First, I have to say that I cannot believe that we pulled this game out. I thought the game was over by the middle of the 2nd quarter. Let me repeat that: I -- that's right, Chaplin -- thought this game was over in the 2nd quarter. I spent 36 minutes of this game angry--angry at our guys making bonehead plays and angry at myself for watching. But then something happened. I don't know what, but I'm glad it did.
What an amazing finish. One of the THE best 4th quarter comebacks I've ever seen this team have.
That said, the "incident" on the floor near the end nearly floored me as well. I do have questions, though. To me, it looked like Nash was slammed into the boards about 4 or 5 feet from the end of the table there (where the Coach usually would stand, and where their seats begin). Boris was the one who appeared to get closest before the coaches pushed him back, but two things stood out: 1) He wasn't THAT far from the bench. And 2) I don't think he ever actually went out onto the floor. He was always on the out-of-bounds area. If that's the case, does the NBA really have a prerogative to suspend either of them? There's no rule about guys at the bench standing up--most guys do at the end of close games. Moving a couple feet -- STILL OUT OF BOUNDS -- does not merit a suspension, IMO. Besides the Bell/Horry scrape up, which was duly punished with Technicals, NOTHING else happened. No punches thrown and everyone seemed to keep a cool head. I may be just a homer, but I see no reason for anyone except Horry to get any suspensions.
I will go on record to say that this game was officiated SO much better than Game 3, it wasn't even funny. The free throw discrepancy was a little strange, but I didn't see a lot of bad calls or non-calls on either side. In fact, I was surprised at some of the calls that DID happened, like the perfectly legit traveling and double dribble calls.
