FanPost

A Series of Despair(ity)?



Wow. The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma Thunder series is becoming one of the better series of these 2016 NBA playoffs.

Or Is It?

Such drama. Such emotion. Such intensity. What more could one expect between these two teams with talent (if combined) would walk away with the title with probably little or no competition from the rest of the field.

That being said, there is something unfolding in this series that can not be denied from even the most level headed observer. I mean...with all the ups and downs of a playoff series looking more like a Roman Empire gladiator game of the best man left standing and who will deliver that fatal blow, in the near background and surrounding each second of play are these people called officials of the game.

Making it clear now. This is not a spewing diatribe of foul taste which is placing blame or excuse as to the outcomes of these games. But there seems to be a suspicious correlation to the games played thus far in this series between foul disparity and the winning and losing team.

With the exception of game one where the shooting fouls called were an almost even Spurs 18 and Thunder 21, the Spurs rolled to a 32 point win. So far, the best playoff performance by the Spurs in these playoffs and probably the worse by the Thunder. No glaring difference or question that the fouls called helped change the course or outcome of the game. Spurs 124 Thunder 92

Then game 2 happened. You know...that infamous game 2 and the chaos that ensued on the inbound pass in the last seconds to which prompted this Superfluous Poppycock segment. Spurs 97 Thunder 98

Game 3. Spurs on the road. Thunder stealing home court advantage. A game that ended up being closer than what it should have been if the Spurs connected at a higher percentage their 34 attempts at the charity stripe. Thunder, by comparison, had a measly 20 attempts in that game. Weird again in the since the road team had more attempts. Spurs 100 Thunder 96

Game 4. To what should have been known by even the most optimistic Spur fan, was going to be a game the Thunder were going to play in desperation mode. OKC was the beneficiary of 29 shooting foul attempts to the Spurs 16. This being more believable being OKC was the home court team. But is Tim Duncan so depleted in ability that he rightfully deserved to be called so quick and often that it possibly changed the course of second half play? Spurs 97 Thunder 111

All this said, I am not one who thinks a conspiracy lies beneath the actions or inaction's of the officials of these games. But what I see is an inconsistent pattern, to which their decisions, depending on the individual in that black and white uniform conduct their business... control to some extent...the outcome of a game.

Provided is a poll which by no means will alter the course as to what has happened or insure what is to come. But it would be interesting to see the responses and suggestions concerning the rest of this series and any series after.

This is fan-created content on PoundingtheRock.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff at Pounding the Rock.