Greg Kite for Three!

Dwight Howard, the current Defensive Player of the Year (DPY), has fouled out of 3 of the last 5 games (60%). In 80 regular season games, he fouled out 5 times total (6%). I'd say that's a statistically relevant increase. Historically, earning the DPY award gets you a little respect from the officials. Go back and watch any playoff game on ESPN Classic featuring a reigning DPY and you'll see them get away with all but the most egregious fouls. At the very least, they are certainly not called for minimal contact. I wanted to see how the DPY were treated during the playoffs dating back to the 2000-2001 season. The DPY during that time frame were: Kevin Garnett, Ben Wallace, Ron Artest, Marcus Camby, and Dikembe Mutombo. During the previous 8 seasons those players played in a combined 139 playoff games. How many times did one of them get 6 fouls in a game? 3! Only 3! So the combined disqualifications of the DPY from 2000-2008 in playoff games is 3 times, which is how many times Dwight has been disqualified in the last 5 games! Why this sudden avalanche of fouls by Dwight? In the regular season series with Cleveland, Dwight averaged only 2.6 fouls per game, but suddenly he cannot stay on the court because of foul trouble. His free throw attempts per game are extremely close to his regular season averages. He shot 10.8 per game during the regular season and 10.2 per game against the Cavs. However, LeBron's free throw attempts have shown no such consistency. He shot only 9.4 free throws per game in the regular season (8.6 per game against the Magic), but suddenly in this series he is averaging an astounding 16.6 free throw attempts per game. Why has LeBron's free throw attempts nearly doubled per game against the Magic? For some reason, the officials seem determined to call every foul possible on Dwight. Perhaps they are sick of his constant complaining during the regular season and are teaching him a lesson, maybe they are just inadequate at their profession, or maybe they drank a little too much of the King James Kool-Aid. Whatever the reason, it's clear he is getting less respect than any other recent DPY.

Dwight Howard, the current Defensive Player of the Year (DPY), has fouled out of 3 of the last 5 games (60%). In 80 regular season games, he fouled out 5 times total (6%). I'd say that's a statistically relevant increase. Historically, earning the DPY award gets you a little respect from the officials. Go back and watch any playoff game on ESPN Classic featuring a reigning DPY and you'll see them get away with all but the most egregious fouls. At the very least, they are certainly not called for minimal contact. I wanted to see how the DPY were treated during the playoffs dating back to the 2000-2001 season. The DPY during that time frame were: Kevin Garnett, Ben Wallace, Ron Artest, Marcus Camby, and Dikembe Mutombo. During the previous 8 seasons those players played in a combined 139 playoff games. How many times did one of them get 6 fouls in a game? 3! Only 3! So the combined disqualifications of the DPY from 2000-2008 in playoff games is 3 times, which is how many times Dwight has been disqualified in the last 5 games! Why this sudden avalanche of fouls by Dwight? In the regular season series with Cleveland, Dwight averaged only 2.6 fouls per game, but suddenly he cannot stay on the court because of foul trouble. His free throw attempts per game are extremely close to his regular season averages. He shot 10.8 per game during the regular season and 10.2 per game against the Cavs. However, LeBron's free throw attempts have shown no such consistency. He shot only 9.4 free throws per game in the regular season (8.6 per game against the Magic), but suddenly in this series he is averaging an astounding 16.6 free throw attempts per game. Why has LeBron's free throw attempts nearly doubled per game against the Magic? For some reason, the officials seem determined to call every foul possible on Dwight. Perhaps they are sick of his constant complaining during the regular season and are teaching him a lesson, maybe they are just inadequate at their profession, or maybe they drank a little too much of the King James Kool-Aid. Whatever the reason, it's clear he is getting less respect than any other recent DPY.

No way we can win if they put Lebron on the line 20 times a game. Does anyone have the ability to take the video of every foul by Dwight in this series and put it on youtube. Of all the fouls I am confident in saying only about 1 a game were legitimate fouls. For example tonight, how is Dwight called for a push off foul when Wally is holding his arm with both hands? Lewis did what we wanted tonight and took the ball to the basket early and often, got hit almost every drive, but none of them were called fouls. If we have another game refed like the ones in this series I'm not sure how much longer I can watch the NBA.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/11783395 ****The Magic have earned a 2-1 series lead because they've out-hustled and out-played the Cavaliers but overall the team isn't marching to the Finals with exactly a lot of class. No, the Magic aren't nearly as bad the Bad Boys from the 1980s or the Oakland Raiders from, well, whenever, or any other team from any other sport with a reputation for nefariousness. Nevertheless, this team is starting to cross the line from gritty to dirty. If you can't see that then you're either Dwight Howard's cousin, a Magic fan or you don't know basketball.****

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/11783395 ****The Magic have earned a 2-1 series lead because they've out-hustled and out-played the Cavaliers but overall the team isn't marching to the Finals with exactly a lot of class. No, the Magic aren't nearly as bad the Bad Boys from the 1980s or the Oakland Raiders from, well, whenever, or any other team from any other sport with a reputation for nefariousness. Nevertheless, this team is starting to cross the line from gritty to dirty. If you can't see that then you're either Dwight Howard's cousin, a Magic fan or you don't know basketball.****

As our board blows up on the 'is it the refs fault' or 'do we just suck' debate, let's remember a few plays down the stretch. First, Shard pumped faked, got Baby in the air, got hit hard, and got not call. That is 2 points if they call it. Second, Hedo drives, and Perkins jumps into him, which is a clear foul, at least as much as the one they gave Marbury a few plays before, and Hedo gets no call. That is 2 points if they call it. Finally, Alston drives in the lane gets hit, no call, and Dwight gets fouled pretty obviously as two Celtic players grab him and he gets no call. Let's call that one point assume Rafer and Dwight would both miss a free throw. That is 5 points in the final few minutes of a game where we trailed by 1 with less than 10 seconds left. If our team throws up jump shots people complain we aren't driving, but if you drive and don't get fouls and they turn into fastbreaks the other way what are you supposed to do? Stan said it himself in the press conference, we just have to shoot jump shots from now on and leave the driving to the Celtics. Again, Dwight got 3 free throws. Nuff said.

We shot 12 free throws tonight....12. Dwight only got 3. Combine that with the Ray Allen non 3pter and the 'oh hey Doc complained we better change the call' shot clock violation we have all the proof necessary to prove the league gets what the league wants. I've never seen such an important call in a playoff game reversed like that, where NONE of the refs went running saying they saw it hit the rim before they conferenced. NONE of them saw what happened for sure and they guessed. Rewatch the game down the stretch and call after missed call went against the Magic, specifically Hedo getting nailed by Perkins (no foul) and Dwight being pushed and pulled on the Alston lob attempt (no foul). It's easy to say one team wanted it more, but if the refs are literally NOT MAKING ANY CALLS against Boston how can the Magic execute their offense?

Hey Stu, just one thing....PIETRUS WAS NOT MOVING - HE WAS STANDING STILL AND GOT LIT UP BY AN ELBOW. So you can run at someone and hit them with your elbow, as long as you do not swing the elbow. Just keep your elbow straight up and run down the court and hit every play you see, and there will not be a suspension. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRccOfaEnC8

Remember what is allowed in the playoffs without getting suspended: 1)Elbows throw at the neck of opposing players 2)Hitting an opposing player in the face with a closed fist that results in no more than 4 lost teeth 3)Throwing an opposing player into a scoreboard I suggest we insert Adonal Foyle into the lineup to accomplish all three of these actions.

Magic point guard Rafer Alston will be suspended for Game 3 on Friday night against the Boston Celtics, according to an NBA source. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.c...ded-for-game-3-.html

Magic point guard Rafer Alston will be suspended for Game 3 on Friday night against the Boston Celtics, according to an NBA source. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.c...ded-for-game-3-.html

Boy I sure do love NBA officiating. Dwight is being pushed and held on every rebound attempt and because it's away from the ball the officials aren't calling it. Secondly, since when is hand checking legal again? Whenever one of our players drives to the basket a Boston player is riding them like a subway and there are no calls. I think our guys go so frustrated by all the no-calls they are just jacking up threes now instead.

Magic vs. Celtics Blueprint: Magic take big lead-----Celtics foul on almost every play----refs don't call any fouls on Celtics, but call touch fouls on Magic sending Celtics to the free throw line----big lead disappears----Magic still win.

I love how whenever a Magic player drives to the basket a Sixer loads up and swings down on both arms and there is never a fouled called, and then that 'turnover' turns into a fast break for the Sixers. They have only called that play a foul once this series.

I would like someone to describe to me the difference between Dwight's elbow and Garnett's elbow last year again the Hawks. Not only did KG make contact with Zaza's neck/chin, he also made contact with a ref during the following altercation, but of course there was no suspension. My anger and frustration might be tempered a little if Rondo had also been handed a one game suspension. The incident was so innocuous (until the Sixers coach and TNT started up the fire) Matty and David, who always focus on the doom and gloom when possible, didn't even consider Dwight could be in trouble for Game 6 when the play happened. Samuel was tied up with Dwight, Dwight tried to free himself, and his elbow made contact. Maybe the NBA should fine the refs for not calling the foul on Sam when he was holding Dwight after he had pushed him in the back and then pushed him in his chest. Theo and Sam have been pushing Dwight on almost every play, only a few of which have been called, and Dwight has never reacted. Last night alone there were several plays were on fast breaks Sixers grabbed Dwight as he tried to run back to the basket to assume a defensive position and there was never a foul call. Sam was trying to do the same thing on the play where the elbow occurred and Dwight was only trying to free himself. There were several other plays where the foul was called on a Sixer, and then that player hit Dwight again after the whistle blew getting in a free shot. According to the 'rules' that should be an automatic technical foul, but of course it wasn't. We all remember when JJ hit Dunleavy in the face with an elbow, he was not ejected from the game when it happened, and oh hey guess what, he wasn't given a one game suspension in the next game. According to the NBA's logic I guess they made a HUGE mistake by not suspending him from a game. Furthermore, in every single NBA game there are elbows hitting people in the face and players are not always ejected, and they are rarely if ever given a game suspension the next day. Go all the way back to the Sixers/Lakers finals when Shaq hit Mutombo in the face with his elbow about 15 times; none of those elbows resulted in a suspension. The boys at TNT and ESPN act like once an elbow connects there is NO ROOM FOR INTERPRETATION, which is completely untrue. They are ignoring the fact Sam was holding onto Dwight when the elbow connected, and Dwight was trying to free himself, not elbow Sam in the head. The NBA suspended Dwight because TNT/ESPN made turned it into an 'event,' because that makes for good TV. Let's also not forget a Game 7 makes the networks a lot of money, but I'm sure the financially strapped NBA never even thought about that when they all but guaranteed a game 7 right? Congrats David Stern you have just done what Sports Illustrated didn't think possible - you removed the smile from Dwight Howard's face.