The Off Day: Nuts and Bolts

It’s an old cheer we used to do at Gardner-Webb:  “NUTS AND BOLTS!  NUTS AND BOLTS!  WE!…GOT!…..SCREWED!”  It took me a while my freshman year to figure out what my friends were saying then it clicked…slow on the uptake in those days.

Basically, if you’re a casual NBA fan that just wants to go watch a ball game, you want a game that’s close at the end, each team going for over 100 points, free of controversy, and full of awesome plays.  If you showed up last night at the Conseco Field House for the Charlotte Bobcats to play the Indiana Pacers, you got all that plus the controversy.  Anyone who watched that game, no matter who you root for, feels the game’s outcome was tainted.

It was a good comeback for the Bobcats.  Jumping out to an inital 8-0 lead, then letting the Pacers come back and take a lead of their own, only to come back to trail by only one to end the first quarter, the Bobcats were in it early.  The second quarter dragged on, it was kinda dreadful with 13 fouls in the quarter, blocked shots, traveling, 4 turnovers all told, lots of missed baskets for the Bobcats.  It allowed the Pacers to build on their lead and extend it to 10 at halftime, which they held throughout the third quarter.  But the fourth quarter….whooo….the Bobcats came alive!

Stephen Jackson had 13 of his 27 in that final period.  Hot three point shooting, Jackson hit 3, Najera hit one.  Gerald Henderson got to the line a good bit, Wallace was a beast on both ends.  It was really nice, really fun to watch, then in the middle of it, the Bobcats had Danny Granger trapped on the sideline with his back to the rest of his teammates, shot clock ticking away and suddenly,when it looks like he’s about ready to turn it over, 4 seconds left on the shot clock, the referee blows his whistle.  Everybody looked like “What just happened…?” Paul Silas said “No, no, no…what’s going on here?”  Officials talked it over and they just said “Sorry, inadvertent whistle, Pacers ball out of bounds.”  It completely let Granger off the hook and allowed the Pacers an out of bounds set-play which led to a shot, and a foul attempt which was missed, Indiana rebound and then another made basket.  A four point swing and killing the momentum.

No matter, the Bobcats had more steals and more baskets in them.  Finally, Stephen Jackson ties the ball game at 102-102.  Indiana comes back down, looks like they’re about to miss all their shots and finally McRoberts tips in a ball that was pretty much on the rim, but legal.  Gerald Wallace was fouled on the ensuing play, two shots to tie it up, he missed the first…welcome to the world of Gerald Wallace.  Indiana runs the clock all the way down, Collison jacks up a shot, the the “blocked shot” to end the game by Collison and the referees swallow their whistles.

It was an awesome comeback victory thwarted by officials, seemingly unable to do their jobs correctly.  Plain and simple.  It was slightly cathartic for me to spell it out like that but it doesn’t change the outcome.  The Bobcats now, in a situation spelled out all over the place yesterday, giving this game more heft than a simple Wednesday tilt, the Bobcats now find themselves out of the 8th spot, losing the head to head series with Indiana.  They now don’t have the tie-break with Indiana, Milwaukee or Philadelphia.  If they find themselves tied with any or all of them for that 8th spot, they’re out!

Now you can look at the game being decided by more than the final play.  The second quarter, the inability to close the gap any sooner than they did, hell you can point the finger directly at team captain and former All-Star Gerald Wallace’s inability to hit both free throws or at least the first of the two.  You might even think about the game early in Paul Silas’s tenure that Stephen Jackson dribbled around the top of the three point line to jack up a brick as time expired, when all that was needed was 2 to win or 1 to tie.  The same situation and the slow dribble up, followed by the acceptance of a three point attempt by Jackson could have cost things but it didn’t.  That wasn’t what caused the outcome.  It was all about what everyone with any sense of what a foul in the NBA is saw and knew to be a foul that was not called.

Ugly, tainted and unacceptable.  You know the league office will take a look and issue an apology or a statement but they can’t say “Yeah, and Jackson would have hit at least 1 of the free throws that was due so call it a tie.”  So it won’t change the outcome, it won’t change the head-to-head record, the overall record or any of it.  The Bobcats got screwed but their situation shouldn’t have been that close.

Speaking of the league office, they have amended a play, calling the Paul Pierce foul on Gerald Wallace, that almost caused another concussion, a flagrant 1.  It’s another example of the 3 guys in grey getting it wrong.  I hate saying things like that, it doesn’t make me feel better about the Bobcats and their season to call out referees.  This is the most subjective sport to officiate and pretty damn difficult and fast-paced to get every call on every play right.  A few things are incredibly blatant and it is more frustrating than you or I can know when it’s your job and your livelyhood on the line.  Last night, Boris Diaw and Nazr Mohammed both mentioned it on twitter.  Paul Silas didn’t say anything that could get him in trouble and didn’t complain or whine about it.  Even Stephen Jackson was mild-mannered about it saying simply “I’ll let you all look at it,” Jackson said of the last play, later adding, “Anything I’d say would be misinterpreted.”

Looking forward:  The Bobcats have a back to back, hosting New Jersey tomorrow night and traveling to Atlanta for a Saturday game.  New Jersey beat New Orleans last night, in overtime, they’re playing pretty well, respective to how they had been over the last couple years. The trade rumors have been put to rest and they are moving forward under a great coach who is a great motivator for a young team.  It won’t be just a push-over win for the ‘Cats.  The Hawks as mentioned yesterday, got slaughtered Tuesday night and they will be rested, not playing another game until this Saturday game vs the Bobcats.  So how will the ‘Cats respond?  Luckily the loss made me so angry, it must have ignited the team.  My concern is that we know how affected Stephen Jackson is by referees, the game last night could spread that into a negative across the organization or it could be a “win despite them.”  Hope it’s the latter!