Could somebody be honest?

Great observations. And I agree 100%. I don’t know why these people are so afraid to say that the superstars actually foul people. They place these guys on such pedastals, and it’s as if they’re always on the offense. I understand that the announcers and analysts themselves are fans of the game, too. Many are formers players (Legler) and even former teammates (in Eric Snow/Gary Payton/Marc Jackson, not that they’re all guilty) or even still current friends of the players in question. Some of these announcers have even coached some of the guys ((Doug Collins/Hubie/Jeff Van Gundy- brother of Stan. Not sure if any of them actually coached any of these guys currently still in it at any point in their careers, but you know what I mean.)). But that doesn’t mean that it’s against the law to say they committed a foul. Sure it’s not easy to say call someone out infront of millions of people on tv, but that’s the responsibility that you take on. It’s as if they’re affraid of offending someone. As long as they keep the analysis clean and don’t take any personal shots, the announcers shouldn’t have anything to fear.

But, what do I know. :)

Nice vent, B-50. I wholeheartedly agree.

The Lebron call at the end of the game was very iffy, but he did trip over Pietrus’s legs. I would not have made that call, but I don’t think it is outrageous that the referees did make it, especially in real-time where perhaps it looked like more contact had occurred. It would be dishonest for an analyst to say that it definitively was or was not a foul, as you see that kind of contact go both ways. We all know that there are certain types of contact that almost always result in foul calls, certain types that rarely do, and then there are the truly ambiguous types, like tripping, that sometimes get called and sometimes don’t. Is it a foul? I’ve seen it called and not called—it’s up to the refs’ discretion to determine whether it is or not. It would have been controversial either way.

That’s just the nature of basketball—lots of contact is allowed, but too much results in a foul call. The only way to rectify that ambiguity would be to say that either almost all contact is a foul, or that almost all contact is legal (like hockey or football). Otherwise, there’s always going to be a gray area where we argue after the fact.

By the way, it appeared to me that Varejao absolutely did not foul Dwight Howard on that lob inbounds—if anything Howard fouled Varejao. Varejao played great positional defense on Howard to prevent him from getting an easy run at a lob. Howard knew he didn’t have good position, and the lob pass was slightly off-target, so he hooked Varejao on the way down to get tangled up, hoping for a bail out call.

The foul called on Pietrus Because " King James" ran into him was atrocious and ridiculous. If you can justify this call, maybe you had a very bad angle ( I have HD, and it was obvious this was a superstar bullshit call) or you were drunk , or your a Cavs fan…or all of the above. But thats it.

Varaclowns foul on Howard was much tougher. Dwight put himself in a bad position to finish the lob ( he was like, almost behind the backboard) so i can see how this was not called.

No mention has been made of the obvious offensive foul LBJ put on Peitrus.
In the 4th quarter, LBJ was driving left on Pietrus, who prompty cut the lane off. James then pivoted to the right, and BLATANTLY hit MIchael in the face with his left elbow,HARD. Michael Pietrus went down. It was obvious to me that Lebrons intent was to punish Michaels face, rather than put up a legitimate shot attempt. James only got called for a regular offensive foul. This should have been at least a flagrant in my book…..

Yikes. I think I have to go against all the comments here so far lol.

I thought it was a very valid call. Lebron turned on the afterburner and Pietrus couldn’t keep up and was slow in moving his legs out of the way and on slow-mo from top view, you can clearly see his feet tripping up Lebron. I think this is a more valid call than say somebody chesting the ball-driver from the side and creating incidental contact which to somebody like Lebron is not even felt.

On Varajao, he played really poor on switching on the possession just before that but I thought his ball denial on Dwight was really good on the last play and clean. If anybody can be called for a foul on that, it would be Dwight hooking Varajao twice with his arms and flailing around expecting a call. I didn’t see Varajao do anything smart or clever there to get away with anything really other than doggedly stay between Dwight and the ball. I think given a second chance Dwight could have easily maneuvered around him, but he shot himself in the foot by doing the hooking of the elbows into Varajao.

Yes. That outfit makes you look fat.

No, really… size doesn’t matter.

You weren’t exactly . . . planned.

No, you can hardly see that bald spot.

(And I will personally slap anyone who mentions the M word in relation to my comment).

I never did like your meatloaf.

Yes, it’s your baby.

Your birthing hips are so sexy.

Well, I guess we know who’s capable of honesty and who isn’t!

I like them because they’re yours, not because of their size.

No, I really do think you’re smart. And a great driver too.

Y’all are a passel o’ liars.

Anybody see Jalen Rose last night? He actually called out the ref’s saying they had to stop calling fouls on Howard when he is straight up and the offensive player runs into him. I agree. Way to be Mr. Rose.