Basketball On The Internet.

THIS certainly has been a week for discussion on when is a foul NOT a foul. A) When there is no contact, as per Alanna Smith in the WNBA Championship series decider and B) When a player falls over after his ankle buckles, as per Chris Goulding in last night's NBL.

Now please bear in mind I have no dog in either fight so am trying to observe volatile situations from a neutral position.

But the New York Liberty claiming its first WNBA championship in the league's 28-year history was definitely the preferred option and was most assuredly "wind assisted".

I understand Liberty's Australian coach Sandy Brondello complaining about the disparate foul count in Game 4 in Minnesota but even in that game, her star forward Breanna Stewart was allowed to play out the contest on four fouls despite two of the most blatant and overlooked fifth fouls you could imagine.

Don't try telling me the WNBA didn't want this series to go all five games. But once it did, New York, in front of a sold out New York crowd, was the preferred winner over a Lynx which already has four franchise championships.

Leading 60-58, Minnesota saw Stewart take the ball toward the hoop with an overlooked four-step travel, then shoot over Alanna Smith. Over her. No foul. Or look at these:

Here's another look at the phantom foul which put Stewart on the line to tie the game and send it into overtime where Liberty prevailed. Oh, and contrast it with the "no-call" next to it.

Even LeBron James, who knows what a real foul looks like, having faked more than his share throughout his NBA career, was unimpressed.

It's embarrassing, as was the call in favour of Melbourne United's Goulding last night against Illawarra which, in fairness, on review was dismissed and the play replayed from the baseline.

Of course the damage was done because by calling a non-foul in the first place, and right in front of Hawks coach Justin Tatum, his emotions had the better of him. By cursing out the call - which then was correctly amended - he was given a subsequent technical foul.

How absolutely absurd and petty. If the play was dismissed as incorrect, then so too should his reaction. That's the problem with commonsense. It's way too uncommon.

Goulding's reputation as a serial flopper is well-established. He's had a stellar career of 450-plus games and has made his choices.

But in this instance, his left ankle clearly buckled, which was why he went down in such a theatrical manner. This was a rare such occasion when he wasn't flopping for flopping's sake but actually tweaking an ankle.

However, so familiar have the referees become with his shenanigans that they automatically called a foul in his favour. The call was total crap and rightly reversed.

Above is how he lands and a split millisecond before that ankle gives out and he goes down. As is obvious, there is no-one near him.

The foul call was ridiculous and Tatum rightly called it out as such, but it appears just as the Lynx were not meant to win in New York, the Hawks were not meant to win in Wollongong.

The coach's post-game commentary was fierce but accurate so naturally, it is going to cost him. 

You know the old saying, "prevention is better than cure"? That's a major NBL problem. It doesn't like criticism even in its mildest form and its officials are a protected species. So are certain players and coaches who can push boundaries, while there are others with no such leeway.

It's been a foul week for Lynx and Hawks fans. But just before any of this happened, there was this:

Block of the season as Will Magnay says an emphatic "no" to Montrezl Harrell? Or was it Magnay stopping Marcus Lee in similar fashion? Whatever, it is great to have a highlight amid the lows.