Basketball ... or Tag-team Wrestling?

Okay, only justified because some Griz players have ended up in the NBA ... including Will Cherry, who played 8 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers. (Now playing in Europe, BTW).

Anyway, just watched the end of the Cleveland vs Indiana Pacers game (Cavaliers won, 104-100 to even the series). With like 10-12 sec left, a Pacer went over the back of a Cavalier player and grabbed the ball in the start of a tie-up (held ball). They wrestled for a sec or two (really), and then the Pacer player basically grabbed the Indiana player with a forearm alongside the neck and threw him to the floor. The Indiana player went down too and, after a bit more scuffling, the refs finally blew the whistle. But all the announcers talked about was how it was a "clean" tie-up and how the Cleveland player had performed a "hostile" act. They went on and on about how the Cleveland player would get a technical foul. Luckily, after looking at the replay(s), the refs allowed the Cleveland player to shoot foul tries. But that was apparently for something in another scuffle after they were all back standing up ... not for any of the earlier rough stuff.

I know the NBA is more "physical" than the college game, but this was just ridiculous. Basically a big part of why we hardly ever watch the NBA any more.

I thought it was a great play for the Indiana player to tie up the Cleveland player when he put the ball over his head. Then what happened with the wrestling happens everywhere from 4th grade ball on up - neither player was willing to let go and both were trying to pull the ball away. Just normal tie up tug-of-war in my opinion - I watched the replays and never did see the foul - I think it should have simply been a jump ball.

The same wrestling occurs in the Big Sky - I just don't think I have ever seen that particular athletic defensive play that allowed the defender to tie up the ball when it was over the head of the offensive player. I have seen a lot of balls knocked out of the offensive player's hands when he puts the ball over his head but don't recall an over-the-head tie up - and there were two in that game.

717s7e said:

I thought it was a great play for the Indiana player to tie up the Cleveland player when he put the ball over his head. Then what happened with the wrestling happens everywhere from 4th grade ball on up - neither player was willing to let go and both were trying to pull the ball away. Just normal tie up tug-of-war in my opinion - I watched the replays and never did see the foul - I think it should have simply been a jump ball.

The same wrestling occurs in the Big Sky - I just don't think I have ever seen that particular athletic defensive play that allowed the defender to tie up the ball when it was over the head of the offensive player. I have seen a lot of balls knocked out of the offensive player's hands when he puts the ball over his head but don't recall an over-the-head tie up - and there were two in that game.

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Have to agree about not seeing an actual foul, if you overlook the headlock the defender put on the guy with the ball and consider the throw-down as "normal." As I recall, the announcers said something about the foul coming after everybody was back on their feet. Not sure I saw that either, but the refs may have called "something" to avoid any further escalation ... which did look possible.

As for the wrestling being "normal" ... you're probably right, and that's a change in basketball that is not for the better, IMO. Even into the 90's, when I was reffing some club games, the kind of rough stuff I see now would get you kicked off the floor. And it was a better game because it valued athletic ability over sheer physical strength.