Evan Mobley's Foul On Pascal Siakam Is The Softest Playoff Foul Called In The History Of The NBA
Round 2 of the NBA Playoffs is off an running and this "foul" has me triggered back into hating the NBA with all my being after falling back in love in Round 1. What a joy it was seeing all the animosity, players trying on defense, and I should also mention the Lakers were there as well. It was amazing. Even the Cavs/Heat OKC/Grizzlies series acted as each conference's comedic relief to the otherwise suspenseful product. Then we go right back into nobody even tries mode on defense in Game 1 of Pacers/Cavs.
And this play might have something to do with it. Way to set the "they don't call that in the Playoffs" tone. Right off the bat we get this foul called that makes your brain instantly identify it as the worst call in NBA history until you remember the multitude of others in recent years. And feel free to torch me as a elder millennial boomer who can't search for shit, but this was the only clip I could find of Siakam's Tom Cruise like self stunt man move after getting brutally assaulted by the radiating body heat coming off Evan Mobley's arm. From a fan at the game. Had this been in Indiana, it would have been as safe from public view as the Epstein list.
I mean what are we doing here? Look at Mobley bracing his left foot to stop his inertia while his elbow is off the waist. Unless he snuck in a purple nurple we can't see here, this is what you WANT defenders to do to protect players in the air.
The Pacers won this game by shooting lights out. And I couldn't care less about Cleveland. But the sport refusing to take itself seriously continues to piss me off. Wanting to protect players in the air is fine. Calling this a foul does nothing to do that because Mobley was already protecting Siakam by not doing shit. Now he knows he may as well get a little blood for his money next time Siakam wants to take a fall like the Princess Bride down the cliff. It's just pathetic. And if you are a hard core hooper I don't know why you aren't screaming about this nonsense more. You've all become the frog in the boiling water with cheap fouls. I refuse. I will speak out. Especially since we had such a great Round 1.
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Now were there BS foul calls in Round 1? Yes. Of course. The refs default to calling a foul in any instance they aren't sure which is a joke. But nothing of this caliber. Not even LeBron running into DiVincenzo without looking where he was going was quite this bad (it was close).
BTW - Greg Anthony might be the worst NBA brown nose broadcast analyst in the game. He actually defended this foul. As much crap as I give Reggie Miller for his quirky Millerisms, he's at least entertaining and willing to give an actual opinion.
Rant over. I'm going to take a breath and get ready for Knicks/Celtics and Nuggets/Thunder tonight. Do Better NBA.