Knick Ba-vet-ta clap... clap... clap-clap-clap

By Craig Kwasniewski

There’s nothing like getting jobbed by Knick Bavetta.

I thought the Bavetta Moment of the playoffs was the bizarre inbounds foul late in the Spurs-Mavs game 7. I'm talking about Devin Harris getting called for fouling a Spur under one minute in the game during an in-bounds play. So random and so Bavetta; the Spurs got one freethrow and the ball back on what should have been a non-call. The Spurs were dead in the water until Bavetta intervened in the final seconds of OT.

But last night's Pistons-Heat game was even better:

The Pistons are playing out the game and Miami is down 7 or 8. Miami is chucking up threes at every possession to get back into the game. Antoine Walker hits a lay-up with less than 24 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 5. You, Me, the entire Palace of Auburn Hills, the Pistons, the Heat, even the dead corpse of Hubie Brown all know that Miami is trying to foul the Pistons.

So as Tayshawn is inbounding the ball to Chauncey, James Parker Posey is going Colorado Kobe on Billups... literally. He was draped all over him and as Prince tries to flip the ball to Billups, Posey shoves Chauncey out of bounds (THIS HAPPENS RIGHT IN FRONT OF BAVETTA).

So Price can't get the ball to Billups because he's on the floor out of bounds now Prince starts screaming, "Time out!"

Bavetta doesn't acknowledge the call and instead gives Detroit a 5-second call. Heat ball!

Wade hits a sick fade away three to cut it to two. The next inbounds, Detroit gets it to Billups, but again Posey is clearly raping him right in front of Bavetta and there's no whistle. Again with EVERYBODY knowing that Miami is trying to foul Detroit, Bavetta ignores it and swallows the whistle.

After the game, Price is asked about what happened at the end. Prince tells Jim Gray that he yelled timeout to Bavetta, but Bavetta later told Prince that he couldn't hear the call, "because of the crowd." Bavetta was standing right next to Prince the entire time. You can see Prince yelling timeout at Bavetta after Billups goes flying out of bounds.

Simply amazing!

What's also amazing is that ABC made Bavetta the Person of the Week in February. (Read it here)

Comments

[JenM]

In this pic it looks like the ref is either trying to guard Hamilton, or cop a feel. Terrible.

Predictions for tonights Suns/Mavs game??

[Craig]

Dallas wins big tonight.

I'm curious how Phoenix does without Raja Bell in their lineup. Unlike the Lakers series, there's no rallying cry for the Suns to get that extra effort with Bell out.

[JenM]

I've been reading espn.com and si.com - so far none of the writers want to give a prediction for this game. They acknowledge that Bell is hurt and Mavs have a deeper bench - and then that's it. It seemed everyone was pulling for Mavs and now maybe they are intrigued by a no-defense team getting to the finals.

[Brett]

I'll second the prediction of a Dallas win tonight. PHX has shown in both of the first two rounds that they're content with just getting a split, and that combined with the loss of Bell should be plenty to get Dallas the W.

[basketbawful]

This actually reminded me of what happend in Game 4 of the Suns/Lakers series, when Nash was getting fouled while calling timeout, when everybody knew the Lakers HAD to foul. And, as in the game your describing, the refs said they couldn't hear Nash or the other Suns calling time due to crowd noise. Hmmm...

I don't think there's a conspiracy going on in terms of the NBA wanting particular teams to win. However, it certainly seems like the refs are conspiring to keep games close and exciting, either by dubious calls or questionable non-calls.

[cheap jordans]

Where there is a will,there is a way.

[NFL store]

Then, a live view of the locker room tunnel with Sharks players is shown on the scoreboard and the goalie leads the team out of the locker room, through the mouth, and onto the ice.[21] The Sharks currently use "Seek & Destroy" by Metallica as their entrance song.