Trailing 93-91 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final with the Lakers, San Antonio’s Brent Barry (23 points, 5 rebounds) collected an inbounds pass with a few seconds remaining. Despite being mugged by Derek Fisher after a pump fake, Barry failed to draw a foul. Spurs In No-Flop Shocker.
For instance, had Manu been in this situation, the contact from Fisher would’ve been enough to propel his body to San Marcos. Instead, Barry put the ball on the floor, didn’t get what could’ve easily been 3 foul shots (thank you, huge Spurs fan, Joey Crawford) and San Antonio’s reign looks just about over.
(UPDATE : Pop says Crawford got it right. Tim Duncan claims there was zero chance of Barry getting the call and his teammate “did the right thing” in trying to drive around Fisher. Barry refused to bitch about the call but looked genuinely stunned when Craig Sager suggested the play “could’ve been a career defining moment.” No one does non-emotive quite like the Spurs.)
With Robert Horry on the floor, why would you let anybody else shoot it?!? Plus, he’s Brent Barry.
Horry imbounded the ball which was very dumb coaching by Popovich in that spot.
It was the right call in the sense that there seems to be an unwritten moratorium on foul calls for shots at the buzzer. On one hand, I like the “let them play” approach but shouldn’t it be consistent with the rest the 47:58, when butterfly kisses are called for fouls? It seems more worthy of NBA off-season discussion than trying to write guidelines for judging the intent to flop, etc.
Horry hasn’t been hitting anything all playoffs, or all year, for that matter.
My favorite thing about all of this is the Laker fans who are saying “you just don’t call that foul in the final seconds of a conference finals game.” Beacause I’m sure, if the situation was reversed, and the Lakers were down by two and Kobe pump faked and drew contact from Bowen and got no call they’d be saying the exact same thing.
Bad calls abound in playoff games in every sport. Everyone knows it was a bad call just as it’s a bad non-call whenever Ginobili flops and the ref blows the whistle. There will be bad calls that affect the Lakers, the Celtics, and yes even the boring-ass Sperms. We should all be thanking the refs for not letting those ennui inducing sons of bitches past this round. I have to give the Semen credit for not bellyaching (as Kobe and Phil Jackson undoubtably would) and making excuses. The Spunk should’ve been going for a 2-point basket anyway. Blame the manager for drawing up that pile of garbage. If I was a ref that would cross my mind: why put Brent Barry on the line for 3 giving him a chance to win it with free throws when he was basically throwing up a Hail Mary? I’m just shocked that the NBA is letting anybody touch anybody else; I’m ok with guys getting knocked down, clothselined, kicked in the nads…it’s the playoffs.