Controversy from the 2006 NBA Finals
Officials have some of the toughest jobs in all of sports, and there is always an eye in the sky watching over their every call. Controversy abounds on every play, and Game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals has one of the more controversial plays in recent memory. It was a closely contested game between the Mavericks and Heat, with the Mavs leading by one with about 10 seconds remaining in overtime. Dwyane Wade catches the inbound, weaves his way through the Mavs defense, and gets fouled on his game-winning layup attempt. Two free throws, and the rest is history.
Henry Abbott over at TrueHoop has been running an interview series on his blog with the official responsible for that call - Bennett Salvatore. In the post about that play, Abbott raises two issues:
- Did Wade really get fouled on that play? and;
- Did Wade committ an offensive foul on Jason Terry earlier in the sequence?
The first issue is clearly - and I mean clearly - answered by a replay from the opposite angle (link to video). Dirk Nowitzki pushes Wade in the back, and that angle proves it without a doubt.
Earlier in the play, as Wade is trying to drive past Terry, Terry hits the deck. I don’t want to paraphrase, so here are Abbott’s words:
When I started rolling that video for Bennett Salvatore, I stopped it a few seconds, just before Jason Terry went sprawling to the floor. Frankly, that play, to me, looked exactly like Michael Jordan shoving Bryon Russell to the floor.
Are you for real? Sprawling? Jason Terry didn’t go “sprawling”, he didn’t “collapse”, and he sure as hell didn’t get fouled. If anything it looks like he flopped. Sure, Wade’s arm is extended, but Terry was well on his way down before that ever happened. I’ve watched that play in slow motion and at normal speed, and it’s not even close to Jordan’s push against Russell. Not even close.
I’m not even saying this as a Heat fan. I mean, I like Wade and all, but I bleed purple and gold and I couldn’t stand to see Shaq get another title that year. I’m watching that play as objectively as I can, and Dwyane did not commit an offensive foul there. He did, however, get fouled by Dirk, which is something I was surprised to see. I was in the camp that thought it was a phantom call.
