Buck Harvey: The hacks: Officially a real loss

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Mark Cuban will take it. He loves winning, and afterward he stood after the game, talking to Dallas fans.<br>
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The Mavericks' owner smiled, too, when asked how he liked the officiating.<br>
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"I'll only say this," he said, going into Rasheed mode. "Both teams played hard."<br>
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Grab a Dairy Queen apron and join his crew. Cuban has toned down his crusade against bad refs, perhaps because even he doesn't like paying fines with nothing in return.<br>
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But then came Monday night, when Cuban didn't have to say a thing.<br>
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The Spurs aren't in as much trouble as the game is.<br>
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Cuban wondered before Game 1 how this series would sell. No Shaq, no Kobe, no one from outside of Texas. Would anyone even care in Houston?<br>
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Cuban got his answer sometime in the first half. Then those TVs located in the other 49 states who were tuned in began looking for something that didn't include whistles.<br>
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This wasn't a Phil Jackson needs-to-whine game. This was a David Stern needs-to-fire-somebody game. They messed with Texas, bringing in lottery refs to work the Western Conference finals.<br>
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It wasn't hard to predict. Whereas in Game 6 in Los Angeles the best refs showed, among them Joey Crawford, the mediocre were here Monday.<br>
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The veteran was a man named Bennett Salvatore, and those who watched the 76ers earlier in the playoffs might have heard a critique of his ability.<br>
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"Bennett," Larry Brown screamed loud enough for TNT to broadcast, "I've been watching the playoffs, and you've screwed up every game you've worked!"<br>
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If Brown watched Monday: The record remains intact.<br>
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Then there's Ron Garretson. He was once an apparent victim, a half-dozen years ago, when Nick Van Exel went after him in a fit of rage.<br>
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Now we understand Van Exel a little better.<br>
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The Mavericks deserved the win. You make 49 of 50 free throws, and you deserve anything.<br>
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It's an outrageous stat, and Avery Johnson, never a great free-throw shooter himself, kidded afterward about Eduardo Najera being the guy who missed the one.<br>
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"Because of that," joked AJ, "I'm putting the second team through an extra workout tomorrow at practice."<br>
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The Mavericks could laugh, especially at the officials. They thought, for example, the refs missed a basic part of the game. Dallas, trying to stop Duncan, stayed in a semi-permanent stance that cried for a few defensive three-second calls.<br>
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Duncan noted the same. "The entire third and fourth quarters," he said, "they put guys in the middle of the lane in a semi-double-team without actually double-teaming."<br>
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But it's not that the officials leaned against the Spurs. They, after all, shot 48 free throws themselves.<br>
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It was how. A Tim Duncan charge with a Maverick too low under the rim. A Dirk Nowitzki offensive foul with Tony Parker bailing.<br>
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One look at the benches said as much. As early as the second quarter everyone was unhappy with everything, and then Don Nelson added to the mess. In a three-hour game, did he need to change Hack-a-Shaq to Bump-a-Bowen?<br>
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These officials were doing well not to call Bruce Bowen for the foul. And though Nelson's strategy didn't change the game much, there was a reason Gregg Popovich couldn't counter.<br>
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Manu Ginobili, naturally, was in foul trouble at the time and couldn't replace Bowen.<br>
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The refs didn't blow the Spurs' 18-point lead, and the refs didn't lose the home-court advantage.<br>
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The Spurs are responsible for that, and David Robinson admitted as much. "We got caught up in some of the calls a little bit, and that hurt our momentum," he said. "That's when we stopped moving the ball and started standing around."<br>
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He's right.<br>
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But it's also understandable for anyone to get caught up in these calls. The way it went Monday, it won't be a long series. It already is one.<br>
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And in the final seconds, when Duncan went inside with Nowitzki and Najera, shooting for the lead, Duncan did so with one thought.<br>
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In a game with 72 fouls, with various records set for both free throws and yawn, Duncan expected to hear one more whistle.<br>
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That was his mistake.<br>
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On this night, nothing made sense. <p>-Brian</p><i></i>

I shouldn't have read that article-- it only ticked me off even more. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :p --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":p"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>
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I really, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>really</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> hope the entire series won't be called like this. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:brown;font-family:Arial;font-size:xx-small;">"We got our behinds kicked and we got spit on. But that's OK, we ain't dead. We'll be back."<br>
<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>--Malik Rose</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></p><i></i>

Bump-a-Bowen .... that's a good one.<br>
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I couldn't believe they called a foul while Bruce was standing out of bounds!!! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :eek --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eek.gif ALT=":eek"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> I didn't know you could do that!<br>
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Bruce inbounded the ball and whoever-was-guarding-him waited for him to step on the court so he could foul, but Bruce stayed out of bounds. 'Whoever' finally stepped out of bounds to committ the foul AND IT WAS CALLED!!!<br>
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!?!?!?!?! <p></p><i></i>

I thought that when you foul somebody while still out of bounds you shoot a free throw and get the ball. Thats what I get for thinking. Had he inbounded it already? <p></p><i></i>

Yes, Bruce had inbounded already or the ball wouldn't have been in play. I do know that you can't foul if play hasn't started yet. At least I think I know that. After yesterday's game, I'm not as sure about what rules I know. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/image/emoticons_classic/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>