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Ex-ref agrees with Jazz fans: Jordan pushed off

Ha, now the NBA's own are ratting them out. Star treatment as been a problem for years. Now it is becoming the downfall of the league. It makes things to predictable. Michael and the Bulls were supposed to win and the refs encouraged that with specific calls. This past season, the Spurs were the team to beat from the start and no question they got the benefit of a lot of whistles. No parity = low ratings.

Ha, now the NBA's own are ratting them out. Star treatment as been a problem for years. Now it is becoming the downfall of the league. It makes things to predictable. Michael and the Bulls were supposed to win and the refs encouraged that with specific calls. This past season, the Spurs were the team to beat from the start and no question they got the benefit of a lot of whistles. No parity = low ratings.

This is one of the reasons I prefer to watch college ball. The refs might on occasion blow a call but I rarely feel like it's a setup.

Maybe now the NBA refs will start calling them as they see them. Superstar or not, a foul should be called a foul. I for one don't want them getting special treatment because of their supposed Superstar status. "Fixed calls" by referees guts the credibility right out of the game. If it gets any worse we might as well watch Professional Wrestling and believe the outcomes aren't rigged.

Folks, the Jordan play was NOT the big ripoff of that game. The perfectly legal trey from Eisley in the first half that was disallowed would have rendered the play irrelevant. I believe that they also allowed a questionable trey from Kerr with the shot clock expiring. There is a six point swing that somehow never comes up in discussing that game. Check the tape and see for yourself!

Maybe Larry can get that trophy out here now.

Cough, um, you mean '96-'97 right Linda? Long Memory is rigth about the Eisley three tha was called off and the Kerr three. I still have nightmares.

It was actually an Eisley three, and a Ron Harper runner in the lane that were the incorrect calls in terms of shot clock. 5 points that went the wrong way in a one point game. Not to mention the shove.

This is almost as bad as when Jordan faked the flu in 97! Plus before that shot that he made in game 6, I belive Malone was fouled when Jordan (see a pattern here) stripped him in the post. Funny this game is the number 1 finals moment on NBA TV, and was on last night. Lets just say it re-established an old grudge.

I love basketball but the NBA is a bad joke. Anyone who does not believe that superstars don't get preferential treatment in every single game by the refs has to be brain dead. It's Stern's marketing a product and there's no doubt that fans want to see the stars perform, even if it takes special treatment by the refs. It's not going to become like professional wrestling--it already is!

Greetings from Poland. I watched this game - it was late in the night in our time and I was sure I.m sleeping and it is a nightmar.

This is like reliving a bad dream. Every Jazz fan new that Jordan pushed off no doubt about it. The Jazz are always the underdogs. I wish the refs would call it as it is. It was clearly there turn the second time they got beat. they had the best record in the league. Malone the mvp, They led in the series but 3 men screwed it up with favortism.

We all know that we won't ever get the calls in Utah. That is why we need to be better than the other team and the refs...To be a fan and not under stand that is just painful.

Why not be honest here? The win by the Bulls should
come with an asterisk..or the Jazz should be named co
champions. The Jazz had the better team and won.
They are the Al Gore of the NBA, the real winners.

I agree with almost ALL 8 comments on this issue. What I would add (that I've shared with the NBA & D. Stern) is that if it were not for Jerry Sloan, Stockton & Malone over the years, I would have given up on the NBA years ago.
I've been an NBA fan for years (since before I had season tickets the two years the Sonics played the Bullets for the Championship). I remember Rick Welts as a young "go fer" type for the Sonics.
Question for D. Stern & the owners: Is the NBA a sports organization (with inflexible rules & regulations, including high value on "sportsmanship") . . . or is it an entertainment organization (with the accompanying flexibility/leeway to be like Jerry Springer, "pro wrestling", et al)?
Personally, I remember days of when a person was a truly gifted athlete WHEN they were able to COMPETE within the RULES THAT APPLIED TO EVERYONE from "jumpball to the horn".
Unless it gets back (more) to the way the game was intended - I'm "leaving" when Jerry Sloan, Popovich & Duncan leave.
P.S. I'm glad I'm not the only one that remembers the "push-off". Think about this - add up both teams total points for the championship play-offs and compare "who won" that way.

The Eisley 3 not counting was the worst play of the game; followed by Harper shot counting as the shot clock went down, definatly costed us Malone and Stockton a title. I was physically sick for a week after that game.

That was our year!!! That one great memory that would have made me happy for the rest of my life.

1997 -1998 UTAH JAZZ WORLD CHAMPIONS-

But the refs tooks care of that, their bads calls took that wonderful thing that should have been and gave it away!

It really is a shame.

To take away Eisley's 3 was flat out criminal. You always knew that stars would get "star treatment", but it's not as if we didn't have 2 great ones here too. It's about the size of the market and sales of merchandise. When was the last time a small market team locked down a Finals?

We have a contender. The Jazz just need to be better than the other teams and the refs!

I completely agree with the point that it was a push-off, but the steal that preceeded it was great.
You won't find a bigger Stock/Sloan/Malone/Jazz fan, but please remember. There were more than a few calls that went the Jazz way because Malone and Stockton were All-Stars - and we all agreed with those. So when it comes to favoritism, just be careful for what you wish for, you just might get it.
Also Riles, I think San Antonio is considered a small market team, and they've seen to have done okay.

I can't believe Jazz fans are still bent about this. Get over it! It's done and over with. Players push off all the time. It's part of the game.