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Sad humor: What a fix Suns were in
Web Posted: 07/25/2007 10:59 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
One of the signs a referee is fixing games, according to David Letterman, is this:
"When talking about the Spurs, says we."
That's not as funny as Letterman's other telltale signs, such as "Knicks are winning." But the Spurs' angle sure plays well in Phoenix. There, the second angriest mob (after the Gambino family) sees yet another reason to question a world that allows Robert Horry to prosper.
It's justified, and it's also something David Stern can't correct with a thousand press conferences. All doubt has been validated, and a review of Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series comes with revisionist bite. For example, the San Antonio crowd chanted "dirty, dirty," at Amare Stoudemire because of comments he'd made about the Spurs just days before.
If everyone had only known who really deserved those words.
That a crooked ref was involved May 12 is damning enough for the league. But did Tim Donaghy, working the last game of his life, also give the Spurs a title as a parting gift?
*
Issue No. 1: Stoudemire played only 21 minutes because of foul trouble, and Donaghy called the first two on him.
What the replays show: The first is not debatable. Then, Stoudemire mistimed his jump and landed on Michael Finley's back with such force that Finley needed a moment to get up.
The second is less obvious but not clearly a mistake. Horry cut, and Stoudemire, a notoriously lazy defender, didn't move his feet. Jon Barry, working TV that night, called it "a young foul."
Fouls three, four and five on Stoudemire? Donaghy called none of them.
*
Issue No. 2: Donaghy, from midcourt, blew a late whistle on a Manu Ginobili drive. The replay showed little if any contact. "I don't know what he saw," said Barry of Donaghy.
If Donaghy wanted to increase scoring and thus win an over-under bet, he'd invent fouls. And if Donaghy wanted the Spurs to win, he would have wanted to help them when they trailed by nine in the second quarter.
What the replays show: It was an awful call. But Boris Diaw responded with a score to return the Suns to their 9-point lead. And, after a Tony Parker miss, Donaghy was involved again — calling Tim Duncan for a foul that built the Phoenix lead to double digits.
*
Issue No. 3: Bruce Bowen stripped Steve Nash twice with plays that included some contact, and Bowen ended with only two fouls on the night. One of them was an offensive foul when he kneed Nash.
What the replays show: Ignoring Bowen's fouls goes against the over-under theory. But more telling, Donaghy wasn't involved in these plays. The no-call that drew a technical from Mike D'Antoni came from another ref, Greg Willard.
Willard was the Suns' target that night, not Donaghy. Appearing in the Express-News in the next day's editions was a sample from an unidentified Phoenix coach. "Greg Willard," he said, "just had the worst game in the history of officiating."
Willard also missed Shawn Marion clawing at Ginobili, accidentally catching his eye. Ginobili didn't like that no-call, either. He responded by scoring eight points in the final 1:30 of the third quarter.
Nash didn't react as well. An Arizona columnist wrote then, "It may have been the worst big game he's played since rejoining the Suns."
The third referee, Eddie F. Rush, didn't do much better. When an Arizona reporter made his own review of the game tape this week, he pointed to a call Rush made in the third quarter that resulted in Stoudemire's fourth personal.
"That was perhaps the most damaging, and questionable, of all the calls against Stoudemire," he wrote. "In fact, if somebody asked whether we thought the fix was in, we'd have fingered Rush for sure."
Maybe Donaghy didn't try to fix that game. Maybe he didn't have to. But when looking for signs — as Letterman was — a replay suggests something worthy of late-night humor.
Donaghy might have been the best official that night.
Sad humor: What a fix Suns were in
Web Posted: 07/25/2007 10:59 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
One of the signs a referee is fixing games, according to David Letterman, is this:
"When talking about the Spurs, says we."
That's not as funny as Letterman's other telltale signs, such as "Knicks are winning." But the Spurs' angle sure plays well in Phoenix. There, the second angriest mob (after the Gambino family) sees yet another reason to question a world that allows Robert Horry to prosper.
It's justified, and it's also something David Stern can't correct with a thousand press conferences. All doubt has been validated, and a review of Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series comes with revisionist bite. For example, the San Antonio crowd chanted "dirty, dirty," at Amare Stoudemire because of comments he'd made about the Spurs just days before.
If everyone had only known who really deserved those words.
That a crooked ref was involved May 12 is damning enough for the league. But did Tim Donaghy, working the last game of his life, also give the Spurs a title as a parting gift?
*
Issue No. 1: Stoudemire played only 21 minutes because of foul trouble, and Donaghy called the first two on him.
What the replays show: The first is not debatable. Then, Stoudemire mistimed his jump and landed on Michael Finley's back with such force that Finley needed a moment to get up.
The second is less obvious but not clearly a mistake. Horry cut, and Stoudemire, a notoriously lazy defender, didn't move his feet. Jon Barry, working TV that night, called it "a young foul."
Fouls three, four and five on Stoudemire? Donaghy called none of them.
*
Issue No. 2: Donaghy, from midcourt, blew a late whistle on a Manu Ginobili drive. The replay showed little if any contact. "I don't know what he saw," said Barry of Donaghy.
If Donaghy wanted to increase scoring and thus win an over-under bet, he'd invent fouls. And if Donaghy wanted the Spurs to win, he would have wanted to help them when they trailed by nine in the second quarter.
What the replays show: It was an awful call. But Boris Diaw responded with a score to return the Suns to their 9-point lead. And, after a Tony Parker miss, Donaghy was involved again — calling Tim Duncan for a foul that built the Phoenix lead to double digits.
*
Issue No. 3: Bruce Bowen stripped Steve Nash twice with plays that included some contact, and Bowen ended with only two fouls on the night. One of them was an offensive foul when he kneed Nash.
What the replays show: Ignoring Bowen's fouls goes against the over-under theory. But more telling, Donaghy wasn't involved in these plays. The no-call that drew a technical from Mike D'Antoni came from another ref, Greg Willard.
Willard was the Suns' target that night, not Donaghy. Appearing in the Express-News in the next day's editions was a sample from an unidentified Phoenix coach. "Greg Willard," he said, "just had the worst game in the history of officiating."
Willard also missed Shawn Marion clawing at Ginobili, accidentally catching his eye. Ginobili didn't like that no-call, either. He responded by scoring eight points in the final 1:30 of the third quarter.
Nash didn't react as well. An Arizona columnist wrote then, "It may have been the worst big game he's played since rejoining the Suns."
The third referee, Eddie F. Rush, didn't do much better. When an Arizona reporter made his own review of the game tape this week, he pointed to a call Rush made in the third quarter that resulted in Stoudemire's fourth personal.
"That was perhaps the most damaging, and questionable, of all the calls against Stoudemire," he wrote. "In fact, if somebody asked whether we thought the fix was in, we'd have fingered Rush for sure."
Maybe Donaghy didn't try to fix that game. Maybe he didn't have to. But when looking for signs — as Letterman was — a replay suggests something worthy of late-night humor.
Donaghy might have been the best official that night.
