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- The Lakers got screwed in the first half.
- A lot of the time, it happens to whatever team is facing the Lakers.
- It happens to every single team. From the Lakers to the Spurs to the Hornets to the freaking Charlotte Bobcats. And when it's not you, the response is always, "You have to overcome these things" or "It wouldn't happen if X team were more aggressive." So we can sit here and go over it, or we can get to the real reasons the Lakers lost. I will say that the Lakers definitely got hosed in the first half. But teams have faced worst officiating and won, so simply saying "They shot fewer free throws" doesn't really give this game its due.
- Because that would underestimate the play of Leon Powe. Yes, the Truth was just that again, and even moreso, this time without the knee injury, or "injury" as Lakers fans call it. But Powe was the Nova tonight. I had mentioned elsewhere that someone else needed to step up for the Celtics alongside Kendrick Perkins. But 21 points in 14 minutes is pretty friggin' Nova. Taking advantage of opportunities is what makes a champion in the Finals, and Powe made the most of every opportunity he got. He attacked the basket and didn't defer to another shooter or settle for a jumpshot. And that created quite a few of those free throws.
- On the flip side? Here's your basic two possession sequence for Pau Gasol. Offense: Brilliant spacing. Focus. Set post. Lure defender to weak side. Slip to the strong. Catch ball. Finish with European authority. Ha. Just kidding. Finish with actual authority. Defense: Steady. Steady. Steady. Ah-ha! I have you now, Rajon Rondo/Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett! Wait. What? You can pass again? Wait. Who is this "Powe" guy? Oh, sonofa! Again!
- So while the Lakers defense was getting sliced and diced inside, clearly Phil Jackson responded by going to a bigger defensive lineup with Turiaf, right? Wrong. 8 minutes.
Look, I know his offense is limited and unpolished. But seriously. Try it out. Give it a shot.
- Odom. Anyone, anyone? Odom?
- The comeback was very impressive, though. Vujacic's three in transition was the kind of shot you need him to hit. And while the argument is pretty easy to make for Bryant taking that shot down 4, Vujacic was just as good of an option. As argued in the liveblog, Steve Kerr. Toni Kucoc. Etc.
40 comments:
I am not a Celtics fan but.
The Lakers did not get screwed in any way, shape or form. 28 fouls to 21 is getting royally screwed? 7fouls is home cooking taken to the uppermost extreme royal epic level? Please. How are you supposed to get FTs when nobody drives to the rim?
HP - The problem was that the Lakers weren't playing significantly less aggressively than the Celtics, and still got hosed. It's one thing to see teams get the short end of the stick and retreat into a shell. The Lakers, though, continued to go to the rack. Check the shot charts for Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/shotchart?gameId=280608002
Pretty much every shot is in the paint or just outside it - between the two of them, they took 23 shots. 18 of them were within 5 feet of the hoop. They shot 1 foul between them. Look at the comparable shot chart for KG - 2 shots in the paint. 4 free throws. There's getting hosed, and then there's inexplicable.
Don't like ESPN? How about CBS: http://www.sportsline.com/nba/gamecenter/shotchart/NBA_20080608_LAL@BOS
30 shots by LA were layups or dunks. Boston had 18. Let's amend that somewhat by noting that the Celtics were the recipients of a number of 2-shot shooting fouls. They were credited with SEVENTEEN shooting fouls - LA got THREE. If we were to give every one of Boston's 2-shot fouls to the Celtics as a 'layup' or 'dunk' attempt (they had 14), that gives them 32 shots at the rim. Both of LA's two-shot attempts were on layups, I believe (one by Fisher, one by Bryant). That gives LA 32 shots at the rim. Gasol and Odom had 16 of them, and received, again, one foul shot for their troubles.
I'll reiterate simply because it bears repeating: Exactly even at the rim in shot attempts. Seventeen shooting fouls to three. On a night when the two teams took the exact same number of shots at the rim. That's not bad, that's borderline absurd. You pretend like the officiating got better in the second half? First half: 19-2, Boston. Second half: 19-8, Boston. Oh good, the Lakers got 6 extra free throws. "Fouls at the end of the game" don't hold water, because LA only fouled once on Posey - let's take that out. 17-8 in the second half, despite long stretches that saw LA play more at being matadors than at defenders because they were trying to avoid getting called for fouls!
I don't expect LA necessarily be -ahead- in free throws. But one expects them to be within, oh, I don't know, twenty? Fifteen too much to ask, perhaps? You're calling out Odom - maybe he struggled because every time he tried to go in the lane, he got hammered or called for an offensive foul? The same is true of Gasol, who admittedly allowed the officiating to take him out of the game - but it took him out of the game because it was so egregiously bad that he attempted 11 shots right in the paint amidst a significant amount of contact, and was rewarded with one foul shot.
Lost in all of this is the fact that Kobe actually played really well against the "Kobe stopper" Boston defense. 30 points on 23 shots is plenty efficient (that's just as efficient as 39 points on 30 shots, which was how he played in game 5 against the Spurs, when everybody couldn't stop talking about how well he played). He tossed in 8 assists to boot. All this despite being saddled with 3 fouls early, all of which were on the floor. I don't know that being "MVP" is worth the 20 or so FTAs it seemed to be against Utah, but, really, Kobe gets called for ticky-tack stuff 3x in the first half while Leon Powe spends his first 10 minutes in the game shoving Pau Gasol half into the stanchion every time down the court!
The 'comeback' almost buries the story more than it should, because the fact is that the officiating killed the Lakers. It pulled Kobe out of the game early, and as soon as he left the early LA lead evaporated (Lakers were up by 1 when he left, were down by 8 when he returned). When he got his 3rd on yet another nonsense call (I was unaware that being shoved into Paul Pierce by PJ Brown was considered a foul, but hey, I'm not an NBA ref - on the flipside, I can see better than Stevie Wonder, which seems to be something they all lack), the Celtics extended a 7-point lead to 12 at the half. And you're fooling yourself if you don't think that the tight officiating (at the Lakers' end, and ONLY at the Lakers' end, for the 2nd quarter) didn't affect how LA played defense for the remainder of the game.
Sigh.
Just had to get that off my chest, sorry. Not going to get to replay the game again (unless Brent Barry really has found Doc Brown somewhere), but to pretend that the officiating didn't CAUSE much of the other troubles that the Lakers had is to be naive at best on the way that a basketball game can be changed by a couple misplaced whistles.
Ohh, man. The first half was downright disgusting. And as much as I'd like to give Powe hsi well-deserved due, you just know that the officiating messed up the Lakers' game plan. Damn, man, this was teh Finals! 2 quick fouls on BOTH Odom and Kobe? Wow.
The Celtics played really really great D, but the refs really screwed teh Lakers out of a legit shot to win the game.
Agreed on 'the-Lakers-need-to-play-better'... which only makes the fact that they only lost by 6 with 28 fewer FTAs all that more amazing.
Seriously, I have not been impressed by the Celtics at all.
If the Lakers even only got 50% (rather than slightly over 25%) of their FTAs, they win game 2... even playing like your average local rec league team.
38 to 10..... yeah they got screwed alright. The Lakers can beat the Celtics, but they can't beat the Celtics and the Refs is the same game. The foul calling was so one sided I think there needs to be an investigation. 38 fouls to 10. Please give me a break. There is no incentive for Boston to stop fouling if they never have the fouls called on them.
If Steve Javie isn't the ref for Game 3... I'll be stunned. Game 4 now becomes the make/break game of the series.
Stop complaining already... If the refs called the foul on Fisher on the final seconds of Game 4 of Spur-Lakers. Your Lakers may not be on this NBA Finals... Take that...
Anonymous,
Were you paying attention, late in this game, when Paul Pierce got Derek Fisher in the air, then drew the contact, but was instead called for a travel? It was the correct call, because the travel happened before the contact.
Now, go back and watch the supposed Game 4 Derek Fisher foul. Watch Barry's feet. The way it was called in last night's game is correct, and it's the same way it should have been called in Game 4 of the WCF.
If anything, Barry should have been called for a travel, and the game should have been over.
As it is, the refs decided not to make the call on either side. That's fair to both sides. In fact, it favored the Spurs, because it allowed Barry to get off a shot attempt that he shouldn't have had.
Add to that the fact that Fisher's shot two possessions earlier hit the rim, and should have resulted in a fresh 24-second clock, but didn't, and your point is really just ridiculous.
It should be said like this: "If the refs gave the Lakers the fresh 24-second clock they deserved after Fisher's shot hit the rim, the Spurs wouldn't even have been in position to take that shot. And even then, Barry traveled."
So... Take that...
And Matt... everything that Anonymous #1 said (the 2nd comment here).
I'll tell you what bothers me most about the officiating and the free throw disparity: you can almost guarantee it will suddenly flip and the Lakers will have a huge free throw advantage at home "just to even things out". The NBA has its head up its ass with this nonsense. This is all coming one year after the Tim Donaghy scandal, and on the sport's biggest stage with its "glory matchup" of Lakers and Celtics, they are really dropping the ball by having the officiating become the story. You just know it's gonna get even worse in LA. I don't get it. The league got what they wanted with Lakers-Celtics: why not just let the teams play and call it evenly for both teams in all games rather than rewarding the home team with some ungodly free throw disparity? Since halftime of Game 1 the free throws in this series are:
Celtics - 62
Lakers - 24
Wow.
All of you who are acting as if Lakers got "screwed", please!! Its natural for a team to get to the line when they are the most of aggresive team. Although I dont believe in the cheap Offensive foul Kobe got in the first half, KG also got one on the very first possession trying to set a screen on the flopping Fisher. When the 4th quarter came around and the Lakers started to be more aggressive they found themselves in the penalty early.. Bottom line BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!! Quit flopping and expecting the refs to bail you out. The home team usually gets some of the questionable calls anyway, but for you peeps to act like they got cheated please.. With or without Gasol, the Celtics are 4-0 against the Lakers this season.. I guess all the refs cheated in those games as well.. I luv Kobe, but he needs to shutup and play ball. Quit flailing the arms trying to get a call.
The Lakers have been just Charmin' soft. For example, how about Gasol contesting the Leon Powe coast-to-coast drive and dunk? Phil Jackson has taken note of this. Hopefully (for the Lakers) the players are more responsive to their own failings than the perceived failings of the officials.
Dude, Bryant got his third foul from KNOCKING DOWN the truth standing around with one bad knee, while following Allen. Was that ridiculous or what? That was unintelligent, and the entire Lakers team was pretty much like that through 3.5 quarters.
The Lakers for the most part appeared naive and refused to accept that officiating is part of the game. They were playing cleanly and then expecting foul calls when it wasn't obvious. If they want to go to the line, do what Powe did, hanging around underneath the hoop for an eternity, and waiting for everybody to foul him before making a layup or a dunk.
So quit whining if you don't know how to play (the officiating part of) the game.
And just to refresh your memory, the Celtics ran into foul trouble early 3rd quarter, but they still PLAYED LIKE CHAMPS. The Lakers need to learn to stop fouling when it's crucial and not let it take them out of their game (and then lay blame on the officials who were just DOING THEIR JOB)!!
Laker Faithful, ring out the tears from your purple and gold vintage Kobe shirts. It's not as bad as you think. Remember back two series ago when they played the Jazz? Freethrow discrepancy after two games was LA 89 tries, and Utah 46, but that was justified right? I mean how many all-stars did Utah have? Only one who got in on a coach's choice.
But the real reason to dry the jerseys out and to not go pick up two more boxes of Kleenex for the next couple of games is that despite Utah's lack of a star, they actually got more calls (barely) at home in Utah 73 LA 62. So there is hope despite the blatant disrespect that these blind, deaf, and paid-off ref's have given to your beloved Lakers!
Biased Observer, that's exactly what I'm talking about. If the Lakers get a huge free throw advantage at home and/or the Celtics are in foul trouble a lot, will it surprise anyone? I doubt it. Will people scream bloody murder about it? Absolutely. It's the same old bullshit with the NBA and its "home cooking" approach to officiating. Are the refs just scared that the crowd will boo or chant "bull-shit" or something? Are they told to give the home team the benefit of the doubt? Why can't they just call things the same for both teams regardless of where the game is being played? I don't want to see the Lakers get a gigantic free throw advantage anymore than I wanted to see the Celtics get one. I'd rather that after these games we could talk about the actual play rather than the reffing.
And the NBA wonders why they're not as popular as other major sports. They try to draw all these fans in with this big "marquee matchup" and all we get is a big display of unbalanced officiating. Not the way to endear all the fringe fans to your product, especially when the officiating is already a perennial lightning rod of controversy.
I agree 100% with Apar.
I'm fairly certain the zebra's aren't walking around with a clicker in their pockets to count the number of fouls they have given to each team. Nor do I see them spending a great deal of time watching the scoreboard to ensure they have called one-for-one or eye for an eye in the foul dept.
Just a hunch, but i'm pretty sure they actually attempt to call each play on its own merit. Don't get me wrong though, I would agree that the refs often get caught up in "Make-up calls" and "Star calls or no-calls" but I highly doubt they favor the home team by purposefully giving them a 5,10,15,or even 20 point advantage in the fouls dept.
Enough with the conspiracy theories, folks.
It wasn't just the foul calls that had me going nuts during Game 2; there were other things, too. A few examples:
- Rondo "saving" the ball under the basket when he jumped from three feet out of bounds before touching the ball.
- Rondo "not travelling" on that clumsy falling backward shot from the free throw line area that hit the front rim beofre being rebounded by Boston.
- The multiple posessions when PJ Brown (and to a lesser degree Leon Powe) needed to light fires to stay warm as they camped out in the paint. On one particularly blatant display late in the third quarter, PJ had both feet on green wood for ELEVEN straight seconds without a whistle. Maybe Boston's "rebounding prowess" has something to do with never having to leave the lane?
'Rebounding Differential' is what's won the first two games of this series for the Celtics.
Now that the scene is shifting to the West Coast, expect the Lakers to outrebound the Celtics and get themselves back into the mix.
If not, this series is going to be over lick-a-dee-split and it's going to provide a war-chest of Motivation for the Lakers next year, during their 'Season of Destiny' (i.e. 70+ Wins & the 2008-2009 championship).
I am very dissappointed about the officiating esp game 2.....So please refs call it fairly....And you NBA analyst---how can you play defense when everytime you try you are given a foul....How can you have a good offense when your center of you offense (ODOM and Kobi) are in foul trouble for just trying to play....I am not even sure if I want to watch the next games......Referee what do you hate kobe so much....
My problem with the officiating in last night's game is the inconsistency. As anonymous (the first) noted, if you look at the shot charts, the Lakers were just as aggressive in the interior as Boston. KG even mentioned on the postgame interview that the refs were letting them bang. Watching the game last night, the Lakers looked scared to react on defense, because they felt that they were getting called for fouls on one end that weren't fouls on the other. I don't think the Lakers should have shot as many free throws as the Celtics, but the disparity was pretty ridiculous.
And from a strictly aesthetic viewpoint, it was a nearly unwatchable game. Every thirty seconds, a whistle stopped action. It was the antithesis of the free flowing game that Stern wants...
The numbers don't even matter. Any unbiased person who thinks the Lakers weren't screwed in the first half, I IMPLORE you to rewatch the half and tell me the Lakers weren't taken out of the game. I could go on and on, but that's really all there is to say.
And I'm not going to front, the Lakers "could have" responded, and the calls in the 2nd half evened out to some extent. But it's annoying to hear all of these analysts act like you can just place a half like that in a vacuum and expect the Lakers to pounce back after being "Royally screwed" and come back on the road against a great Celtics team. The second half is dictated by the first half, and it's...I don't know...just a LITTLE disheartening when your team is treated the way the Lakers were in the 1st half.
That last play was definitely not for sasha. If you look at the play, it was most certainly for bryant going to the rim. He inbounds the ball, and immediately cuts baseline. The celtics did a very good job of switching on the play , taking away the passing lane from pau to bryant. Thats why the entire play look so muddled.
Powe goes nova and you Laker fans can only keep whining about the officiating? Where was your "for the good of the game" attitude against San Antonio and Utah?
Forget it. I'm hoping for a heaping dose of humility in Laker nation.
Anon #1 here. Some responses.
apar: "Please. How are you supposed to get FTs when nobody drives to the rim?" ... Nobody drives to the rim. Right. Except for all those lay-up and dunk attempts the Lakers took, equalling the output of the Celtics exactly (see my post directly below yours). People have selective memories. Numbers do not. The numbers show that you are incorrect, and the teams shot the same number of times at the rim - but while approximately half of the attempts by the Celtics resulted in free throw attempts (either 2-shot fouls, or and-1s totalling somewhere in the realm of 32-35 FTAs), the Lakers received five free throws from their efforts. Just because the refs tossed in a few ticky-tack hand check calls at the end of the game doesn't take away the fact that not only were the Celtics gifted an unbelievable number of FTAs relative to an equally-aggressive Lakers team, but the EARLY foul calls against LA forced them to sit their starters (and the Celtics starters rolled against the Lakers bench).
Anon #2: Not only did Respect Kobe explain why you're incorrect, but if you go back and look at that game the Spurs shot more free throws for the entirety of the game than LA did. One call doesn't indicate a pattern throughout a game. For example, Radmanovic clearly travelled on his dunk to get to 100-104; that hardly makes up for the 28 extra free throws Boston received (tell you what - I'll trade you an unearned dunk for 28 extra FTAs in every game, see how many times your team wins). The refs made a (singular) bad call late in the Lakers' favor both games - but called Game 4 relatively even (Spurs avoid fouls very well - and let's not forget the goaltend that wasn't, or the "airball" by Fisher that actually hit the rim), and called Game 2 of the Finals like Tim Donaghy's friends had made a few calls.
str8 baller and joel - The Lakers haven't been "charmin soft," to borry a turn of phrase. They've been going at the Celtics, who are a physical team THAT FOULS A LOT (21st most penalized team in the NBA this season despite playing at the 19th-fastest pace). Again, look at the shot charts, and explain how a team shooting as often as LA did in the paint (hint: it was just as much as the Celtics), against a team that fouls as much as the Celtics do (hint: lots), gets only 3 shooting foul calls. I've yet to see a single response that doesn't consist of either "hey stop whining you lost lol" or "u weren't aggressive," which has been shown to not be the case!
anonymous #3 - "and then lay blame on the officials who were just DOING THEIR JOB" - What job is that, exactly? To make the wrong calls? Because if so, then the refs were AWESOME. Otherwise, no, they weren't doing their job. If my job is to build a computer, and when you come to collect I hand you a ham sandwich that I "built" instead, I'm not doing my job despite the fact that I still 'built' something. Running around on a wooden floor, wearing gray, and blowing a whistle doesn't mean you're officiating a game - last night is perfect evidence of this fact. On another note, Bryant "knocked down" Paul Pierce because PJ Brown slid about three feet over as Kobe was passing by, forcing Bryant into Pierce. If Lamar Odom picks up Rajon Rondo and throws him into Derek Fisher, is that a foul on Rondo? Because that's simply a more extreme example of what happened on that play (a foul by the offensive team goes uncalled, causing contact by the defensive player resulting in a foul on said defensive player).
biased observer - The difference? The Jazz foul. A lot. All season long they've been doing nothing but fouling, leading the league in fouls and free throws allowed. They do this willingly, to prevent FGAs (they're SECOND TO LAST in field goal attemps allowed despite playing at the 10th fastest pace in the league!) - it's a willful decision by Sloan. The Lakers allow a lot of field goals (5th most) - part of that is the high pace they play, but part of that is because they generally tend to try and avoid fouling as a strategy. The Lakers are 19th in free throws allowed despite not playing great defense (and playing a very uptempo pace, 6th in the league) - it's because they permit lots of shot attempts instead. Please explain how the team that fouls far less often and was attacking the rim just as much ends up allowing 38 FTAs, while the team that fouls far more often allows only 10? I don't hold that the "28 to 21" disparity explains anything - it simply shows that the refs were calling all the contact underneath the basket for the Celtics, despite the fact that both teams shot equally as often close to the hoop vs jump shots.
khandor - Rebounding differential? Like last night, when the Celtics had a full one extra rebound?
humble pie - Who's explaining things as "for the good of the game" aside from national pundits (who rarely know anything anyway)? There isn't a single rational explanation as to the free throw differential, while in LA's "advantageous" circumstances there has been plenty of information that, if it doesn't make things abundantly clear, at least provides SOME attempt. There is literally not ONE datapoint to which a Celtics fan can note that can't be totally obliterated with easily accessible information. Again, for example, the "oh, the Celtics were the more aggressive team" - no, they weren't, the Celtics shot just as many jumpers, and the Lakers shot just as many lay-up and dunk attempts; the Celtics simply benefitted from extraordinarily tight officiating, while the Lakers suffered from extraordinarily loose officating. The problem is that those two situations happened to occur in the SAME GAME.
Please, bring me some numbers that back up what you suggest, or at least pretend to disprove anything I've asserted here so far. I've yet to see one on any national OR Celtics-related source that doesn't simply devolve into "hay lookit Powe! oh lakers r soft lol". Given simple numbers show that to be false, I'll wait for somebody to bring proof to the contrary, thank you.
Oh, and Josh (Respect Kobe) - I'd like to see a post on your site about the first two games. Any plans?
Points in the paint, good stat. Want to look at the tape and see how many were little jumpers in the paint? Moving forward gets you foul shots, jumping in place does not.
The refs were pretty questionable, but they always are (if the Cs had lost, I'm sure the Doc T at the start of the game would have come up, as would Radman's 5-step dunk off the steal, Odom tossing the ball at Brown's head after he had already stepped out of bounds, etc). But the central point I've heard from Laker fans all day (Powe should not get more FTs than the whole team, and especially Kobe) is ridiculous considering he drove to the rim more than the entire Lakers team. Note to Lakers: the paint goes out a few feet past the rim; keep moving forward to find that FT nirvana.
Oh, and if bulling through Pierce and tossing elbows at a player is ticky-tack stuff, your frame of reference for a good foul must be one of those old "no-layup" Barkley bodychecks. That's not what the game is now, and failure to come to terms with that is the kind of stupidity that costs you games.
One reason Kobe shot better in the second half is that the Lakers ran their offense around getting him free of Ray Allen (!). Lots of high screens so he could shoot. In other words, most of their best worked attempts came outside the paint. The Lakers deserved to lose.
Bottom line is the better team always find a way to win the game! The Celtics just out played LA on both ends of the court. They made the plays when they needed them. I hope LA wins game three, but they got out played in game 2, period!
For anyone out there actually trying to defend the officiating there are two words to remember:
Tim Donaghy
Funny how so many are quick to call anyone who complains about the refereeing a nutjub "conspiracy theorist" when if anything you're delusional if you think the games are called fairly. The officiating is the reason the 2008 Playoffs that were supposed to be the most exciting in years have sucked so horribly. Crappy refs take the fun out of the game for the players and when the players aren't having fun how do you expect the audience to feel?
I'm a Laker fan and in all honesty I wouldn't mind if they got swept as long as the guys that play the game were allowed to decide the game because I know it would be more entertaining than what we've seen so far. There's no way that two teams so evenly matched should be separated by 24 points at any point in a series where all they want to do is play their hearts out. The game is being killed in front of our eyes.
to Apar: you must not be reading Anonymous' observations correctly: the Lakers in-paint shot attempts (which remember, were equal to Boston's) were LAYUPS and DUNKS. let's try that again: those attempts were LAYUPS and DUNKS. they were NOT jumpers in the paint. LAYUPS and DUNKS. those are what we deem high percentage points in basketball and they also have the highest probability of drawing fouls. LAYUPS and DUNKS.
and nobody mentioned when Paul pulled Kobe's whole right side in tha 4th causing him to flip the shot in with his left hand (blatent foul). or when KG batently knocked Pau out of bounds as he caught an alley and layed it in.
this isn't science people but since alot of you don't comprehend without facts and numbers, anoynymous made it science for you all to understand and it's still going over your heads
huh i agree that's home cooking..
points in the paint? advantage lakers 40-34..
ft shooting after 6 quarters? celts advantage 62-24..
but dont blame on the officials even though its obvious that's home cooking..
no refs, no great game..
Bringing back Spurs-Lakers game4, Barry admitted it was his fault, he shouldve taken the shot fisher landed on him than take the shot after, then the ref will give him the call... otherwise, thats really a no-call.. Even Timmy and Popo agreed on that...
As for Game 2 of the finals, clearly one-sided... The men in stripes were calling blinds and giving soft fouls in favor of the celtics, where as every Laker has to sacrifice his body just to get a call if they get the call that is... And that T on Kobe? Plain dumb call for me...
But still, Lakers should play better than that or it would be Bostons trophy...
@apar
How are you supposed to drive to the rim if in each and every attempt you just risk your health and body without even getting a call...
Lakers fans...seriously, get over it. In just about half [probably substantially more] playoff games, the home team is given a ridiculous advantage in fouls...it's happened FOR the Lakers this year and now it just happened to them. Stop whining over it because I'm sure you won't be yapping your head off about it when the numbers are probably reversed in the next 3 games...and they were down by 24 late in the game, you can not blame all of that on the referees. If the Lakers want to do that, then they have no heart. You push through adversity, not cry about the refs and give up.
lakers, phil stop your crying. you are playing a real team. you dont have a easy win, now you being tested and you can"t handle it. let go boston beat the cry-babys. bryant a mvp crying you want to be great like who? i remember jordon playing ball not waiting for the ref to bail him out, or help him out. the players did all kind of thing to him. but JORDAN show them what he's working with , and was talking smack to them in the process. kobe stop crying you a better then that.
Wow, this is one of the greatest strands ever. I love to hear the tears all the way from LA. It's amazing that these same people didn't seem to be watching the same game I was. Sure there were missed calls WAH WAH WAH!! As was pointed out time and again, LA has been the beneficiary of many calls that could have, and should have gone the other way. Wait what's that? Facts, is that what you said? It's hard to hear the "facts" between the sobs, and hysterical rantings. I presented the "facts" of the LA Utah series, and what do you come back with but more of your biased facts, and tears. I don't know why people (LA Fans) are saying that these playoffs are being ruined. To the contrary, I think these may be the best playoffs in a long time! I hope that (in the eyes of the Lakers) the Celtics continue to have 8 men (or 7 men 1 woman) on the floor for the remainder of the series. If that were to happen, judging by the tone of these comments, LA will be suffering from some flooding of their own.
Wow, this is one of the greatest strands ever. I love to hear the tears all the way from LA. It's amazing that these same people didn't seem to be watching the same game I was. Sure there were missed calls WAH WAH WAH!! As was pointed out time and again, LA has been the beneficiary of many calls that could have, and should have gone the other way. Wait what's that? Facts, is that what you said? It's hard to hear the "facts" between the sobs, and hysterical rantings. I presented the "facts" of the LA Utah series, and what do you come back with but more of your biased facts, and tears. I don't know why people (LA Fans) are saying that these playoffs are being ruined. To the contrary, I think these may be the best playoffs in a long time! I hope that (in the eyes of the Lakers) the Celtics continue to have 8 men (or 7 men 1 woman) on the floor for the remainder of the series. If that were to happen, judging by the tone of these comments, LA will be suffering from some flooding of their own.
Hey all you guys that are really complaining... why dont you go out buy the dammed video of last nights game.. maybe some of you tivo'ed it.. AND WATCH IT! yea pierce travelled... but come on now guys.. do you really think the refs fu*ked you guys over? If thats the case... then MOST of the season the celtics , who were getting beaten and getting called for shit were getting bullshitted... and you guys have kobe... if someone touched kobe during the regular season he got a technical (i exagerated a little) but you guys know its true.. stop looking at the numbers and look at the replays. 95% of those calls were legit. AND YOU KNOW IT! your just so into " kobes mvp and we got gasol now, so we should sweep these old guys" that you dont look at the fact that THEY DIDNT GET HIT most of the time. So SHUT UP about the refs and worry about your "beloved lakers" getting swept by the old men and oh so lowly bench Celtics. if tonights game goes lakers way the celtics fans will cry about something.
"It's hard to hear the "facts" between the sobs, and hysterical rantings. I presented the "facts" of the LA Utah series, and what do you come back with but more of your biased facts, and tears."
... 'Biased' facts? Such as? Such as Utah's willingness to foul to prevent good shot attempts, as on display all season long? Such as Los Angeles's willingness to permit easier shots in order to avoid fouling, also on display all season long? Stop me as soon as I hit the point at which I become "biased." It's funny, I'm pretty sure that numbers aren't biased, but hey, maybe they're just lying to make the Lakers look better... yeah, that has to be it, right? Couldn't be that the information available suggests you're actually... incorrect?
Instead of claiming MY facts are biased, why don't you go find some of your own that disprove mine? If I can find numbers that have a preference for teams, why has nobody else been able to do the same?
Actually, those attempts in the paint were not LAYUPS and DUNKS. They were soft attempts. I know this because, and this is something you might want to try, I WATCHED THE GAME. And when they did go for LAYUPS and DUNKS, like the move where Gasol made KG look foolish, they DIDN'T get FOULED. And they certainly weren't taking their lives into their hands near the basket: this is 2008, not 1989, and no Laimbeer lays waiting.
Had they spent the third quarter dumping it inside to Gasol instead of running the offense around getting Kobe good long-range looks, they might have had something going. They didn't.
Again I will say, the officials were bad. There was a little home cooking; there always is. There were a lot of calls in both directions that made no sense. The Lakers, though, made it easy on the Celtics by not putting themselves into a position to draw shooting fouls. The team
the game was a joke, end of story. the zebras should feel ashamed and shoulnt be catching any Z's b/c how the hell would you sleep at night after screwing an entire team over?
the other joke was the celtics play in the final 8 mins of the 4th quater. after thinking they had it in the bag (so did the damn zebras) the lakers went on a furious comeback. then, with a chance to get a stop and tie the game on the next play, a zebra decided he needed to finish the job by creating an imaginary foul call to send pierce to the line.
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