The league does not know when to leave well enough alone... neither does JVG

True, Fish. I think that if we had at least one guy really committed to winning like JVG did, I would have more hope. True that he left us and all that stuff, but you can't deny how much this guy works to win, no matter what he has to work with. Here, his team wasn't the best one and still he managed to take us to another level. We might not have had the best players, but the way he prepared them, they always seemed to have a chance at winning.

Miss those days when we seemed to outwork the other team to win. Now, what can we say?...

Jeff burned himself out,and he lost hope with his fundamentally inept roster at the time.

He has a problem with T-mac, whom is a world of talent no doubt, but has not the heart or soul of a true champ. The out come of playoff games can be on one small play, like letting a player sneak in from behind, or not trusting your fellow mates enough.

Jeff has been challenged as he has not a great point, nor anyting left a PF. ANd he has had a ton of personal changes.

IN all he has done a very good job and is a premier coach dispite his faults.

Jeff Van Gundy after being told that if he doesn't win he's going to have to go work for Isiah Thomas and James Dolan.

Will do. Tony Hawk's signature on pieces of wood has practically bankrupted me!

Van Gundy isn't problem ... refs are
Author: Kevin Hench / FOXSports.com

OK, David Stern, you made your point.

You don't want NBA coaches talking publicly about the terrible officiating in the NBA. You don't want NBA coaches protecting their sources on inside information about the terrible officiating in the NBA. You don't want hardworking, passionate, decent men coaching in the NBA if they are going to be so impolitic as to point out the terrible officiating in the NBA.
Now, do you have any plans to actually do anything about the terrible officiating in the NBA?

If Jeff Van Gundy can be fined $100,000 for suggesting that he was tipped off by an NBA ref that the league was going to be "looking harder at Yao" in the playoffs — which may very well be true — then what does Mr. Stern propose to do about the unconscionable sixth foul called on Tim Duncan in last night's overtime against Denver?

With two minutes gone in OT, Carmelo Anthony slipped and fell — in the same spot that Andre Miller slipped earlier, by the way — and so the whistle blew. Why? Because the whistle always blows. (Unless it absolutely should, in which case it is often swallowed.) And when the whistle blows, everything stops. And everyone looks at the official who only then realizes the gravity of the situation. He has to call SOMETHING.

In this case, the official, having assumed a foul must have been committed, then had to look for a perpetrator and found only Duncan in the vicinity. Sorry. You're gone. Replays showed what viewers and broadcasters suspected: Anthony slipped. So this ref not only blew a call at a critical moment of a critical game, but he tagged a superstar with his sixth foul.

So what will his fine be? How about five hundred bucks? Perhaps a one-game suspension? Don't hold your breath. Lucky for Stern and his beleaguered officials, the Spurs won going away in overtime in what TNT's Charles Barkley called "one of the worst-officiated games I've seen in my 20 years associated with the NBA."

But Van Gundy's Rockets weren't lucky enough to survive the worst call of the night. Or rather, the worst non-call, which — horror of horrors — happened with Commissioner Stern in attendance.

With Houston making a run to close within three in the final minute, Rockets guard Jon Barry secured a defensive rebound under the basket. Since Barry himself was practically on the baseline, it's safe to assume that any defender that swooped in under his left elbow would be out of bounds. So when Michael Finley reached in from the baseline side of Barry and poked the ball free, Bennett Salvatore, Joe DeRosa or Tony Brothers would have to blow his whistle, right?

Right?

Nope. Like the rest of us, Salvatore and company just looked on doing nothing as the ball bounced to Jerry Stackhouse, who was tripped by Barry and awarded two crucial free throws.

According to Van Gundy, Salvatore claimed Finley had indeed been inbounds when he reached in and touched the ball. Wow.

Won't Mr. Salvatore be surprised when he sees the replay. Was Finley's right foot inbounds and his left foot on the line? No. Was Finley's left foot out of bounds and his right foot on the line? No. Were both of Finley's feet completely freakin' out of bounds? YESSSSSSS!!!

So what will the sanctions be against Salvatore's crew for contributing mightily to the Rockets' 103-100 loss? The usual. Nothing.

Antoine Walker can get suspended for making contact with an official — in what had been the worst-officiated game of the playoffs prior to Spurs-Nuggets last night — and Van Gundy can be fined 100 large for divulging certain details of a private conversation and then not giving up his friend, but when will NBA officials be publicly held to account for doing a poor job?

Stern's answer seems to be to come down hard on the complainers and hope it will distract the fans from the larger problem. But he's missing the solution.

Replay. Replay, replay, replay, a thousand times replay!

If it's good enough to see if a shot was released in time or if a toe was on the line, why not to see if a player was inbounds when he made contact with the ball?

Both of Monday night's horrible calls could have been overturned by replay. Give coaches two challenges per game or per half, or one per game, but give them something. Anything to avoid officials deciding games. If throwing the red flag has already been taken, maybe they could roll a red-white-and-blue ball onto the court to signify a challenge.

Do you think Bennett Salvatore wants to feel like a jackass when he watches that replay and realizes not only did his crew blow the call but that he erroneously defended the non-call to the losing coach? Of course not.

On a play like Finley reaching in from out of bounds, a ref would happily overturn his own ruling and award the ball to the aggrieved team.

Same with those pesky block/charge calls when the refs are always guessing as to whether the defender's heels have cleared the circle under the basket. How many hundreds of times during the regular season does the replay reveal an official's error on this call? Sometimes the defender gets called for a block when his heels are hovering just above the circle, and sometimes the penetrator gets called for a charge when the defender's heels are on the line. It's an impossible call to make with any certainty when massive bodies are flying at high speeds.

So in the pressure cooker of the playoffs, let's just acknowledge that refs make mistakes that television cameras can rectify and use the technology to take some of the heat off the officials.

There's a reason so many calls are missed in the NBA — it's an almost impossible game to officiate. If you've ever been courtside when the combustible mixture of freakish giants and blazing sprinters (and freakish giant, blazing sprinters) all collide in pursuit of a rebound, you know it's simply impossible to have a perfect night as an NBA ref.

So why not help the refs, the coaches and the fans? NBA games don't run that long. There's time for a handful of challenges. Just to get the calls right.

Or you can threaten to run Jeff Van Gundy, one of the genuine good guys in the league, out of the game. It's your choice, David Stern.


Kevin Hench is supervising producer of The Sports List on Fox Sports Net.


[Edited by - minsheartsreezy on 05/03/2005 18:11:46]

It just keeps getting whackier :

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/basketball/nba/specials/playoffs/2005/05/03/bc.bkn.vangundy.fine.ap/index.html

'I just admire him'
Furniture store owner wants to pay Van Gundy's fine


HOUSTON (AP) -- First, Houston Rockets center Yao Ming offered to pick up half of coach Jeff Van Gundy's $100,000 fine from the NBA.

Now, Gallery Furniture store owner Jim McIngvale says he would like to pay the fine the NBA gave Van Gundy after the coach's accusation that officials are targeting Yao this postseason.

"I would be willing to pay the $100,000 fine that the NBA levied against Mr. Van Gundy because I just admire him for standing up for his employees," McIngvale told Houston television station KRIV on Tuesday.

McIngvale said he knows some will laugh at his offer and see it as nothing but a publicity stunt.

"I've got the $100,000 and I'm ready to pay it. I like coach Van Gundy because he does the right thing whether it's popular or not. I'm ready to pay it because he stood up for employees. I think it's great."

Van Gundy told the station he wouldn't comment until speaking to McIngvale.

McIngvale, who also owns the Westside Tennis Club, said if the NBA had a problem with his offer, then he'd just ask Van Gundy to make an appearance at his store and pay him the $100,000.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Is it me or is the NBA a really facist organization.

You can't speak out. Referee's had an issue last year I don't remember what it was though. Players are being suspended for entire seasons for doing dumb things. This guy is worse than the federal government. Then he goes a step further and says if Van Gundy keeps saying this he will not be working in the NBA. I think i officially hate David Stern's fat a.ss right now.