Greg Popovich and Jerry Sloan Kicked Out of League

...it would have to happen if either coach were to speak their honest mind on the officiating of their respective games, the Spurs at Mavs and Lakers at Jazz.

With Dallas trailing by two points and only a few ticks on the clock, Marquis Daniels was at the line shooting his last free throw. He missed the shot and Tim Duncan grabbed the rebound at the baseline. Dirk Nowitski then intentionally pushed Duncan in the back and out of bounds to send him to the line. However instead of whistling a foul, the referee calls travelling and gives the ball to the Mavericks. On the ensuing possession, the Mavericks have the inbound pass deflected and it goes back to the inbounder (Jason Terry) who was still standing out of bounds. Terry jumps in the air from out of bounds, catches the ball (a very obvious turnover to call) and throws it to Nowitski who then gets off a last second shot. The refs let it all go. The shot missed, so the officials' errors will be overlooked. Nevertheless, it was yet another blight on their record and more fuel to the fire for conspiracy theorists.

Later in Salt Lake City, the Kobe Bryant foul corollary was in full effect. In the last minute of the game, Kobe drove to the lane, tripped over his own feet- only to be bailed out by a whistle for Mehmet Okur's sixth foul. That turned out to be only a prelude to a more egregious call. Trailing by two in the final seconds, the Lakers ran the only play they ever run in that situation: Kobe took the ball and immediately forgot he had any teamates. He dribbled on the perimeter with Devin Harris in his face and then launched a desperation jumper. He must have known the shot was off right away, because he then swung his arm into Harris and fell to the ground. Once again he was bailed out by a whistle, went to the line, and sunk two free throws to tie the game. The Utah crowd was furious. I think I may have even overheard an angry fan say "Darn You" to a ref.

In overtime, Kobe was whistled for his sixth foul on a reach on. From my time spent in the Vin Scully school of lip reading, I was able to decipher this conversation:

Kobe: You called that on me? You know I had 5 fouls??
Chagrined Ref: I can't go back on my call now.

..the implication clearly was that if the ref had been aware that Kobe had 5 fouls, he wouldn't have blown the whistle.

NBA action...it's Shaaaamtastic.