The 3 Most Controversial NBA Playoff Moments
Everybody loves a good controversy, and the NBA has had more than its fair share. By and large, these have been a result of eyebrow-raising officiating in big Playoff games, but what are the most notable controversies during the NBA Playoffs?
- 2002 Western Conference Finals – Game 6
In the 2002 Western Conference Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Sacramento Kings in what would turn out to be one of the most memorable and controversial Playoff series in league history. For a long time, the NBA has been subjected to plenty of accusations claiming that they favour more popular teams advancing through the Playoffs to boost interest, and in Game 6 of this series, the accusers received plenty of ammunition.
The Kings were a fun and well-liked side, but the Lakers have long been one of the most popular and successful teams in the league — they are this year one of the NBA title favourites as they hunt for a record-breaking 18th title. Clearly, them advancing through to the NBA Finals would have been the preferred outcome for the league. With the Kings leading 3-2 in a best-of-seven series, that outcome was in jeopardy, so when the Lakers received numerous favourable calls late in what was a closely contested Game 6 and ended up with a huge 27 free throws in the final quarter alone, plenty of tongues were wagging. The Lakers went on to win the game, the series, and ultimately the NBA Championship.
- 2007 Western Conference Semi-Finals — Stoudemire and Diaw Suspensions
Despite matching up against one another in the Conference Semi-Finals of that year, many viewed the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs as the best two teams in 2007 and expected the league champion to emerge from this series. That premonition turned out to be true as the Spurs went on to win the title, but not without plenty of controversy in their clash with the Suns first.
With under a minute remaining in Game 4, the Suns were seconds away from evening up the series at 2-2 when their star point guard Steve Nash was pushed into the scorer’s table by opponent Robert Horry. The altercation didn’t go much further, the Suns won the game and Horry was deservedly suspended for two games for the shove, but the league raised the ire of many by also deciding to ban Phoenix players Boris Diaw and Andre Stoudemire. They had left the bench to help teammate Nash get up, and while that is a technical violation of the rules, many saw their suspension as an unjust interpretation. Phoenix went on to narrowly lose the next game without two of their key players and ultimately lost the series 4-2.
- 2005 Western Conference First Round — Jeff Van Gundy Fined
During the first round of the 2005 Western Conference Playoff Series between the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks, Rockets’ coach Jeff made a very expensive comment. Feeling aggrieved by what he viewed as unfair foul calls against his star centre Yao Ming, Van Gundy claimed that one of his league contacts had told him that Yao would be called for more fouls by officials following complaints by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Unsurprisingly, the league took a dim view of these comments, which they believed brought the game’s integrity into disrepute, and promptly fined the Rockets coach a huge $100,000. And, according to commissioner David Stern, he got off lightly.
The NBA is never far away from the spotlight, and the above NBA Playoff controversies are just some examples of occasions on which the league got far more attention than it would have liked. But while none of the above instances were a good look for the game, they did, at least, get people talking about basketball.
