As I drove home on the slippery streets of my Oregon town last night, I listened to the NBA Finals on the radio. As you tend to do when multi-tasking, I was drifting in-and-out of connection with the game at hand. Suddenly, Mike Tirico’s voice slammed into my ear, the tone forbearing and ominous. Mike was worried.
After a timeout, Udonis Haslem, Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson were all entertaining each other near halfcourt. Benches cleared and ghosts of Game 5 of the 2007 Western Conference Semifinals between the Spurs and the Suns began to haunt the social media sphere. Posts on major sports sites were rampantly speculating the amount of suspensions — if any — were to be carried out by the NBA. Within minutes, the NBA’s Executive Vice President of Operations Stu Jackson had told media outlets that a statement would be prepared by the end of the game.
That statement? That it would be assessed “after the game.” Thrilling.
Luckily, for the NBA and the sporting world, the Dallas Mavericks put an end to the Finals last night by sending the Heatles home. Talk immediately turned to Dirk’s mid-finale exit, Mark Cuban’s post-game interview and Dan Gilbert’s Twitter feed. Less than 24-hours later, not a soul in the basketball community has even mentioned what kind of bomb we just dodged by not having a Game 7 in one of the greatest seasons in the NBA to-date.
There have been times in NBA history in which rulings have ultimately changed the outcome of the NBA championship. The ’00 and ’02 Western Conference Finals (all games apply when Shaq is involved), Game 5 of the ’07 Western Conference Semifinals, Game 5 of the ’94 Eastern Conference Finals, Tim Duncan laughing at a joke — the list goes on (OK, maybe not that last one).
With the Bill Russell Trophy firmly within the grasp of The Big German, there’s probably little sense or sentiment regarding the short scuffle in Game 6 of the 2011 NBA Finals. No one on the Mavericks is even thinking about what life could have been like for them if suspensions were doled out and Game 7 was missing the likes of Tyson Chandler or DeShawn Stevenson. The present is no time to second-guess the past, but for a moment in the second quarter last night, the collective air in the NBA office was sucked out, with the sound of David Stern screaming obscenities in the background. We’ll never have to see a Finals in which the good will of the fans was spoiled because of one ill-advised rule.
This is a good thing, to be sure. But what it signifies is a necessity for rule-changes that could be partnered into the talks of the new CBA this summer. While I’d like to keep kickoffs as part of the game, idiotic rules like bench violations need to be addressed before we end up with the more negative outcome that could have reared its head last night. As Mike Tirico explained it, if suspensions were given last night and all parties from all teams were involved there is a Sesame Street-like rule in place to give suspensions based on the letter the player’s last name starts with. I’m guessing this is why any NBA team still employs Yi Jianlian. Clearly, one of these things is not like the other.
The NBA has done many things to add to the sensationalism of the game. The three-point line. The shot clock. The 8-second rule. Hiring Tim Donaghy. What needs to be fixed are the uber-astringent rules that have been in place in a post-‘Malice in the Palace’ NBA. With the character of young players in the league, I find myself hard-pressed to believe that the new leadership at the player level would let anything like what happened in Michigan. Last night we all wiped our brow, and somewhere Robert Horry smiled.
Thank goodness Steve Nash was in Vancouver to watch hockey last night. I don’t think he could have handled it.
The newest edition to The Hoop Doctors writing staff, Dane Carbaugh is the editor and lead writer of the popular new basketball blog Hardcourt Hoops. Dane is an accomplished author and blogger of both American politics and NBA basketball.
