More on the NBA Rewarding Dirty Play
Not really a counter-point to Chumley's fine post yesterday on the NBA's decision to try and ruin Phoenix's chances in their series against the Spurs, but instead a slightly different musing. If the Spurs hadn't been allowed, via Bruce Bowen and the rest of the Spurs' cheap shot artistry, to get that series to that point in terms of chippiness with their dirty play, culminating in Robert Horry's cowardly mugging of Steve Nash, then maybe Stoudemire and Diaw don't take the apparent ill-fated three steps toward the mugging. Maybe if that series were officiated in a way that didn't allow the less-talented Spurs to mug the Suns in any way possible (clean AND groin-kicking, attempt to shred achilles dirty), we are not at this juncture.
As it is, we are left with the impression that San Antonio can't hang with Phoenix except by doing the little (and bigger) dirty things, and the NBA is perfectly fine with that. It's a fine line between "hard" defense" and dirty "defense" and, as usual, the Spurs are on the wrong side of that line.
Nice message, David Stern (via Stu Jackson).
Thanks for the playoff interlude. Back to baseball for the rest of us.
