Plus, the guy on the left was running the clock.
Posted on 05/14/2004 11:36:39 AM PDT by ZGuy
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Notice how Fisher catches the ball with his feet in the air. So he landed on the ground, turned, pivoted and then shot in .4? No way.
Here is Fisher landing on the ground. Clock is still at .4.
Fisher starting to turn to the hoop. Clock still the same.
Fisher continues to turn. Clock continues to say .4.
Fisher pivoting. Clock frozen.
Fisher is beginning to go up with the shot. Still .4?!?!
Fisher is now all the way around, ready to go into shooting motion. The clock is amazingly still on .4.
The only thing that counts is the red light behind the hoop.
Even so, if he lobs the ball to Fisher, there is no way that shot gets off in time. For Fisher to do what he did the ball had to be placed perfectly, as Payton did. Payton never should have had that clear look to Fisher like he did. A defender should have been in his face.
In football the computer will tell exactly where the ball is. That will help those punts that went out of bounds. It would analize everything.
Baseball would be really cool. Considering balls and strikes. We would have different type of HBP: if the ball grazed the uniform without hitting the player its a ball.
Tennis the computer will be a great help with those lines. Hockey and the hockey stick swing. The time of pentaly and when a player could get on the ice exactly.
Basketball there is a huge amount of data to watch.
Crew human refs they suck. Time to get into 2004 and beyond and while we are at it maybe we could put some implants in those players to make them jump higher and hit harder and be bigger.
I should say, that yes maybe Fisher could get the shot off in time on a lob, but he would not have had nearly the control on the shot that he would have had otherwise.
Unfortunately in pro sports these days, things break for the team that's going to bring in the biggest TV audience, sell the most merchandise, etc.
Pro sports has become a farce, esp the NBA.
Their "salary cap" is a joke and the Referees just get worse and worse.
And the worse thing by far is the mutiple standards by which the rules are enforced, based once again on how much merchandise you sell.
One thing I've often wondered about; when you have to make a key inbounds pass with only a tiny amount of time left - why don't more teams use their point guard to inbound the ball (as for example Payton).
The Point Guard is generally the best passer on most teams.
And you can't underestimate how key a good pass is. If Fisher had to fumble for the ball LA losses this game even if he can still get thw shot off because of the time remaining.
Plus, the guy on the left was running the clock.
underestimate = overestimate
Payton put the ball in the only possible place that he could, but San Antonio gave him a clean look and a clean path to make that pass, absolutely inexcusable. Popovich should be skewered for this.
You are correct. The clock does not start until the ball is touched by someone on the clock.
Not into basketball but it seems to me that if your entire game comes down to the last .4 of a second there are some other issues that need to be addressed :-)
There are a couple of reasons for this.
1.) Often the point guard is short compared to the other players. If a pg takes the ball out, the other team can put a very tall (7') player on the pg and make it very hard for him to get a good look. Most teams will use a forward
or tall guard for inbounding the ball in clutch situations.
2.) The pg is often one of your quicker players and can usually break free from the opposing defender and have a decent chance at an unobstructed shot.
I tend to agree.
For those who didn't watch the game, SA and LA did a few tricks to see each other's set up before the ball was inbounded.
The announcers noted as the teams set up their plays that SA wasn't guarding the inbounder - Payton - because there was not enough time for him to get the ball and shoot. They instead double covered Kobe Bryant - the Laker's star. The announcers thought it was a good idea.
Looks like the Laker's proved them oh so wrong. :)
As for San Antonio, their classless display last year has kept us from making our annual visit to the Alamo City: Spurs ownership directed Ticketmaster to not allow anyone from DFW zip codes to purchase playoff tickets, because they might be Mavericks fans.
I know, I know, that the Mavericks don't play defense, but at least they hit their free throws. Spurs lose by one, and shoot 9-17 from the stripe. Case closed.
Good point about putting a hand in the face of Payton. How many times have we seen a last second miracle play because the inbounds passer was left alone?
However, it wouldn't have mattered if the Spurs could shoot a mere 60% from the line.
Wether or not he could have made the shot with a lobbed inbound is not known as that is not what happened. But the way you worded your post left a strong impression that because of the time it would take for a lob to reach the player the clock would expire during that time.
I figure a human has the controls...the time the shot was caught and shot was what you would define as a "split-second" and no human is so perfect to get a split second right every time.
Besides...NBA has sucked since the Jordan led Bulls.
call an........ WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMbulance
(they make the Lakers look like a team of Bill Sharmans).
\\\
Considering Kobe's situation, I would have said Calvin Murphy and not Bill Sharmans.
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