Fair or foul? Officiating has proven to be rough
The puzzling sequences at the end of the Mami Heat’s Wednesday night victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series led to a riddle posed Thursday to Heat guard Goran Dragic:
Is it possible to contest a jump shot in today’s NBA?
“Yeah, that’s a good question. I don’t know,” he said. “It’s tough.”
With outside shooters, particularly 3-point shooters, continuing to get a favorable whistle in the series, including such a call against Dragic on a 3-point attempt by Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton late in Game 2, a seasonlong conundrum is continuing on the league’s national stage.
“I know I just need to do a better job not to be so close, try to contest maybe a little bit farther away,” Dragic said after the Heat completed practice in advance of Friday’s 6:30 p.m. Game 3 of the best-of-seven series at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. “But, yeah, in today’s game, you need to be really careful, the shooter needs to get space. You know, you have smart players, too.
“You know, they know how to flop, too. And it kind of puts the refs in tough positions to make call. But yeah, it’s tough.”
Dragic’s foul allowed Middleton to tie the game with three free throws with 4.3 seconds to play. The Heat then won when Jimmy Butler was fouled at the buzzer on a contested jump shot by Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The back-to-back plays left defenders and coaches perplexed.
“It’s just a different challenge than it used to be,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Not only because of the accuracy, proficiency, the different ways guys now can shoot behind the line. You didn’t have to negotiate as many things probably 20 years ago. The range that guys can shoot from now really makes it challenging.
“And then, obviously, guys are clever, know how to draw fouls. So that’s the deal. The game continues to evolve, and you have to find a way to overcome it, and do it better. We’re capable of doing that. Without fouling. We’re fouling way too much.”
To Dragic, the geometry of the equation is complex math. He said the approach has to be to defend from distance.
“You have to be close,” he said. “But then you can give a referee a chance to put a game in their hands. And that ’s something that ’s really tough.
“Maybe we just need to be a little bit farther and try to contest from far away. But that’s tough. I mean, the players in this league, they are great shooters. They make contested shots. So you want to be there and try to impact their shots.”
Crowder time
Spoelstra on Wednesday again had forward Jae Crowder in for all 12 minutes in fourth quarter, as was the case in Monday’s Game. 1. “He’s a competitive guy that fits our culture, our way of being,” he said, “and he competes on both ends.” …
Dragic on former Phoenix Suns teammate and mentor Steve Nash on Thursday being named Brooklyn Nets coach, “Steve is one of the smartest players in the league when he was playing. I think he’ll do really well in Brooklyn. He already has a relationship with KD [Kevin Durant] when he was in Golden State. I think he’ll do amazing. I’m happy for him.” …
Spoelstra said there was no change in the status of forward Andre Iguodala, who left Wednesday’s game in the third quarter with an ankle sprain and is questionable for Game 3.