NBA - sore loser rant begins here >>
I was surprised to see Joey Crawford call 2 "T"s on Tim Duncan a few weeks ago, ejecting him from a game for essentially just laughing at the ref. But after watching game 4 of the Denver Nuggets vs. the San Antonio Spurs, I'm starting to see things from Joey Crawford's perspective. Good for him! I'm glad he had the guts to throw him out! And I apologize to Joey C. He was right!
In game 4 of the Denver S.A. game the referees did not have that kind of fortitude to stand up to Duncan. He starts out by giving the silent stare if he was touched in any way, as if to say "you moron how could you not call that foul?" Every time he gets the ball and shoots, he will go into a little childish dramatic acting if he doesn't get a call. He looks as if he is near tears, and is in such great disbelief that he doesn't get the call. This happens repeatedly, and I think Crawford had finally just had enough of his childish drama. Go play in your sandbox you little child!
Somehow, by the 4th quarter, Duncan had built up enough good will and ended up at the free throw at two crucial moments in the San Antonio "comeback." Carmelo Anthony on the other hand, who was the real star of the game and a better player than Duncan IMO, had to sit on the bench with 5 fouls in those crucial moments of the 4th quarter, after 2 mystery fouls were called against him in a row. AI was called for "pushing" Tim Duncan as he fell out of bounds, and he wasn't even in the play. If you're going to make a game-changing momentum-shifting call like that, could you at least look at the play? Just because Duncan is falling doesn't mean there was a foul - in fact he's very tough to push over at his size. If he falls, it's MORE likely to be a flop.
It was disgusting. Greg Popovich said he felt fortunate to come out of there with a win, and he knows what he's talking about. Denver was the better team, IS a better team, and they'll just have to learn how to be crybabys and manipulate referees the way Duncan does I guess in order to move to "that next level."
One thing I will say about the Spurs is that they have a very deep team and have a lot of guys they can bring in as designated foulers, so that their top guys don't end up on the bench with 5 or 6 fouls. In that way, I guess you could say that the Spurs are better. But the Nuggets were amazing - I love this team and I feel the referees robbed them blind out of game 4.
Game 4 was the Nuggets last chance to really compete for the series... this is why these "little things" matter so much. At 3-1 Spurs, this series is essentially over, and game 4 was a gift that San Antonio and Tim Duncan didn't really deserve. Even worse is, we'll have to watch the Tim Duncan whimpering act all over again through the next series, and the Nuggets are simply put, a lot more fun to watch.
>> end rant
