Phx-Suns.Net

I'm watching Spurs/Rockets Game 2 right now, but I'm on DVR and a bit behind the live feed. Will poke my head in at halftime.

Spurs hit hard in this one. Rockets kept fighting back until they finally got worn down in the fourth. Great series. Bad break for Spurs with Parker going down. He was looking rejuvenated before that.

Glad the Spurs didn't lose Game 2; if they had, the series would have been effectively over, and that's no fun. But they are still relying too much on old washed up players like Parker, Ginobili, and Gasol. This playoffs is really exposing their frailty. I still think Houston takes this series, though in my start-of-the-playoffs predictions I took the Spurs out of sheer respect for Pop and Kawhi.

The Spurs did to the Rockets what they used to do to us. Focus on the one star, and let the rest of the team score. Harden made only 3(!) baskets. The rest of the team actually scored very well, combining to shoot over 50%. But they couldn't get it done without their star.

Love seeing the smart teams make these adjustments from game to game. Pop had a great plan to stop the Rockets, and it mostly worked. Now we wait to see what Mike D does to respond.

Dang. "Report: Spurs expect Tony Parker will need season-ending surgery"

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/repor ... g-surgery/

End of Parker's Career? He's 34. Hate to see a guy go out like this (even a Spur), but this is his second injury of the season. Fingers crossed that it's not that bad.

So there is a lot of talk about this play over on the nba reddit page.



The consensus over there is that it shouldn't be called a foul.

I just don't see how it couldn't be a foul. If you try to preemptively fight over a screen you are going to be creating contact. Mills wasn't some innocent bystander just standing there with his hands up. He rushes up into Harden. People are twisting it like if you call that foul then Harden is unguardable. Do they honestly believe it should be legal to push the man with the ball away from the screen? If you are going to try and jump the screen don't be surprised when the contact you create is called a foul.

What do you guys think?

I think it comes down to who gets there first. If mills gets over the screen before harden goes around it, how is it a foul on mills? At that point harden is creating the contact. If that's a foul on mills, how are you actually supposed to defend that?

Split T wrote:I think it comes down to who gets there first. If mills gets over the screen before harden goes around it, how is it a foul on mills? At that point harden is creating the contact. If that's a foul on mills, how are you actually supposed to defend that?

It is the same as any charge/block call, right? If you are standing your ground, not sliding, and got there first, and Harden initiates the contact, not a foul. If you are sliding into him and he puts up a shot, foul.

I don't think that's a foul. A screen involves contact by nature, and it's contact initiated by the offense.

Indy wrote:

Split T wrote:I think it comes down to who gets there first. If mills gets over the screen before harden goes around it, how is it a foul on mills? At that point harden is creating the contact. If that's a foul on mills, how are you actually supposed to defend that?

It is the same as any charge/block call, right? If you are standing your ground, not sliding, and got their first, and Harden initiates the contact, not a foul. If you are sliding into him and he puts up a shot, foul.

Yes, I guess you just imagine Nene wasn't there. Would it have been a foul? I think mills played pretty good defense and was in good position. He was sliding, but harden was moving laterally as well, I think mills was perfectly within legal defending position.

Split T wrote:

Indy wrote:

Split T wrote:I think it comes down to who gets there first. If mills gets over the screen before harden goes around it, how is it a foul on mills? At that point harden is creating the contact. If that's a foul on mills, how are you actually supposed to defend that?

It is the same as any charge/block call, right? If you are standing your ground, not sliding, and got their first, and Harden initiates the contact, not a foul. If you are sliding into him and he puts up a shot, foul.

Yes, I guess you just imagine Nene wasn't there. Would it have been a foul? I think mills played pretty good defense and was in good position. He was sliding, but harden was moving laterally as well, I think mills was perfectly within legal defending position.

Hi feet were not set and he was still sliding. I agree it isn't a foul if he isn't shooting, but that is something Harden (and Bledsoe) are really good at: Tricking guys into thinking they are going to blow by them before jacking up a shot.

Even if that is a foul, shooting it is not.

Indy wrote:

Split T wrote:

Indy wrote:

Split T wrote:I think it comes down to who gets there first. If mills gets over the screen before harden goes around it, how is it a foul on mills? At that point harden is creating the contact. If that's a foul on mills, how are you actually supposed to defend that?

It is the same as any charge/block call, right? If you are standing your ground, not sliding, and got their first, and Harden initiates the contact, not a foul. If you are sliding into him and he puts up a shot, foul.

Yes, I guess you just imagine Nene wasn't there. Would it have been a foul? I think mills played pretty good defense and was in good position. He was sliding, but harden was moving laterally as well, I think mills was perfectly within legal defending position.

Hi feet were not set and he was still sliding. I agree it isn't a foul if he isn't shooting, but that is something Harden (and Bledsoe) are really good at: Tricking guys into thinking they are going to blow by them before jacking up a shot.

His feet don't have to be set, he's allowed to slide. If he's sliding laterally and staying in front of Harden, harden can't just go through him.

O_Gardino wrote:I don't think that's a foul. A screen involves contact by nature, and it's contact initiated by the offense.

A screen is not what Mills is doing to Harden. Nene is screening Mills, which does allow contact. What Mills is doing isn't allowed while Harden is shooting.

Hermen wrote:Even if that is a foul, shooting it is not.

It is in today's NBA

Split T wrote:

Indy wrote:

Split T wrote:

Indy wrote:

Split T wrote:I think it comes down to who gets there first. If mills gets over the screen before harden goes around it, how is it a foul on mills? At that point harden is creating the contact. If that's a foul on mills, how are you actually supposed to defend that?

It is the same as any charge/block call, right? If you are standing your ground, not sliding, and got there first, and Harden initiates the contact, not a foul. If you are sliding into him and he puts up a shot, foul.

Yes, I guess you just imagine Nene wasn't there. Would it have been a foul? I think mills played pretty good defense and was in good position. He was sliding, but harden was moving laterally as well, I think mills was perfectly within legal defending position.

Hi feet were not set and he was still sliding. I agree it isn't a foul if he isn't shooting, but that is something Harden (and Bledsoe) are really good at: Tricking guys into thinking they are going to blow by them before jacking up a shot.

His feet don't have to be set, he's allowed to slide. If he's sliding laterally and staying in front of Harden, harden can't just go through him.

I don't think that is how refs are calling the foul nowadays. If you touch a player while they are shooting, they call a foul. Even if that shooter initiates the contact (as long as it is a normal shooting motion).

Indy wrote:

Split T wrote:

Indy wrote:

Split T wrote:

Indy wrote: It is the same as any charge/block call, right? If you are standing your ground, not sliding, and got there first, and Harden initiates the contact, not a foul. If you are sliding into him and he puts up a shot, foul.

Yes, I guess you just imagine Nene wasn't there. Would it have been a foul? I think mills played pretty good defense and was in good position. He was sliding, but harden was moving laterally as well, I think mills was perfectly within legal defending position.

Hi feet were not set and he was still sliding. I agree it isn't a foul if he isn't shooting, but that is something Harden (and Bledsoe) are really good at: Tricking guys into thinking they are going to blow by them before jacking up a shot.

His feet don't have to be set, he's allowed to slide. If he's sliding laterally and staying in front of Harden, harden can't just go through him.

I don't think that is how refs are calling the foul nowadays. If you touch a player while they are shooting, they call a foul. Even if that shooter initiates the contact (as long as it is a normal shooting motion).

Ya I get that. Calls like this happen almost every game. This one just stands out because it was a playoff game and mills literally had his hands up, which was actually a little misleading because the contact was body contact.

I guess I'd just prefer these plays to be non calls in the future.