The NBA disallowed Bob Sura’striple double (see releaseat bottom of the page) because the rule book states that “A field goal attempt is a player’s attempt to shoot the ball into the basket for a field goal.”
The rule bookalso says “A player who attempts a field goal may not be the first to touch the ball if it fails to touch the backboard, basket ring or another player.”
Remember the game last week where Kobe, stopped by his defender with nowhere to go, threw the ball off the backboard to himself and dunked the ball. Is this a legal move or not?
If Sura’s shot wasn’t a field goal attempt, then Kobe’s certainly wasn’t either. We can’t have it both ways.
If Kobe’s pass to himself was just that, are we now allowingplayers to pass the ball to themselves by bouncing the ball off the backboard? Isn’t that a travel? Or can everyone pass the ball to themselves at anytime now? And just how was Kobe credited on that play? A shot? Arebound? An assist to himself?
What is the NBA trying to accomplish by taking away the Field Goal Attempt? If they are going to speak up about this, why not speak up about Kobe’s pass to himself. One thing will be for certain, since no one said aword about Kobe’s play, then every other guy in the league is going to look for an opportunity to do it.
Will it be a turnover or a bucket?
If the NBA cares about stats, then care about stats and be consistent. Bob Sura wasn’t the first player to pad his stats in some manner or another, and the scoring table is notorious for giving the benefit of the doubt to the local team and negatively impacting the stats of the visiting team’s players. Some places have a hard enough time keeping the score and time right. Why correct Sura’s stats and not any others?
If the NBA cares about enforcing the rules, then enforce the rules across the board. People wonder why there is a perception about a star system. Not a peep about Kobe, and a press release about Sura.
As an owner, I would love to knowwho in the NBA cared enough about this to take action? There had to be something personal going on somewhere. I can guess who did it, but this person dislikes me enough as is…
Hopefully someone in the NBA will do the right thing and say that passing to oneself off the backboard is not a legitimate field goal attempt, and hence traveling. Better yet, maybe someone will have the guts just to stand up and say, “Hey, we are going to let people pass off the backboard like Kobe and McGrady did (in the all star game) because even though it’s against the rules, it’s good for TV…
One or the other will replace what I see right now. Hypocrisy. I hate hypocrisy.
NBA disallows triple double by Hawks G Sura
Bob Sura called it a “reactionary thing” after intentionally missing a shot and grabbing his own rebound to record a triple double on Monday night. The NBA wasted little time reacting to it.
The league on Tuesday disallowed a missed field goal attempt and ensuing rebound which gave the Atlanta Hawks guard a triple double in the closing seconds of a 129-107 victory over the New Jersey Nets.
Sura grabbed a long outlet pass with five seconds to play, then purposely missed a lefthanded layup before collecting the rebound.
“The ball slipped out of my hands … no, it was just a reactionary thing,” Sura said after his intentional miss. “It doesn’t happen too often, the guys were screaming at me to do it, so it was a reactionary thing.”
The NBA rule book states that “A field goal attempt is a player’s attempt to shoot the ball into the basket for a field goal.”
The league ruled that Sura did not attempt a field goal, and therefore there was no rebound.
With the NBA ruling, Sura finished with 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds instead of 10 and was denied the honor of becoming the first player to post three consecutive triple-doubles since Grant Hill from April 11-14, 1997.