The only reason it was scrutinized was cause the Spurs challenged the call on Wemby. If Wemby wasn’t called for a foul there would be no call.

I hate this exact scenario so much. Justice for Auburn!!

By the letter of the law, it’s is out of bounds on whoever touches it last so that makes sense. But I don’t see what rule makes it so the ref HAS to call that foul. NBA calls in general are kind of mystical to me, everything is quite convention based

kat initially hooked him for like 1 second, then allowed wemby to get his arm out (who chose to keep it there lol)

the play was reviewed and called a foul because of the initial hooking action, its a completely fine call, just sold by wemby

game threads aren’t normally a hive for rational thought

two fouls on the critical player is literally the tim donaghy special—the easiest way to put your thumb on the scale that won’t show up if you’re only looking at the box score (as the knicks shot more free throws). the two quick fouls has happened in ³⁄₄ games so far, first with hart then bridges and now KAT, and each time it has taken NY out of rhythm. last game they struggled to generate offense without KAT and let wemby get in more without KAT’s defense, g3 they needed another shooter that they didn’t have and mikal was on the bench with two early fouls, etc.

the early fouls have a HUMONGOUS outsized impact on the game and no amount of box score watching can tell you that. they can take critical players out of a game at critical moments and allow teams to run roughshod without their opponent’s answer.

if refs decide to call ultra soft calls on Wemby in one of them games. It’s so over.

lol - if this happens I’ll buy a Wemby jersey. Ain’t no way that’s Adam Silver’s directive after what we’ve seen.

The Knicks weren’t supposed to go up 2-0 in San Antonio. A split at worst. I don’t think the league has a vested interest in San Antonio winning specifically, as some folks believe, but with as much as the league is in bed with sports betting it’s really hard to believe they don’t want every series to go 7 games if they can somehow manufacture it. The lack of a fine or even a retroactive technical foul for the Naz Reid elbow and then not even a technical being assessed after the game for the shove in Brunson’s head – not even a flagrant 1! - is absolutely ridiculous.

I hope the Knicks somehow blow their doors off in Game 5.

This, also that flagrant Wemby picked up will most certainly change how he plays now as well given that he’s one away from a suspension.

People always tend to compare FTs when you can change the dynamic of the game drastically by getting a key player into foul trouble early. Even then Knicks keep winning despite the odds which shows how resilient that team is.

Most teams in that situation would have given up down that many points and have planned to bounce back the next game.

Although it’s a fixture of the game and this will never happen, I’d like to see them change the rule on fouling out. There are ways to punish excessive fouls other than just locking a player out of the game entirely. Like say if you already have 5 fouls, then every foul after that is a technical free throw plus whatever the normal consequence would be. That way you can keep the player in as much as you want, but there’s a strong penalty for going over 5 fouls that you’ll have to take into account in your game plan as a coach.

Of course that’s just one simple idea and there are any number of ways the rule could be changed. But it’s just way too fickle to put the whole flow of a game at the mercy of a bad call here and there. I don’t think anyone wants or enjoys games being decided that way.

Lmao. They won’t

He’s cleaned it up a ton compared to early in his career, but yeah. I think his whistle is genuinely one of the worst in the league which doesn’t help, but he also puts the refs in a position to call a lot.

He just wants it so bad and I think that leads him to doing too much. One more big fella.

Wemby is also doing the cheap holding and hooking. When everyone is doing that shit it isn’t actually cheap, it’s just how the game is.

Edit: To add on, the refs are letting these players maul each other most of the game and then calling the most soft fouls possible. Look at how many flagrant fouls were uncalled. Look at how much pulling and shoving and jersey grabbing BOTH teams are doing. Look at how many times Kat is getting grabbed and thrown out of bounds. Look how Alvarado can just hold onto Wemby’s knees.

Now look at the fouls the refs called on Kat to start the game. Then look at the fouls the refs called against the Spurs at the start of the 3rd. Some crazy soft calls.

I’m with you in terms of the earlier playoffs but man I can’t for these Finals. The refs have put a hit out on KAT, literally 5+ phantom fouls across 3 games, 2 games (2&4) derailed as a result - if anything they’re leaning on his history to make it somehow justifiable.

But actually either way you’re right, still gotta learn that the refs will try to use him to fuck over the Knicks so at least clean up for that.

Tbf with that one in particular KAT did nothing wrong and it was all Wemby lol

People mistakenly think it’s bias against the Knicks, but I’m sure it’s not. It’s referees putting their thumbs on the scale so the NBA gets a longer Finals series.

If the Spurs were up 2-1 last night, they’d have been getting soft calls against them at the worst possible time.

It’s been a starter a game since the league put their finger on the scale in G2. I understand the Spurs play more downhill and the Knicks are fouling a ton but having both the first and second as soft as they were on KAT inside 2 min into the game is suspect. SAS have had Castle in early foul trouble in 1 game. Knicks have dealt with it in 3 straight games.

You of all people should understand that we’re focused on the analytics

They’re up 3-1 in the Finals so hard to fault them right now but yeah, I feel like to win this series, they will have to go to KAT more in the 4Q.

I really feel like it should be Brunson if its that close. The pressure he specifically has to shoulder along with the attention he gets make it feel like if him and OG have a close game Brunson might edge it out. Although, the defense OGs plays is a huge factor as well so really you cant go wrong either way.

That was a special case because the best player on the floor that year was on the losing team.

Or curry for their first title. I’m a strong believer that curry deserves 4 fmvps

Analytically Bam scored 101 and beat Wilt

Who is best hypothetically?

I see no lies either. KAT and Naz are the obvious choices.

He’s in my top 20

Duncan
Bird
Kareem
Magic
Olajuwon
Ben Wallace
Pau Gasol
Garnett
BAM
Kobe Bryant

The most annoying part is that a lot of the KAT whistle is technically correct, it’s just that he’s the ONLY dude who regularly gets called for that stuff.

Yup 😂