NBA getting technical with technicals
May 26 was a big day for the Magic Nation. Superman (Dwight Howard) soared over The King (LeBron James), leaving bards to sing songs about the greatness that was game four of the Eastern Conference finals. But even as the confetti fell after the King’s last-ditch attempt to stab kryptonite into the heart of Superman and the Magic’s hopes and dreams of reaching the finals fell short, a sense of anxiety and worry permeated through Amway Arena.
Dwight Howard received his 6th technical foul.
In the NBA playoffs, once a player reaches seven technical fouls, he is suspended for one game. The play for which Howard was assessed the ‘T’ was absurd and testament to the NBA’s terrible officiating tendencies displayed this post-season. The only thing the Magic could hope for after the game was for the NBA gods to show mercy and rectify the mistake made in yet another horribly officiated game.
May 27: Mercy was served up on a silver platter. The NBA, yet again, rescinded another technical foul in these 2009 playoffs. This wasn’t the first, and likely won’t be the last, major overruling of a bad officiating call. In a set of playoff games that have gone horribly wrong for David Stern and his hopes of a Kobe-LeBron final match, there was a break in communication between the office and the officials.
The officials seem to be skewing their calls for the superstar match-up, while the NBA is waging a PR campaign.
Reminds me of watching one of the C-SPAN congressional debates.
Rob @ June 4, 2009