This year's preseason games were almost a joke because of all of the technical fouls being handed out. But everyone suspected that commissioner David Stern's new, stringent rules about not reacting at all towards a referee's call would ease up. Who wants to watch such an unemotional game? Aren't people going to want to see high intense basketball that comes from individual emotions, especially if it might be our last season of NBA watching? But if players are "T'ed" at such a frequent pace for showing rather mild emotions, how is the league going to achieve all of this?
And Sunday night's match between the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers was no sign of fortunes to come.
In such a tight game against division rivals, you'd think the refs would let emotions run a bit. I mean, the adrenaline is already flowing - why kill the intensity? That's exactly what Lakers forward Lamar Odom thought, before being T'd up by referee Tony Brown for flailing his hands up in the air looking for a foul call. Even if the game was in the third quarter of an uncompetitive, blow-out game, Odom's reaction, in my opinion, doesn't warrant a technical foul. Odom called it the "weirdest technical foul" he's ever received, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant called it a "bad call and a bad, bad rule," and even Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Genry disagreed with the call.
More importantly, the game changed the complexion of the game, according to Lakers coach Phil Jackson. After winning over the momentum of the game, the Lakers pace slowed down after the technical foul shots by Phoenix guard Steve Nash that extended his team's lead to six, and Phoenix forward Hedo Turkoglu nailed a three in the ensuing possession to make the lead insurmountable.
Emotions need to be kept in check, but Stern should really look to amend this rule, unless he wants a league full of zombies come March and April, the most emotional months of the NBA. If games continue to be altered by questionable technical fouls towards the end of a high-intense ball game when in previous seasons, no technical would have been given, the quality of games will continue to head south - like it already hasn't been in question already.
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