Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

[Steve_OS]

Man, I've seen quite a few replays on it, Mello should be fined for that one. Totally uncalled for. I'm surprised a fight didn't break out after that hard foul.

[sdrotar]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

Ginobili himself said in the post game conference that he thought it was simply a hard foul, not a cheap one.
Moreover, he said if he were in Anthony's place, he would've done the same thing.

C'mon, Steve-o, you're a Pistons fan from way back, and you're whining about this?

That's just playoff basketball, baby!

[Skerik]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

In his wildest dreams, Carmella wishes he had 1/10th of Manu's toughness and grit.

[Steve_OS]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

heh...

I know, I know... It did remind me of the Rodman/Laimbeer days, but Mello made it look so obvious. I'm sure Ginobilli will dunk on him soon enough.

[Scott]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

atleast he was fined..$7500....http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...ory?id=2051721

[sdrotar]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

Ginobili's a great player. I've always been a fan of his, and I was hoping the Nuggets could somehow pry him away when he visited as a free agent last summer.
He is quite the flopper, though. Can't blame him - refs lap that stuff up.

Carmelo's reputation around these boards, however, is simply comical.
I've covered the NBA for the biggest sports site on the web, and I've watched all but two games in Carmelo's career, including this game from 25 feet away.

He's not soft, he is learning quickly on the job, and he's even adapted well in this series. Since Lebron James was anointed king of the NBA, he's apparently needed a foil, and people have simply decided to make it Anthony. So be it. That's fine with me, because while James hasn't been able to lead his team (which had more All-Stars on it than Denver's zero) to the playoffs in the soft-bottomed East, Anthony's led Denver in scoring and taken them to the playoffs in the tougher West each year of his career. If everybody's so convinced that Anthony's an awful player, Denver will easily be able to keep him for his entire career, while LeBron bolts to New York, Los Angeles or Chicago when his contract expires. So, as a Colorado resident, keep hating "Melo" and make our lives easier.

All I know is this - Gregg Popovich has made stopping Carmelo Anthony their #1 defensive priority - not Martin, Camby or Miller. That means something. Folks on this site don't respect him, but opposing coaches sure as hell do. Anthony has been doubled every time he touches the ball, yet managed to score 19 of Denver's 78 points on Saturday.

Denver's an inferior team to the Spurs. That's no surprise, and they shouldn't be expected to win. If they had drawn any other team but Phoenix or San Antonio, they'd be almost a lock to move on, but they're not in the Suns/Spurs class yet. There's no shame in that. They haven't made life easy for the Spurs, either. They bombed out in Game 2, which was long overdue. However, they stole Game 1 with pure grit and guile, and fought tooth and nail in the Game 3 loss, a game they should have and would have won with better free throw shooting. They've put the fear of God into every single team in the league after the All-Star break, and with two first-round picks coming up and room to add a legitimate two-guard, Denver's (and Carmelo's) best days are yet to come - no matter what happens against the Spurs.

[Tha_Kid]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

I didnt understand Tolbert's bitchfest -- it looked like a good foul to me. Ginobili was bringing the ball up and Melo went for it. The fine is a joke, stu jackson has made the NBA soft...

[sdrotar]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

I didnt understand Tolbert's bitchfest -- it looked like a good foul to me. Ginobili was bringing the ball up and Melo went for it. The fine is a joke, stu jackson has made the NBA soft...

I think that the ejection and subsequent fine are fair, and I think they were both understandable given the point in time during the game when the foul occured.

That said, you'll often see worse fouls pretty frequently in the playoffs, but I think since because this was late in the game that had already been decided, and Denver had gotten a bad whistle all night (at one point in the third quarter, the refs had called 11 fouls on Denver to San Antonio's one), the refs decide to defuse the situation by booting Anthony just in case anything worse might happen. It was understandable.

I only hope that the officiating isn't quite as one-sided tonight. The Nuggets lost the game themselves with extremely poor foul shooting, but playing against the Spurs and the officials is "Mission:Impossible".
There's no question that the Spurs will get more calls - it's not right, but that's just how Stern and the NBA likes it, and everyone knows that coming in - but how Leon Wood and Scott Foster are calling games in the playoffs is beyond me. Putting them on the same crew is all but criminal.

[dbdynsty25]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

They've put the fear of God into every single team in the league after the All-Star break, and with two first-round picks coming up and room to add a legitimate two-guard, Denver's (and Carmelo's) best days are yet to come - no matter what happens against the Spurs.

I doubt the Suns had the fear of God...at least they didn't show it in their 3-0 record against the Nuggets after the all-star break.

Speaking of the Suns and hard fouls...has anyone seen the same player get taken out (and drawn flagrant fouls each time) than Shawn Marion? Dude was about to kill Dahntay Jones last night on the third and final flagrant that the Grizzlies will be able to commit.

[sdrotar]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

I doubt the Suns had the fear of God...at least they didn't show it in their 3-0 record against the Nuggets after the all-star break.

Speaking of the Suns and hard fouls...has anyone seen the same player get taken out (and drawn flagrant fouls each time) than Shawn Marion? Dude was about to kill Dahntay Jones last night on the third and final flagrant that the Grizzlies will be able to commit.

There's no question the Suns are better. I said that earlier.
However, in their three wins, they won one by five and another by nine. In those games, Camby was injured and did not play in the first, and Martin was injured and didn't play in the second. Phoenix didn't take them lightly - and they were wise not to do so.

If the Spurs would have had a healthy Duncan down the stretch, the Nuggets and Suns would have met in the first round, and scoreboards would have been shorting out around all the gym. Would've been fun.

[NINJAK2]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

Man, I've seen quite a few replays on it, Mello should be fined for that one. Totally uncalled for. I'm surprised a fight didn't break out after that hard foul.

I agree. K-Mart also got in a nice little elbow smash to Ginobli's back as well(right after Carm's hack). I have certainly seen worse acts commited in the NBA than that though.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

Ginobilli is one of the cheaper players in the league. The guy flops more than a fish out of water.

[sdrotar]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

Ginobilli is one of the cheaper players in the league. The guy flops more than a fish out of water.

Nah, Ginobili's not cheap. He's a great player who plays hard every minute on he's on the floor. Any team would love to have him.

But, yes - he flops. A lot. And with the arms flying and crazy hair going everywhere, it usually looks a lot worse than it really is.

[NYC_2K4]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

Blah Blah Blah!

Both you Suns & Thuggets fan need to come back to reality!

Reg season means nada come playoff time. The Rockets prove dit in their 2nd repeat season against us (Spurs) in the WCF series. We had a 3-1 or 4-0 record against them in the reg season & they beat us in the playoff's that Yr.

We proved it against your scrubby Suns in 2003, we lost the season series to you guys but beat ya in the 1st Rd series.

Coach Pop is known for not running much OFF plays in the final 2-3 wks on the reg season, as to not tip his hand against other teams before the playoffs, other coaches do the same.

Don't put much stock into reg seasons series records, Playoffs are a different monster.

Spurs will whip on the Thuggets & Suns & any one else!

[sdrotar]

Re: Sup w/ the Mello foul on Ginobilli??

Blah Blah Blah!

Both you Suns & Thuggets fan need to come back to reality!

Reg season means nada come playoff time. The Rockets prove dit in their 2nd repeat season against us (Spurs) in the WCF series. We had a 3-1 or 4-0 record against them in the reg season & they beat us in the playoff's that Yr.

We proved it against your scrubby Suns in 2003, we lost the season series to you guys but beat ya in the 1st Rd series.

Coach Pop is known for not running much OFF plays in the final 2-3 wks on the reg season, as to not tip his hand against other teams before the playoffs, other coaches do the same.

Don't put much stock into reg seasons series records, Playoffs are a different monster.

Spurs will whip on the Thuggets & Suns & any one else!

You know, not to come off like an *** or anything, but quite frankly - until you have my pedigree as a professional sports analyst from years of writing for ESPN and STATS, Inc., editing for CBSportsline and USA Today's Sports Weekly and appearing on satellite television in roundtable discussions, I'll keep my own counsel, thank you very much.

In the meanwhile, keep your shameless hucksterism and nonsensical rambling to yourself. The rest of us can appreciate some thoughtful discussion that way.

Thanks.