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<blockquote data-quote="John Roberts" data-source="post: 30893" data-attributes="member: 126">Re: NBA Playoffs: Dallas editionNot to quibble with your version of events, but i watched that game too...&nbsp; The apparent adjustment to me was OK&#039;s James Harden fouling out with something like 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter.&nbsp; The Mavs went on something like a 15-2 run after that and continued that momentum to win in overtime. The Mavs play was epic before Harden fouled out too, but it wasn&#039;t enough and they were on their way to losing by 10+ points because of OK dominating in the paint and out rebounding them. Before Harden fouled out the thunder were taking over 70% of their shots inside 15&#039; and hitting over 50%. After he fouled out, they only tried 12% inside 15&#039; and made 0%. I am not trying to make out Harden (a bench player) as some kind of star, but he sure appeared to be pivotal in that one game&#039;s change in fortune, or that is one monumental coincidence. The referees get partial credit for influencing outcome with foul calls, not that I accuse them of intentional manipulation. They have an even greater impact on the east coast series since they are more defensive minded, lower scoring games, so a few point swing is harder to overcome. Dirk deserves all the accolades he gets, he is a monster offensive player and a 7 footer who can dribble. Jason Kidd is good for an old guard (late 30&#039;s), and Marion had a big game, but it may take more than that to win the whole enchilada. This is their year to win if they are ever going to do it. After last night I expect OK to be demoralized, while they shouldn&#039;t be, they had the Mavs on the ropes for almost the entire game. Unfortunately not the part that matters, the very end.&nbsp; The ability to close out games is one of the things experienced teams learn how to do, but coming back like that from 15 down with only 5 mins to play in a pivotal playoff game is extremely rare (if ever). JR</blockquote>

[QUOTE="John Roberts, post: 30893, member: 126"] Re: NBA Playoffs: Dallas edition Not to quibble with your version of events, but i watched that game too... The apparent adjustment to me was OK's James Harden fouling out with something like 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter. The Mavs went on something like a 15-2 run after that and continued that momentum to win in overtime. The Mavs play was epic before Harden fouled out too, but it wasn't enough and they were on their way to losing by 10+ points because of OK dominating in the paint and out rebounding them. Before Harden fouled out the thunder were taking over 70% of their shots inside 15' and hitting over 50%. After he fouled out, they only tried 12% inside 15' and made 0%. I am not trying to make out Harden (a bench player) as some kind of star, but he sure appeared to be pivotal in that one game's change in fortune, or that is one monumental coincidence. The referees get partial credit for influencing outcome with foul calls, not that I accuse them of intentional manipulation. They have an even greater impact on the east coast series since they are more defensive minded, lower scoring games, so a few point swing is harder to overcome. Dirk deserves all the accolades he gets, he is a monster offensive player and a 7 footer who can dribble. Jason Kidd is good for an old guard (late 30's), and Marion had a big game, but it may take more than that to win the whole enchilada. This is their year to win if they are ever going to do it. After last night I expect OK to be demoralized, while they shouldn't be, they had the Mavs on the ropes for almost the entire game. Unfortunately not the part that matters, the very end. The ability to close out games is one of the things experienced teams learn how to do, but coming back like that from 15 down with only 5 mins to play in a pivotal playoff game is extremely rare (if ever). JR [/QUOTE]

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