Florida Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette provides weekly commentary for jacksonville.com This is his entry for Wednesday May 28.
The best part about Tuesday night's dramatic 93-91 victory by the Los Angeles Lakers over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Western Conference finals was how quickly the defending champion Spurs threw water on the postseason's biggest controversy.
Clearly, there was enough contact by the Lakers' Derek Fisher on San Antonio sharpshooter Brent Barry, who was 26 feet away from the basket with time running out, to warrant a foul call. Barry pump-faked, got Fisher up in the air and he landed akwardly on Barry's shoulder, which would have meant a two-shot foul because Barry didn't commit to a shot attempt.
Instead, official Joey Crawford let the play continue, which ended up with Barry's off-balance attempt clanging off the backboard. The way Barry initially threw up his arms in frustration while looking at Crawford, the feeling was the Spurs would soon be filling the airwaves with charges of "We wuz robbed."
But in the aftermath, with the Spurs now facing a 3-1 deficit, a beautiful thing happened. Spurs coach Greg Popovich did his part to defuse any controversy by saying he wouldn't have called a foul in that situation. Even Barry acknowledged afterwards that the game wasn't lost on a non-call, but on what transpired in the 48 minutes before it.
Isn't that what championship teams do? They hold themselves accountable. They don't take a game-ending moment, rip the official for a non-call, and blame someone else for why they're on the brink of elimination.
What made Popovich and Barry's post-game stance so admirable is the situation could have justified a foul being called because it was more than incidental contact. Fisher hit Barry fairly hard, but the Spurs understood that unless you're a superstar like Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan, you're probably not going to get the whistle in a critical, game-deciding moment like that.
The truth is, San Antonio didn't lose Game 4 because of what an official failed to do, but what the Spurs consistently failed to do: hit big shots. Every time the Spurs had a chance to take a lead, they couldn't hit the field goal that could have given the crowd at the AT&T Center a reason to provide the home team with a huge emotional lift.
Barry kept the Spurs in the game with a 23-point night, but Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Robert Horry and Bruce Bowen kept missing important shots that might have allowed San Antonio to seize control of the game instead of relying on a last-second whistle to rescue them.
The San Antonio Spurs' season is practically over because they must now win two games in Los Angeles to return to the NBA Finals. They had a chance to pull out a game they had no business winning, but they looked like a champion afterwards when the media gave them every opportunity to complain about a no-call.
Thankfully, the Spurs showed some class and sportsmanship by not whining. Sometimes, even after a crippling defeat, you can still come away looking like a champion.
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3 comments:
Its not surprising that this post was made at 10:55 this morning and no one has commented. In this day and age of the NBA it seems chest thumping and egotistical players are what America wants to see. Its not about the best team winning its about which team can bring in the most money. Unfortunately nobody cares that the Spurs are undeniably the team that young aspiring players should look up to in terms of sportsmanship. Instead they are drawn to the glitz and the glamour. It is no secret that David Stern is salivating over the thought of a Lakers and Celtics championship series. He's already counting the $$.
I totally agree that the Spurs quietly go where no others go. They go quietly because they are not on the radar for sleeping around, arrested for drug possession, making outlandish remarks about the league or Sterns, officials, and each other. They play professionally with grace. The big sports channels do not want to mention something as boring as the Spurs. They are always last on the news caps. Never have games rerun unless they loose, and for years have always been on the short end of the publicity. That's, OK. They still take their checks to the bank, just like Kobe.
All winners know U win w/or w/o the
whistle!Barry's pump-fake had one problem & that was his LEANING into
the space Fisher was entitled to u-der the rule of "Verticality".Had
Barry attempted a shot by going
straight up & contact had occur-ed,it would have negatively impacted the shot & probably resulted in a foul being called.Each player is entitled to
"up & down" space on both offense & defense.As to the money issue,we
live in a capitalistic society, where "greed is good"!
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