Kleeman's Last Word

As first Celtics-Lakers Finals match-up in 21 years begins, NBA faces its poor creation

David Stern will watch tonight's NBA Finals opener between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers with a wry smirk. The league's two most storied franchises-responsible for 1/3 of its titles-will attempt to renew a rivalry that shot pro basketball from a followed sport to a national phenomenon.

This dream match-up of Stern's cannot hurt rising ratings and there will be stars aplenty--on the court and in the stands. However, as two franchises that a year ago seemed so far from a championship square off tonight at TD Banknorth Garden, it's hard to shake the feeling that something isn't right.

Stern will wonder how the 11th NBA Finals meeting between these two teams happened and he should. No playoff season has exposed the game's flaws more than this one. If the San Antonio Spurs had somehow won the Western Conference Championship, would I be griping? No.

Stern appreciates what the dynastic Spurs mean to his league but they are not the team he wants playing in the championship round. The idea of the San Antonio Sterns is the dumbest one since, well, ever.

Fans of the two huge market teams rejoiced when they knew Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce would face off, Kevin Garnett would play in his first Finals game and Pau Gasol transformed from floundering star in Memphis to second option in glitzy Los Angeles.

Many fans who support any of the other 28 teams cried foul and Stern did nothing about it. His front office has squandered many chances to alleviate rampant conspiracy theories and now he will pay a price.

Why admit that one half of this two-team joust is a sham? For Stern, the status quo this year will do just fine.

STERN IGNORES A CRITICAL RULE
Some delusional Phoenix Suns fans still believe the Amare Stoudemire/Boris Diaw suspensions in game 5 of the conference semifinals robbed them of a championship they were destined to win.

If those two key players were on the court and not at home, there is no doubt the Suns would have won that game and the series against the eventual champion Spurs.

Never mind that the Spurs ousting the Suns in five games this year shredded the last bits of that asinine argument. According to fans of the purple and orange, "damnit, we won 17 games in a row twice that season and have a really good white guy. That means we are champions."

The NBA's head disciplinarian Stu Jackson suspended the two players for leaving the bench area during a scuffle that league officials thought merited the label "altercation." Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash into the scorers table and the two-time MVP showed his Oscar-worthy acting.

The Spurs statistical dominance over the Suns in the Tim Duncan era (save Phoenix winning this year's season series 3-1) all but proves the guys in black were the better team. Logic says the Spurs win game 5 with or without Stoudemire and Diaw on the court.

Stern should know that some Suns fans do not respond well to logic. When a clear-as-nails rule became not-so-clear, Stern allowed his league to ignore the gray from the black and white. Stoudemire and Diaw did not throw any punches or join any fights and Jackson knew they were likely not going to do so. Jackson's reasoning behind the unmerited suspensions was "rules are rules."

Take one good look at the NBA and laugh. Since when?

What did Stern or Jackson offer devastated Suns fans who believed their team was duped by the league's alleged bias toward the Spurs? Did the two men revisit the rule and determine that it needed an update?

You know the answers. When the league had an opportunity to merely fine Stoudemire and Diaw and let them play, it opened an unnecessary door and offered a surly response for doing so.

The San Antonio Sterns? Some Suns fans seem to think so.

WHEN A FOUL IS NOT A FOUL
After a controversial play in game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, the NBA knew where it needed not to go and went there anyway.

Yes, Spurs fans, Joey Crawford should have whistled Derek Fisher for a foul on Brent Barry's three point attempt. Scratch that: "it appears" Crawford should have. The two sentence statement released the next day was a bird-brained move on the NBA's part.

Barry and coach Gregg Popovich had already moved on from the no-call and preferred to discuss the many game-changing opportunities the Spurs botched. The Lakers out-hustled the defending champions for most of three quarters and earned a tough win that did not seem headed for a possible game-winner with less than two minutes to go.

Replays appear to show that a questioned goaltending call on Lamar Odom was a goaltend and that Derek Fisher's last second shot DID NOT hit the rim. Three controversial calls, even when they happen in the last two minutes, do not decide a game. The Spurs allowed themselves many chances to grab the game and blew every one of them.

If the NBA knows this, why did they taint the Lakers win by shitting all over it with an empty statement? In admitting the critical missed foul call, the NBA also admitted that a foul is a foul only if subjective officiating says so.

Refs have never whistled the game according to the rulebook and that many analysts and sportswriters said Barry should have sold the call or "that call is not made in that situation" fuels the fire.

Stern's job is to ensure that referees call every minute of every game "exactly by the rule book." If Crawford swallowed his whistle to avoid deciding the game, he did it by not blowing it.

If the NBA would rather not eat this pickle, it can fix the problem by deciding what a foul is and calling it every time it happens.

Does this mean LeBron James should have attempted two free throws in game three of the 2007 Finals after Bruce Bowen intentionally fouled him before a last second trey attempt? You bet.
NBA refs have consistently not called fouls in these end-of-game situations and that's a problem.

Stern further injured the problem his league has created by announcing last week that any player who flops will be punished with a hefty fine next season. Great. Thanks.

We wanted an assurance that such a no-call would never happen again and we get an unenforceable rule that may prevent players from earning legitimate fouls.

The NBA avoided addressing the obscene foul problem by letting Shaquille O' Neal barrel over smaller defenders for most of his career - and he is not the only superstar case. It has done little since then, and Stern expects us to believe his ship sports the best referee crew in the world.

Some ships people want you to believe are great hit icebergs and sink.

NO OFFICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Stern has never asked his refs to do media availability after games - why? If fans are chanting "ref you suck" after three apparent missed calls, why not let the old men stick up for themselves in a post game interview.

He asks them to closely monitor a frenetic game and then does not allow them to tell fans of a team or players why they made certain calls.

Joey Crawford has a long and dreary history with Tim Duncan's Spurs. His appearance in game 5 of the New Orleans series and game 4 of the conference finals did not determine the outcome.

The Hornets and Lakers know they did not need help from the refs to win those contests. Some Spurs fans don't believe that.

Why did the NBA go there? Crawford should not be working a Spurs playoff game given his rocky history with the team. Stern has more than enough referees at his disposal to not use Crawford in a San Antonio game.

The "Barry was fouled" statement does little to tame the theory that the NBA and Joey Crawford have it out for the Spurs.

Suns and Spurs fans both thinking the league hates their team? The only two teams with fans not saying that are in the Finals.

WHEN A TRADE IS A FIRE SALE

What Danny Ainge did with a fledgling, 24-win Boston Celtics team is to be admired. He pulled off two legitimate and fair trades to surround unhappy franchise star Paul Pierce with sharpshooter Ray Allen and 11-time All-Star Kevin Garnett.

To get Allen, Ainge sent a promising young Jeff Green plus Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to Seattle. The Sonics later decided that Szczerbiak and West were not part of their future plans but it appears they may be on to something with the athletic Green. Ainge wanted Garnett to join the fold but had no idea if his scheme would work.

After months of talk show rumors and trade suggestions, Ainge and Minnesota Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale approved a historic 7-for-1 deal to ship Garnett to Boston. Terrific, young power forward Al Jefferson keyed the trade and his monster numbers suggest the Timberwolves got something substantial in return for the franchise star who kept season ticket sales afloat for 10 plus seasons.

Once Boston fitted its two newest stars in Celtics uniforms, Ainge convinced two tremendous role players in James Posey and Eddie House to sign for less money. He managed to keep his favorite project point guard Rajon Rondo and find enough big men to support Garnett.

It is hard to quibble with the Celtics whirlwind off-season turnaround. They won a league best 66 games and played some of the best defense in the last decade.

How the Lakers got here should trouble Stern. If his Lakers-Celtics erection subsides, maybe he will see the deluge of wrong he let happen right under his nose.

Derek Fisher, one of sports' five most honorable athletes and dads, signed with the team on his own accord. He needed to live in a city with a hospital that could treat his infant daughter's eye cancer. The Utah Jazz management graciously terminated his contract. Fisher knew one thing about his new-old team: he won three championships with its crabby star and needed to work some of his locker room magic.

Maybe Fisher is that good a peacemaker, or maybe a fire sale says all to much about the match-up Stern wants to see.

Seven teams completed deadline deals but one of them was fishy from the start.

The Suns, Spurs, Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks all engaged in significant roster upgrades. Mike Bibby helped the Hawks give the Celtics a frightening 7-game series. The Spurs owe the first round victory against the Suns to Kurt Thomas' veteran presence and post defense.

The difference between what these teams did and what the Lakers did? The Mavs sent "half of their roster" to New Jersey for an aging point guard who coach Avery Johnson decided behind closed doors "could no longer play." The Suns sent their best perimeter defender and versatile forward to a miserable Miami team to land a flat-footed, obscene foul shooter who proved more harmful than helpful against the playoff Spurs.

These six teams and their trade partners-New Orleans Hornets, Seattle Supersonics, Sacramento Kings, New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat-exchanged pieces of value. They gave up value to get get value. That is the definition of a fair NBA barter.

I still imagine that Chris Wallace-Mitch Kupchak phone conversation:

Mitch: So, Chris, how about giving me Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown.
Chris: Sure, just send me a few draft picks, who probably won't amount to jack squat, and we'll call it a deal.

The Memphis Grizzlies fans, even if they are few, deserve better than their cost-cutting general manager sending a franchise player and All-Star to Stern's favorite Western Conference team for the worst #1 pick in NBA history. Popovich joked that he would have vetoed such a deal if a trade evaluation committee existed. One should and technically, it already does.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement is supposed to stop this nonsense. Stern let the crooked Gasol trade pass through a loophole because the finances worked.
What would be a fair trade for Gasol? Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar and a draft pick or two. That might be a start.

What does this trade and quick Laker resurgence say to NBA fans? That when Kobe Bryant whines like a baby crapping his diaper and slams his teammates, he gets what he wants. We wouldn't dare let Kobe, with his best-player-in-the-league status and ridiculous salary, not play for a champion, would we?

Bryant was right when he said the Lakers reached this unlikely point through hard work. Few players in sports possess Bryant's dangerous competitive fire and his redevelopment has Los Angeles in another Finals.

They got here through hard work. *And a sour deal.

NBA SHOULD LEARN ITS LESSON

The NBA's two best teams are in the Finals. The Lakers tout a great team and the Celtics embody the team's together-as-one motto "Ubuntu."

But what has Stern done for those who smell raw fish every time Gasol plays in a Laker uniform? Spurs fans who look long and hard at Brent Barry and then 2006 and wonder if the NBA had the final word about a San Antonio repeat? Suns fans who seem stuck in a 2007 hip-check aftermath for eternity?
The people who just want refs to call a foul when a player commits one?

You know the answers. And when Stern sits with his arms folded and that wry grin, wondering how we got here, it will be the greatest mockery of them all.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 10:46 AM