In Sunday afternoon's rematch of last year's NBA Finals Dwight Howard was called for a phantom third foul with 6:37 left in the second quarter. Jeff Van Gundy made the point that personal fouls shouldn't impact the outcome of the game so drastically. By getting called for his third foul, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, Jeff's brother, was forced to take out his best player for the rest of the half. To make it even worse, Dwight Howard literally didn't touch or even come close to touching the driving Lamar Odom. It was one of those plays that really made you wonder what the referee was thinking.
By adding a seventh foul the entire dynamic is changed. Getting a third foul in the second quarter wouldn't force the coach to have to sit down his player, in this case his star player. This happens far too often in the NBA. With all of its floppers and cry babies the NBA floor has turned into a minefield of potential fouls.
Fouls shouldn't be the purpose of the game. Look back into the 80's and 90's, there were far less charging calls and soft fouls. The NBA front office has turned the physicality of the league down several notches over the past few years and it has negatively impacted the game.
Take a player like LeBron James for instance. When LeBron drives if there's even a tiny shred of contact you can bet that James is going to line. However if Devin Brown was substituted for James in the same play I guarantee that no foul would be called. Being a star player shouldn't grant you access to the free throw line, this has been a problem in the NBA for a very long time. It was the same way with Michael Jordan, if you as much as looked at him wrong it was a foul. If God forbid you hit him, you face the possibility of the electric chair.
There are seven players in the league right now that get nonexistent fouls called in their favor every game. They are Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki, and Brandon Roy. All of these players have a few things in common. They are all perennial All Stars, they are all high scoring players (partly because of how often they get to the line), and they have all been in the league for a substantial length of time. If these guys bump you it's a foul. End of story. Is it a coincidence that once they enter Olympic play the calls aren't there?
With that in mind the foul limit should be raised, if it's that easy to get a foul then it makes perfect sense to raise the limit. There is really no gray area in this subject, either you agree that the limit should be raised or you don't. When Jeff Van Gundy brought up the topic it really grabbed my attention because it's something I've been complaining about for a long time.
The object of the game is to score more points than the other team, not get their best player in foul trouble.
