Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins wouldn't be human if he weren't frustrated, his team having blown a massive lead in Game 1 of their series with the Clippers and lost two other very winnable games in crunch time. He accused the Clippers of "flopping," and then on Wednesday, he described Clippers' strong man Reggie Evans like this, rper Chris Herrington of the Memrphis Flyer:
"His impact has been pushing, grabbing and throwing people out of the way."
That's an oversimplification, of course.
cjeap air max shoes$65-78 Evans has been playing some spirited and effective post defense, and his ability to front the Grizzlies' post players has made entering the ball a tough task for Memphis' perimeter guys. He is a dynamite offensive rebounder, even without any subtle cheating. But Hollins is right to suggest Evans is throwing some well-timed shoves into his game, and if the referees aren't going to call all of them, why wouldn't he? He wiped out Zach Randolph with one-handed hook of Randolph's upper body to snag an offensive rebound in overtime of the Clippers' Game 4 victory, and we caught him red-handed shoving Marreese Speights out of the way as Speights tried to set a pick for Mike Conley in Game 3.
These are blatantly obvious fouls that somehow go uncalled in an era when point guards can't lay a hand on their opposite number during dribble drives. And it's not all that unusual for officials to let pass such contact among big men or at least executed by one. Kevin Garnett is the master at adding a little extra oomph to every one of his interactions with an opposing point guard, and Kendrick Perkins in the Thunder's opening round series created a driving lane for Russell Westbrook by simply shoving Ian Mahinmi out of the way, in full view of everyone watching the game. Utah's Paul Millsap is another guy who will occasionally disrupt an opposing pick-and-roll by pushing the screener in the back and nudging him out of position to set a screen.
I'm going to keep singling these out when I notice them, or when alert readers flag them. My interest does not stem from some moral outrage or a vendetta against any particular player. Basketball is and should be a physical game, especially on the block, and part of being good at basketball is being able to withstand physical play. It's more that I think the shoves are funny.
cjeap air max shoes$65-78 They are just so obvious, out there in open space along the perimeter, blatant uncalled fouls that have a real impact on whether a team scores on a particular possession. I find it curious big men are so easily able to get away with them.
To wit: Step right up, Greg Stiemsma! Here's Boston's backup center laying a nice one on poor old Erick Dampier Tuesday night in Atlanta's thrilling Game 5 win:
