"Rick, isn't that the whistle right today?" On May 11, 2004, after a two-day break, Game 4 of the Finals began as scheduled, but not long after the game began, Pacers assistant coach Lester Connell noticed something unusual on the court, as the Pacers had been whistled for several defensive fouls in a row.

"Today's blowing penalty scale is a little tight." Rick Carlisle, who was sitting on the bench, frowned and clearly spotted the problem as well.

As the home team, it is normal for the Mavericks to have some home whistles, but compared with the previous games, today's game is significantly tighter than the previous games, especially for the punishment of physical contact, James Posey has been blown two defensive fouls in a row when defending Nowitzki, although the referee on duty does not seem to be too biased in favor of the Mavericks, but this blowing penalty scale is obviously more beneficial to the Mavericks, because the Mavericks' style of play is well known, Their defense was similar to nothing most of the time, especially the Mavericks' main point guard, Steve Nash, who was basically a hole that no one could prevent, and the Finals were held by the Pacers from beginning to end. The Pacers are different, the Pacers are the team that has conceded the third fewest points this season, second only to the Spurs and Pistons, who are known for their defense, the Pacers' defense is also known for its oppression and aggressiveness, the Pacers can win the first three games, and the defense that is two levels higher than the Mavericks is also a very important aspect, so when the referee strengthens the blowing penalty on physical contact, it is equivalent to directly jamming the Pacers' neck, and it seems that the referee is going to pull the bias in today's game.

"Today's game looks like it's going to be mysterious!" Just halfway through the first quarter of the game, Lester Connell was already pessimistic in his heart, and this was where it went, James Pos on the Pacers side fouled twice, Jermaine O'Neal, Tyshawn Prince, and Meng Xu each fouled once, according to this kind of blowing penalty, it is estimated that they will not wait for the start of the fourth quarter of the game, and the Pacers' five main forces will all be blown down.

"We were careless." Seeing this, thinking of the Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's remarks before the game, Rick Carlisle is only now a little hindsight, this year's playoffs, from the game against the Kings to the elimination of the Timberwolves, the Mavericks have always had a "godfather halo", but for the finals, Rick Carlisle can still rest assured, after all, the attention received by the finals is far from ordinary playoffs, and Meng Xu is now the league's top card, and the league is now formulating a vigorous "god-making movement" around Meng Xu.

But now it seems that Rick Carlisle still underestimated David Stern's discipline a little, in the face of huge interests, everything is not worth mentioning, the league and sponsors wish that the finals could play seven games every year, like the Pacers swept the opponent in four games, it is definitely a result that no one wants to see except the Pacers, one more game in the finals may be tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, and the ratings of this year's finals are indeed a bit low, With the exception of the first game of the finals, which exceeded 8%, the next two games fell below 6%, because this kind of game without suspense is not attractive to a large part of the fans.

”shit!“ Just when Rick Carlisle was sitting on the sidelines with his chin in his hands and not knowing what he was thinking, Lester Connell, who was sitting next to Rick Carlisle, suddenly burst into a rage and cursed loudly.

Following Lester Connell's gaze, Jermaine O'Neal, who was whistled for the second defensive foul of the game, was muttering something while chasing the referee with an innocent face, James Posey was just off the court because of two fouls, and now it is Jermaine O'Neal's turn, one inside and one outside, the two main players of the Pacers are now in a foul crisis, and it is no wonder that Lester Conal is scolding.

"A soft egg who only fakes a fall." After chasing the referee and explaining that he still couldn't change the penalty, Jermaine O'Neal left the court directly and walked to the bench on the sidelines, but before leaving, Jermaine O'Neal still scolded Steve Nash, who had already walked to the free throw line, in the defense just now, Jermaine O'Neal was very careful, and Jermaine O'Neal also knew that he didn't use his strength, but Steve Nash, who held the ball and burst to the basket, But at the moment of physical contact with Jermaine O'Neal, he flew out more than two meters away, and according to the blowing scale of this game, Jermaine O'Neal couldn't avoid this defensive foul at all.

In the face of this "too strict" blowing scale, the Pacers hesitated when defending, and the Mavericks were hanging by the Pacers in the first two games, and today is like a tiger who was released from the cage, and the Mavericks took a 13-point lead at the end of the first half.

In the case of 5 to 6, the Pacers did not sit still, but after the start of the third quarter, they launched a wave of counterattack, seeing that under a wave of scoring climax, the Pacers continued to narrow the difference between the two sides, at this time the referee on duty shot again, and blew Meng Xu twice in a row, and Meng Xu, who was angry, went to theory with him and was blown a technical foul.

97-113, just when countless people were expecting the Pacers to sweep the Mavericks to win the championship and create a brilliant record of undefeated in the playoffs, the Pacers ushered in a heavy defeat in Game 4, losing to the Mavericks by as many as 16 points, and the Mavericks, who won one game, also avoided the fate of being swept.

。。。。。。

"It was the funniest game I've ever seen, we were whistled for 34 fouls in the whole game, and the Mavericks got a whopping 48 free throws for it, and the scale of the game was beyond my knowledge, and if I wasn't sitting on the sidelines, I would have thought Shaq O'Neal joined the Mavericks and we used foul tactics against him in the game!"

Because he lost the fourth game, and missed the sweep of the Mavericks, Rick Carlisle, who set a record of winning all the playoffs, was obviously very excited after the game, and just walked into the scene of the press conference, he opened fire on several referees on duty who blew the game, and Rick Carlisle's last sentence of using foul tactics against O'Neal was obviously deliberately sarcastic about Nelson.

Because of O'Neal's super dominance under the basket, the old Nelson re-turned the cardinal's trick against Chamberlain back then, and carried it forward, and then Popovich, Dunwilly and others did the same, so that Shaq O'Neal's "shark cutting tactics" were born, and O'Neal, who was tired of the "shark cutting tactics", publicly scolded the old Nelson and Popovich and others as clowns and cowards, especially the old Nelson who started the crime, O'Neill didn't have a good face at allLast season, the two also scolded each other after the game because the Mavericks slashed O'Neal in the game.

The old Nelson, who was sarcastically accused and scolded by Rick Carlisle, didn't bother with Rick Carlisle, after all, the Mavericks were really stained with the referee in this game, and as a winner, there was no need to worry about a loser.

Just because Nelson Sr. doesn't bother with Rick Carlisle doesn't mean that others won't, and Rick Carlisle angrily criticized the referee's behavior, which David Stern saw as a challenge to the authority of the league, so the league fined Rick Carlisle $50,000 the next day.