The Lede
Following the Brooklyn Nets' road win over the Toronto Raptors, both star NBA players Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce didn't spend much time on foul calls in the game, something that Raptors head coach Dwane Casey found interesting int he last quarter of the game.
Casey wouldn't criticize the officials directly, but noted that Toronto didn't get any calls in the fourth quarter. Looking at the box score, outside of a Deron Williams offensive charge with 4:11 to go, the six other fouls called in the period were on the Raptors. In fact, after that Williams charge when the game was 77-76 in favor of the Nets, Toronto was called for four fouls in the final 1:46. However, most of that came from the Raptors needing to foul to extend the game.
But Casey's beef with not getting any calls is somewhat fair, even though the Raptors could have settled for less field goals.
That's not where my beef is with this whole situation. It's with both Garnett and Pierce, with their somewhat oblivious comments to what Casey said.
"In the playoffs you're not going to get calls," Garnett said [via ESPN]. "If you do, then you're fortunate. Playing on the road is very difficult. We know that. Some of us do. And that's just expected to come with the series. Things are not going to go the way that you want them and you have to just continue to be aggressive. But that's the difference between experience and non-experience."Sorry Garnett. While some things aren't going to go your way, it's certainly not just experience that gives teams calls in the NBA. It's star athletes' names that do it. Saying that "you're not going to get calls" is pretty rich coming from an NBA star that routinely gets calls.
Pierce brought up the boring argument of, well, things didn't go our way either!
"We could say something about the refereeing on our side, but we're not going to get into that. We understand that it's the playoffs. A lot of calls may not go your way and we understand that as veterans. You gotta be able to play through it."Because stars always need to complain, even when things go our way.
All these statements are incredibly rich from NBA stars when they're the ones that bitch the most on the court when things don't go their way. There's a reason why LeBron James doesn't get much love when compared to Michael Jordan. It's not just because fans of other teams are jealous of James' skills and generally, the better the player, the more hated he is in social media.
That's some of it, but the reason why James doesn't get much respect is how he constantly, always has the face of anguish any time a foul doesn't go his way. He continues to flop on the ground like he doesn't have any strength, checks his face for blood when there's any sort of contact to the head just so he can have a case for the ref, and when he gets stuffed at the rim, of course that was a foul.
Garnett and Pierce are the same dudes, same as all the other NBA stars that have ever played the game. Especially the stars in this era of basketball. They have no problem shrugging their shoulders about foul calls when their team wins the game. But they would be the first to bitch if the game was lost in a similar fashion.
Yesterday's Favorites
MLB: Rockies 8, Giants 2
Well that's a horrible way to end a 10-game, one-run streak. Ryan Vogelsong can't even make it through two innings in his worst start for San Francisco, and is the shortest start for any National League pitcher. Even worse, reliever David Huff got injured on a hit in the top of the third after getting the Giants out of a jam in the second inning.
The game was essentially over after four different Rockies racked up home runs in the first three innings, pulling out to a quick 7-1 start and didn't look back. Giants hitting continued to slump with just six hits on the night and hitting just 1-of-10 with runners in scoring position. Michael Morse left three runners in scoring position.
Today's Slate
Central times listed.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - SEMIFINALS
Chelsea at Atleico Madrid (Leg 1) - 1:45 FS1
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1
Lightning at Canadiens (MON 3-0) - 6:00 NHLN
Bruins at Red Wings (Tied 1-1) - 6:30 NBCS
Rangers at Flyers (Tied 1-1) - 7:00 CNBC
Sharks at Kings (SJ 2-0) - 9:00 NBCS
NBA PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1
Hawks at Pacers (ATL 1-0) - 6:00 TNT
Nets at Raptors (BKN 1-0) - 6:30 NBATV
Wizards at Bulls (WSH 1-0) - 8:30 TNT
MLB
D'backs at Cubs - 7:05 FSAZ/CSCH
Padres at Brewers - 7:10 FSSD/FSWI
Giants at Rockies - 7:40 CSBA/RSRM
Phillies at Dodgers - 9:10 CSPA/SNLA
LAX
PL: Bucknell at Colgate (Qtrs) - 3:00 LAXM (ONL)
PL: Navy at Lehigh (Qtrs) - 6:00 LAXM (ONL)
CBB - BIG 12
UTPA at Texas - 6:00 LHN
CS Bakersfield at Kansas St - 6:30 FCS
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