The entire fallout and controversial finish to the Mavericks/Nuggets Game 3 on Saturday night could have easily been avoided. Follow me now. Up by two and with a foul to give, the Mavericks were intentionally trying to foul the Nuggets in order to keep them from attempting a three-point shot that would have won the game. Problem is, if you’re trying to foul someone … you need to foul them! It’s not about the officials missing a call nor Rick Carlisle saying that he yelled and yelled at Wright to commit the foul, it’s about what Antoine Wright didn’t do to Carmelo Anthony. Check out the clip in this clear video:
All I saw there was a wimpy little flailing hand go Melo’s way. You notice how Wright just completely lets Melo go past him doing one of those hands up “I didn’t touch him” gestures? That’s how players act when they don’t want to be called for a foul! Same exact thing happened in the Memphis/Kansas final minute two years ago. Calipari wanted his team to foul but they did the exact same thing, the hands up deal. No matter what Mark Cuban or Rick Carlisle argue about the refs blowing it, one thing is clear to me: Antoine Wright is in the wrong because he didn’t properly foul Melo, furthermore, he gave up and just let Melo have an open shot before the whistle blew. Had he fouled properly, everything would have been solved from the start and we could be looking at a 2-1 series in that case. By the way, did you see the Cuban slap to the TV cameraman afterwards? Man is he funny. Get outta my fezz!!!
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This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 and is filed under Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
I’m as big an NBA conspiracy/fixed guy as there is. I think Dallas, because of their owner, is the most
screwed over team in the league. But in this instance, Wright screwed up, not the official. I don’t understand
why the NBA apologized nor what all the controversy is about.
Yeah, I don’t get why the NBA apologized either. That did just make it worse.
Excellent show last week by the way, I haven’t been able to listen much lately but caught it last week. Should call in again sometime. By the way
Karen Kay told me she’s coming to you guys in probably the AM slot. Right on!
Rick Carlisle could have helped his cause by talking to the officials during the preceding timeout and telling them his team was going to commit the intentional foul. I have heard that a lot of coaches do this.
Other than that, I totally agree with you that Wright was wrong. I am still amazed that he succumbed to that kneejerk reaction of pulling his arms back and raising them as if he didn’t commit a foul. He also needed to make contact with Anthony’s right arm, not his body.