"Before Game Three, I got a call from another official in the NBA who's not in the playoffs that I've known forever, and he told me they were looking at Yao harder because of Mark's complaints," Van Gundy told the newspaper. "It proved prophetic, really, the last couple games. I didn't think that really worked in the NBA, but in this case it has."

Well, it pissed off Dave Stern, and he's responded in a way that no other commissioner has ever went at a coach before.  Not has Stern threatened that this fine is only the beginning, but he's stated that Gundy might be booted out of the NBA because of this:

"If he's going to say things like that, he's not going to continue in this league," Stern said. "If the attitude reflected in those comments continues to be public, he's going to have a big problem with me as long as I'm commissioner."

Lemme start off with this; if there is a coach that you know will ride and die for his players, it's Jeff Van Gundy.  If you remember the infamous Heat/Knicks fight, where Van Gundy ended up hanging on to Alonzo Mourning's ankle for dear life.  That's the one that most people remember.  Fewer people remember the 15 stitches Van Gundy had to get after being popped in the eye inadvertently by Marcus Camby, trying to stop his player from attacking Danny Ferry.

Knowing that, it isn't surprising that he would make these comments if he thought they were true, and it isn't surprising that he would stand by them through thick and thin with Stern ready to end his coaching career.  Van Gundy, above all else, is a man of conviction.

I'm not saying he's right.  Really, the only one that knows the truth is Van Gundy.  And notice; Dallas and the league's front office admitted Cuban complained about several incidents in the game where they felt Ming set illegal picks yet went uncalled.  The front office admitted that out of the picks Cuban mentioned, nine of them should have been whistled illegal, but weren't.

Here's the question:  does the fine and the resulting investigation fit the crime?  I don't think it does.  Van Gundy's fine doubles the previous largest fine for a coach in league history.  While I think the NBA was entitled to some punishment given that Van Gundy refused to give out his source (I'm a believer in roles.  Van Gundy felt he should protect his source.  Stern felt he should give it up.  Neither are necessarily wrong, IMO) and for making the comments to begin with, I think it was too harsh.  While I know Stern and others have been quite sensitive over the officiating conspiracy line, and having a NBA head coach feed that conspiracy, we must place this in the proper context.

I don't think there is a conspiracy.  You must understand the difference of officiating basketball and officiating a more team sport, such as football.  Because there are less players in the game, the officials can analyze what's going on the foor throughout the game, particularly during timeouts and the end of a quarter.  They can talk to each other about what they are seeing, what calls they might have missed, etc. 

Basketball is a fast paced game, and officials have to be on their p's and q's in order to be able to see a play, tell if there is an infraction, which infraction was it, and make the call.  It's not easy, and that's why there is a lot of criticism, because it is impossible for a referee to catch every infraction there is.  BUT, you can keep an eye on things the next time.  Just because an official didn't call a foul doesn't mean he didn't see it, and he can keep it in mind later in the game, or in the next game.

When Cuban called up the front office and made his argument, I'm sure the front office told the officials to do a better job looking for illegal screens.  Now does that mean they told the officials to watch Yao and call him tighter on the screens?  No, but the fact that the officials possibly knew Yao was the focus of the complaints made them look at him a little more than they regularly would.  Nor does it mean Yao is setting legal screens that are being called for violations or fouls.

A lot of basketball fans think the official's central principle is to call it the same way on both ends of the court, but it's much more than that.  Officials have to also worry about the pace of the game, how physical the players are (particularly in the paint), and making the correct call at the correct time.  Therefore, if Van Gundy reviewed the tape and showed they were allowing Dallas to slide on things Yao was being called on, then he might have a point.  But the fact that they are whistling Yao for illegal screens that are actually illegal screens, well, that's Yao's problem, not the officials. 

You also have to look at the setting for this whole situation; the NBA Playoffs.  This makes the situation unique for two reasons.  First, the officials are more experienced, and they are able to catch things a lot quicker during the course of the game.  Second, the season consists of 82 games; and none of the teams play each other on consecutive nights.  In the playoffs, however, there are four games with the same opponent.  Any official will tell you it's a lot easier to call a series, because you know what to look for each time they play and the calling should get better with each game.

That's why the graphics ESPN used to show the difference in playing time and fouls accessed to Yao between the regular season and the playoffs didn't mean squat.  For starters, no official is going to call two games the exact same way.  They might look for the same things, but they aren't going to make the same calls in the same manner.  Also, no player has the exact production and does the same things in every game, no matter if they played their opponent 100 times.  If that's the case, why have a playoff series?  The winner of the first game would move forward since all the rest would be sweeps.

Basketball as a whole - recreation, high school, AAU, college, semi-pro, NBA - faces a number of problems and obstacles that will have to be addressed sooner or later if it is to survive and maintain it's popularity as a global sport.  Officiating is just one of those problems.  I'm sure Van Gundy and Stern both mean well, and I hope this whole fracas ends soon so we can put aside the egos and the grandstanding and deal with the real problems facing basketball.  Kicking Van Gundy out will only hurt the league, and conspiracy theories will only alienate more fans.  Let's squash both ideas and enjoy the playoffs.