Unless you live in San Antonio, you are breathing a sigh of relief that Joey Crawford decided to exact his revenge on the Spurs for getting him suspended last year for the Tim Duncan laughing incident.
First let's make one thing clear it was a foul. No matter how you spin it, there is no question that Derek Fisher fouled Brent Barry (you can watch it here).
The problem lies in the age old question: why is a foul in the 1st quarter not a foul in the 4th quarter? Also why is a foul a foul if it is Manu taking that hit as opposed to Brent Barry?
The NBA is suffering from a perception problem in the fact that people think games are rigged. Are they rigged? Probably not, but is it fair to bring up that officials may have some bias against certain players and/or teams? It is most definitely is. The fact that there are different sets of rules in the 1st quarter and than the 4th quarter will always lead to speculation that something is going on behind the scenes.
It shouldn't matter if it is Brent Barry getting jumped on or Michael Jordan famously pushing off on Byron Russell, you have to be consistent. The fact that the refs all night were giving the Spurs calls on fouls with very less contact only underlies the problem with the system that is currently in place. Maybe "Racist" Stern likes it this way. You know the saying, bad publicity is better than no publicity and everyone today is talking about the game, but in my opinion for all the wrong reasons.
The Lakers outplayed the Spurs and if not for some boneheaded decisions by them down the stretch as well as some favorable calls that went the Spurs way (the goaltending that shouldn't have been and the non-shot clock reset that should have been reset), the game would not have come down to that last play. With that being said, though, regardless of what happened in the past, you still have to make the proper call. The proper call was Barry on the line for two shots to tie the game.
Just like majority of you, I am happy the call didn't get made because honestly who wants to see the Spurs in the Finals again. But in the end, you can just add this to the long list of reasons why the NBA's popularity is declining quicker than George Bush's popularity.
