I just finished watching one of the most obvious conspiracies in the history of professional sports on full display, as the Dallas Mavericks somehow came back from a 9 point deficit with 3 minutes left to defeat the Golden State Warriors, final score 118-112.
I watched the game with Bob, a big-time Mavs fan, who was wearing his Mavs cap and 2006 NBA Western Conference Champion Mavs T-Shirt in desperation, since his team needed to win to avoid one of the biggest upsets in basketball history. The referees failed to call a foul on any of the Mavs at any point after 5 minutes were left in the game. They didn't call an obvious foul on a 3-point shot attempt when Mavs star Dirk Nowitzky slapped the hand of a Warriors player. The shot would have given Golden State a 2 point lead with about a minute left. Instead, the refs called a phantom foul on the Warriors best player, Baron Davis. The inexplicable foul call knocked Davis out of the game when the difference was 1 point and less than a minute remained on the clock.
In Bob's estimation, the Warriors "got jobbed."
So, what else is new? The NBA has been jobbing teams all year. They extend playoff series to seven games whenever possible, by any means necessary to keep the ticket sales rolling in. The officiating in the NBA is terrible, as I've said before, and it's bad for the sport, bad for the fans, and most of all it's bad for America.
And to pour even more fuel on the burning embers that are all that remains of the NBA's credibility, according to a new study out of Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania, the officiating isn't just conspiratory, it's also racist. Screw this league.
Oh, by the way, Go Pistons!
