If you're asking me to spot the lie then the process of finding it would take longer than the one Sixers trusted on their long, winding road back to relevance. The truth is, NBA referees - due to both the relative impossibility of their job and their inconsistency in doing it - do fucking suck. The following travel going uncalled and the subsequent social media defense of that swallowed whistle spoke to that louder than even the most boisterous and unapologetic of NBA star ever could...
In fact, I think that what Joel Embiid said is so cut and dry that I don't feel as though the proverbial whistle needs to continue being blown at those that use theirs so haphazardly. That's why I'd rather focus on another epidemic that's running rampant in the NBA, and that's players actively placing their fate in the hands of those that have made no bones about fucking sucking...
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By current standards, the play above almost certainly should have been called a foul against Al Horford. I just have no problem with it being judged differently in crunch time, because the current standards are what have some of most talented athletes on the planet trying to bang bodies as opposed to trying to get buckets with the game on the line. For whatever it's worth, which was apparently not two foul shots, the arm of the Celtics' big man was in place before a more skilled opponent swung up under it knowing full well that putting the ball in the basket was his second priority. Point being, if the calling of fouls is inherently fickle then it's probably best to stop relying on them. That's pretty much the same philosophy I use in avoiding Spirit Airlines. The free throw line should be harder to get to late in games, and it's unbelievably easy for an athletic specimen the likes of Joel Embiid to create contact on unorthodox moves in which attempting an actual shot is just an added bonus. Awful officiating is undeniably hurting the NBA's product. However, so is the Hardenization of offenses that are too damn talented to be dependent on an aspect of the game that's as inconsistent as post-Mexican bowel movements in big situations. If Joel Embiid thinks the new referees fucking suck because they let the game be decided by the players then the old school referees would have had him cowering in the corner. Therefore, the Sixers' biggest weapon probably should have just stopped talking after taking some responsibility for being completely cuffed by Al Horford for 75% of a game that his team lost by one possession in which he didn't happen to get bailed out...
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