Did a Laker Title Warrant an Asterisk?

Since the media won’t leave it alone even though it’s old news, I figure I might as well throw in a couple of pennies worth.

The press release quoted the NBA League Office. But we all know that David Stern IS the league office. So, should the commissioner have instructed his underlings to button up.

Phil Jackson seems to think so. "It is a little surprising," Jackson said. "The league usually doesn't get themselves involved in that...but we can't give it back, and we'll take the win and move on."

Unless you have been repairing a space station orbiting around the earth, you know what Jackson is referring to: the NBA’s announcement that Joey Crawford missed a foul call on Derek Fisher in the closing seconds of Game 4 in the Western Conference Finals that would have sent the Spurs' Brent Barry to the line for two free throws to possibly tie and send the game into overtime.

Since the NBA has made the no-call an "official" error, shouldn’t a Lakers victory in the NBA Championship warrant an asterisk?

Absurd, any of you who are not undergoing treatment for deep psychological trauma would say. And rightly so.

But my point really has nothing to do with an asterisk. My focus here is strictly on David Stern’s blunder, not Crawford’s.

Just like Phil Jackson implied, why did Stern’s office have to say anything? What did the announcement accomplish?

Were they going to replay the last second of the game with Brent Barry at the foul line? No.

Did the Spurs and their fans feel satisfied by the announcement? I don’t think so, not according to Gregg Popovich.

"Oh, thank you," Popovich remarked sarcastically. "That's a great help. I'll send some flowers to the NBA. That's great."

If the Lakers had not come from 17 points behind in Game 5 and soundly beaten the Spurs for the fourth time in five games to prove they were the better team, would they have been plagued by the spectre of that no-call? You bet.

Has the statement restored faith in NBA officiating? Has hell frozen over yet?

So, why make the announcement unless the NBA was also willing to release a complete list of all the officiating errors in that game? And if you saw the game, you know there were more errors. Plenty of them.

At least, that way the Spurs and their fans wouldn’t feel jilted if it turned out that they benefited more than the Lakers.

So, what has Stern and the league office accomplished here?

It was perhaps Stern’s most inconsiderate decision since requiring non-student athletes to attend college for a year before entering the NBA. But that’s a whole other discussion.

Specifically, what Stern has done by releasing the statement is simply to inflame a controversy rather than settle one. He has also set a dangerous precedent for the NBA.

By giving officiating mistakes official credence, Stern and his office have managed to stir up an even greater controversy. It isn’t that far-fetched to expect the media and fans at some point to demand to have asterisks applied to specific games and even to conference titles and championships.

If the Lakers hadn’t won Game 5, I’m sure Spurs fans would have wanted to see an asterisk applied to Game 4 and even a Lakers title.

I can only reiterate the words of Gregg Popovich, "Oh, thank you. That’s a great help."

Yeah, thanks, Commissioner, for nothing.