the worst I have ever seen. EVER. And that includes the Kings-Lakers series of two years ago. Even my friend, who is actually a Spurs fan, apologized to me, because my team was being discriminated against. THAT must mean something.
I mean, come on. Bruce Bowen, who has a reputation around the league of being dirty (he has purposely injured Ray Allen and Vince Carter...though that doesn't take much), at midcourt, probably at Gregg Popovich's will, just shoved Michael Finley. Blatanly. No reason at all to do it. Despite the fact that Finley was the only person scoring for the Mavs in the quarter. And, like every other person would do, Finley shoves Bowen back. Trying to protect himself. And what happens? Finley is assessed a flagrant foul and ejected. Don Nelson complains about the call, and gets two technical fouls, and is ejected. At that point the lead for the Spurs was 28, due to the other horrible officiating. I'm not saying the Mavericks would have been winning at that point, but the game should NOT have been 28 points.
Anyway, the Mavs, without their team captain and emotional leader in the fourth quarter, came back to within 5 at 95-90, but ended up losing 113-100. But I think this is a huge statement game about the Mavs. They were being discriminated against, and they still overcame that and almost won.
But anyway, now for the point of this thread. There are other dirty players in the league like Bruce Bowen. Shaq is one. There are others (Ron Artest, etc.). Now, the NBA currently is the second-most watched sport in America, behind the NFL, which is leaps and bounds ahead. The NBA chooses to allow these dirty players to continue to act this way. Bruce Bowen has never gotten suspended, as far as I know. Shaq hasn't. Artest has, I'll say that. But admit it: you would rather see a game 120-119 than a first-to-80 wins. If the NBA really wants to promote a market for its product, and make this game enjoyable, why do they allow these monsters of defense to act this way? These players are bad for the NBA. It's the last thing they need; the NBA already has enough problems on its hands. But why do they choose to not do anything about it?
This is a big venting of frustration, because I love this team to death, and this Tim Duncan-less Spurs team should NOT have won this game. The refs chose, or didn't choose, I don't know, to have the Spurs win. I get Spurs fans to say that. That surely means something.
Please, post comments, directly relating to the original question of why doesn't the NBA do anything about these disgusting players. Also, including things about officiating, and the nature of it. The players of the teams that get all the calls, namely the Lakers, even admit that officiating decides the outcome of most games (Shaq cussed out the refs on national TV). It seems obvious.
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