Was pierce's foul on hinrich the worst call in the history of sports?

[connerhenry43]

you know the play i mean. pierce loses the ball, heinrich steals it around halfcourt, starts to break away, loses his balance, falls down, and pierce, roughly 4 feet away from him, gets called for the foul.

the amazing thing is the ref is sprinting to get back in the play down the sidelines. he has his back to the play. he never saw anything, yet blew the whistle. we can laugh about it now (i guess), but this was the worst call i have seen in a very long time.

[libermaniac]

From what I remember, Pierce's foot caught Hinrich's and forced him to get his legs tangled up and fall.  By this time, it looked like Pierce wasn't even close.  But, from what I remember (although my initial reaction was horrible call, when I saw the replay, it was a good call).

[wil]

I've been wondering about this play.  I didn't get a good look at it at the game, and I haven't had a chance to watch it again.  All i saw was Hinrich out in the open fall down. 

The call I would say was the worst was the double tech on Perk.  What did he do to warrant a T?  From what I saw he just held his shoulder and turned around. I didn't even see him say anything.   I'm not even sure that Miller deserved a T on that play (though he probably did), but I can't figure out how Perk got one too. 

[CoachBo]

Pierce was nowhere near Hinrich on the play, and he didn't touch his feet.

One of a handful of calls I wasn't happy with during the game.

[ma11l]

One that stands out for me with the Celts was LeBron pulling on Pierce's jersey on Game 7 last year.  This one ranks right up there with that one.

[RIPRED]

Pierce was nowhere near Hinrich on the play, and he didn't touch his feet.

One of a handful of calls I wasn't happy with during the game.

100% agreed

[fairweatherfan]

I watched the replay during the game, and Pierce accidentally kicked Hinrich's right foot, causing Hinrich's feet to clip together on his next step.  Whether that's enough to call a foul for is questionable, but it definitely wasn't a phantom foul.

[PosImpos]

It was a pretty funny call, Pierce was clearly a few feet from Hinrich when he fell.

I suspect Pierce barely touched Hinrich and Hinrich felt it so he did that dramatic stumble shortly afterwards hoping for a serious foul.

[footey]

From what I remember, Pierce's foot caught Hinrich's and forced him to get his legs tangled up and fall.  By this time, it looked like Pierce wasn't even close.  But, from what I remember (although my initial reaction was horrible call, when I saw the replay, it was a good call).

This is the same way I saw it.

[Hoops]

Pierce was nowhere near Hinrich on the play, and he didn't touch his feet.

One of a handful of calls I wasn't happy with during the game.

100% agreed

Neither of you must have seen the replay in slow motion. Pierce catches Hinrich's feet with his own, causing Hinrich to trip. Whether or not that's deserving of a foul is a different question, but he most definitely definitely did touch Hinrich's feet.

[GeoDim]

I apologize but I can't remember the game or the other player involved, but it was during last year's finals.  Pierce pump faked, got the man in the air, made contact, shot a three, made the three, and was the called for a charge!  THAT was the worst call.  What should have been a 4 point play turned into 0 points and an offensive foul.  Even if Pierce jumped into the man (which he didn't) it should have been a no call.  You can't reward a defender who bit on a fake and thus has lost control of his body.  As I remember, Pierce basically jumped straight up, which any shooter should be allowed to do at any time.

[Thruthelookingglass]

I watched the replay during the game, and Pierce accidentally kicked Hinrich's right foot, causing Hinrich's feet to clip together on his next step.  Whether that's enough to call a foul for is questionable, but it definitely wasn't a phantom foul.

Agreed that's exactly what happened.  Thanks to the giant tv I got to watch the game on, it was clear PP's foot "redirected" one of Hinrich's and caused him to tangle up and fall.

[PosImpos]

From what I remember, Pierce's foot caught Hinrich's and forced him to get his legs tangled up and fall.  By this time, it looked like Pierce wasn't even close.  But, from what I remember (although my initial reaction was horrible call, when I saw the replay, it was a good call).

This is the same way I saw it.

I'm not so sure of this.  The way I saw it, Hinrich fell at least a couple seconds after he was near enough to Pierce to have any kind of contact.  Maybe Pierce's foot touched Hinrich's, but it wasn't until a little afterwards that Hinrich fell.  So if it was contact at all, Hinrich fell on purpose.

[guava_wrench]

Not that bad of a call at all. If you think this was an outrageous call, you might want to take off the homer glasses.

[PosImpos]

Well, Karma clearly showed that it was the wrong call because Hinrich missed both his free throws and the next shot afterwards...haha.