Did The Three Blind Mice Miss Two Goaltending Calls?
Here is Dwight Howard blatantly goaltending an attempted dunk by Pau Gasol in Game 2 that apparently none of the officials saw...
Now here is Gasol returning the favor on the last second shot by Courtney Alexander at the end of the game. As I suspected, down in Orlando Lee's shot is a big story. The goaltending rule clearly states that "for goaltending to occur, the ball, in the judgment of the official, must have a chance to score."
Since Lee's shot likely "didn't have a chance to score" I'm going to issue a verdict that a goaltending call should not have been made. However, I don't think any of the three blind mice would have blown their whistles and made the call even if the ball had a chance to go in. It's just the way it is in the NBA...and David Stern seems to like it that way.
Categories: NBA
Tags: Dwight Howard David Stern Referrees Lakers Pau Gasol Magic Goaltending
The Gasol non-call was a terrific call by the officials. It would have been easy to call goaltending on Gasol, but based on the letter of the rule, it was definitely not goaltending. The "oop"
part of the alley-oop was downright awful and had no chance to score. For all the grief the refs have taken in the playoffs, they deserve a great deal of credit for that non-call.
However, the non-call on the Dwight Howard goaltending was an embarrassment. He stuck his hand through the basket and blocked the shot. How can the refs not see the net moving up, through and above the hoop on that play? The Association blames many of the refs mistakes on the fast-paced nature of the game, but this particular call (as shown by the picture you posted in your blog) is inexplicable. This call was worse than the Ed Hochuli call.
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JDub (not to be confused with J-Bug),
As I mentioned in the post, I really think all three officials would have swallowed their whisles even if the shot had a legitimate chance to go in. I guess we'll never know what would have happened, but I can't give the zebras a "great deal" of credit for the non-call.
However, I agree with you on the Howard goaltending call though. All three officials were within twenty-five feet of the basket and none of them saw Howard's hand go through the basket? Really? How is that possible?
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