What an awesome display over Minnesota the other night in round one. The T-Wolves are at LEAST the equal, talent-wise of ANY team in the west, no? Iverson MVP? Hah! It's a tie between the awesome Bryant and awesome Shaq who will continue to be Champs for as long as they can. Phil Jackson for Coach of the Year! Has any team ever had two better players leading them year after year? ;)
George Washington gave his signature The Government gave its hand They said for now and ever more that this was Indian Land
"As long as the moon shall rise" "As long as the rivers flow" "As long as the sun will shine" "As long as the grass shall grow"
Originally posted by Eddie FamousWhat an awesome display over Minnesota the other night in round one. The T-Wolves are at LEAST the equal, talent-wise of ANY team in the west, no? Iverson MVP? Hah! It's a tie between the awesome Bryant and awesome Shaq who will continue to be Champs for as long as they can. Phil Jackson for Coach of the Year! Has any team ever had two better players leading them year after year? ;)
T-Wolves equal to any team in the West? In a word, no. Sure, they have KG, but nobody else steps up regularly for them come playoff time, and 6 years of stalling in the first round reflects that. They are clearly overmatched against the Lakers, to take nothing away from the Lakers since they are the champs until beaten.
Phil Jackson should not even be mentioned for Coach of the Year, as the pisspoor start and the team the calibre of the Lakers being a 5th seed is two black marks that can't be ignored. Frank Johnson of Phoenix or Rick Carlisle of Detroit would be worthy of COY, IMO.
Perhaps the Lakers were under the impression that they had in fact won the title after one game, since they sure didn't show up tonight. The series is now even. Minnesota could be tougher than expected.
Over 1100 posts and still never a Wiener of the Day!
Originally posted by Big BadPerhaps the Lakers were under the impression that they had in fact won the title after one game, since they sure didn't show up tonight. The series is now even. Minnesota could be tougher than expected.
Part of the NBA conspiracy to get the most popular team (awesome Lakers) the most exposure by playing the most games. Wouldn't be surprised to see every series go seven games. ;)
George Washington gave his signature The Government gave its hand They said for now and ever more that this was Indian Land
"As long as the moon shall rise" "As long as the rivers flow" "As long as the sun will shine" "As long as the grass shall grow"
Hell, I'd be thrilled if Minnesota proved me wrong and knocked the Lakers out. That will depend a lot on whether Garnett will continue to the help on offense he got last night in Wally and Troy Hudson. I just don't know if they can keep it up in a 7 game series.
My prediction has and will continue to be that Kobe's back will eventually break from carrying everything. How soon this happens will decide when the Lakers lose.
Plain and simple, the last 30 seconds of that game was some of the most lopsided officiating I've ever seen. Did they dust off Dick Bavetta for this game?
First, a stiff gust of wind would have made more contact on that Kobe three. Then, Troy Hudson gets TACKLED on the next play, and there's no call. Then Wally gets shoved out of bounds, once again, no call.
And don't get me started on the two phantom fouls on KG in the fourth quarter.
BULLSHIT.
And KG just fouled out in OT. Well, I guess David Stern can sleep easier now.
Pleeze Beleeve It.
edit: Well they won, but the end of regulation was still criminal...
On one hand, it's nice to see someone who isn't the Kings getting the same royal screwing from the officials. On the OTHER hand, it's about a million times better that they managed to win anyway, and I wish the Kings just could have done that as well.
Still, those calls were criminal. Downright criminal.
Y'know, if I was a Lakers fan, I'd be pretty scared right now. The TWolves managed to fight through the shitty officiating and the loss of KG in OT to win AT Staples.
Yes. Criminal. With a Capital C. Especially the Sczerbiak(sp?) foul where he NEVER touched the guy!
A screwjob attempt on the Wolves that went awry. Gotta love it. Not even the biggest bullshit calls in the history of the NBA could save the Lakers tonight. I'm sure Stern will assign Dick Bavetta and Danny Davis as referees for the remaining games in the series.
From last year's Sports Guy column, to refresh your memory:
Question: What was the most disturbing subplot of the playoffs? Answer: The officiating, also the most disturbing subplot of the past four playoffs. If you examine the last four NBA playoff campaigns, during every situation where the league definitively "needed" one of the two teams involved to win -- either to A) change the momentum of a series so it didn't end prematurely, B) keep an attractive, big-market team alive in a series, or C) advance an attractive, big-market team to another round -- the officiating appeared to be slanted towards the team that needed that game. I use the phrase "appeared to be," because reviewing an official's performance is purely subjective. Maybe I'm dead-wrong.
These were just the games that jump out in my mind (again, I could be wrong):
1999, Knicks-Pacers, Game 3 ... LJ sinks a game-winning four-pointer (called a continuation foul by referee Jess Kersey even though LJ was fouled a full second before he released the ball).
1999, Knicks-Pacers, Game 6 ... Knicks last chance to close out Indy before the series shifts back to Indiana for Game 7 ... they get every call.
1999, Spurs-Knicks, Game 3 ... down 2-0, the Knicks get every call in their first home game and win their only game of the series.
2000, Knicks-Heat, Game 7 ... Knicks advance to the conference finals ... falling out of bounds, Latrell Sprewell awarded a timeout by referee Bennett Salvatore with 2.1 seconds left even though none of the Knicks called for one ... Sprewell admits after the game that he hadn't called a timeout ... the Miami players chase the referees off the court after the game, yelling that they had been robbed ... after the game, Jamal Mashburn tells reporters, "They had three officials in their pocket" and Tim Hardaway refers to referee Dick Bavetta as "Knick Bavetta."
2000, Lakers-Blazers, Game 7 ... LA shoots 21 more free throws and rallies back from a 17-point deficit in the final seven minutes ... Shaq plays an illegal defense down the stretch, undaunted ... Rasheed Wallace absolutely gets manhandled down the stretch, yet doesn't get a single call ... up by four with 25 seconds left, Shaq body-blocks Steve Smith out of bounds and the refs don't make the call (the most egregious non-call in recent memory).
2002, Celtics-Nets, Game 4 ... Celts up 2-1 ... the Nets are inexplicably allowed to push and shove Kenny Anderson and Pierce while they dribble the ball ... a number of head-scratchers go against Boston, including three offensive charges down the stretch ... four different "bull-(bleep)" chants during the game.
2002, Lakers-Kings, Game 6 ... LA needs a win to stay alive ... from an officiating standpoint, the most one-sided game of the past decade ... at least six dubious calls against the Kings in the fourth quarter alone ... LA averaged 22 free throws a game during the first five games of the series, then attempted 27 freebies in the fourth quarter alone of Game 6 ... rumors that David Stern wanted to pull a Vince McMahon and declare himself "The special guest referee" for this game prove unfounded.
(By the way, I would feel remiss if I didn't share this information: Dick Bavetta was assigned to every one of the above games. That's an absolute fact. You can look it up. Doesn't mean anything ... I just felt the need to pass that along. It sure looks bad, doesn't it? Maybe the league could do a favor for Bavetta and not assign him to Game 3 of the Finals, especially if the Lakers jump to a 2-0 lead over New Jersey. You wouldn't want to rile up those conspiracy theorists or anything. Ummmm ...)
I cannot believe that the referees allowed the TWolves to run roughshod over the Lakers in that overtime period. A horrific travesty that surely Mr. Stern, if he knows where his money comes from, will correct later in the series!
Meanwhile, the awesome Lakers are still champs!
George Washington gave his signature The Government gave its hand They said for now and ever more that this was Indian Land
"As long as the moon shall rise" "As long as the rivers flow" "As long as the sun will shine" "As long as the grass shall grow"
Originally posted by Swordsman YenBlah, Blah, Blah ... It's a CONSPIRACY!!! I saw David Stern in the grassy knoll with a (enemy team here) jersey on!!! Let's all continue to hate the Lakers because of their success!!!
... Shaquille O'Neal gets fouled on about 75-80% of his shot attempts in the key. Many of these fouls go uncalled.
Teams get calls based on their stature within the league. When the Lakers were losing to Utah in the late 90's, there were numerous offensive fouls committed by Karl Malone and illegal picks set down low by John Stockton that went uncalled.
It is part of sports, part of life. Get OVER it. Please.
Originally posted by J.T. DutchOriginally posted by Swordsman YenBlah, Blah, Blah ... It's a CONSPIRACY!!! I saw David Stern in the grassy knoll with a (enemy team here) jersey on!!! Let's all continue to hate the Lakers because of their success!!!<
Oh, real cute to completely misquote me in some lame attempt to be funny. Granted that my second favorite team is anybody playing against the Lakers, all I want is the games to be decided by the players, not referees making very questionable calls in critical moments.
Originally posted by J.T. DutchShaquille O'Neal gets fouled on about 75-80% of his shot attempts in the key. Many of these fouls go uncalled.
Blah, blah, blah. You know, I used to accept that quote as fact, seeing as I *like* Shaq, but come on. For every time he gets hacked in the key, he's throwing elbows, or doing more shuffling than the Lord of the Dance. He gets more than his fair share of no calls, so let's not act like poor Shaq is getting brutalized out there.
And while I posted last night in a fit of rage, this morning, I fired up the TiVo and watched the last few minutes of that game again. And Kobe STILL didn't get fouled. And Horry did a fantastic flop on KG's last foul.
And just to rile up the conspiracy theorists, right after Kobe hit that three, TNT went to one of those 45-second commercial breaks that drive me nuts. The two commercials that aired? A Sprite commercial featuring Kobe Bryant, and a NBA promo featuring-wait for it-Kobe Bryant. Hmmm...
Originally posted by Swordsman YenBlah, Blah, Blah ... It's a CONSPIRACY!!! I saw David Stern in the grassy knoll with a (enemy team here) jersey on!!! Let's all continue to hate the Lakers because of their success!!!
... Shaquille O'Neal gets fouled on about 75-80% of his shot attempts in the key. Many of these fouls go uncalled.
Teams get calls based on their stature within the league. When the Lakers were losing to Utah in the late 90's, there were numerous offensive fouls committed by Karl Malone and illegal picks set down low by John Stockton that went uncalled.
It is part of sports, part of life. Get OVER it. Please.
(edited by J.T. Dutch on 25.4.03 0233)
No It's NOT a part of sports. It's a part of the NBA. Only in the NBA do they favor the more popular teams, veterans, superstars, and the home teams. In baseball Greg Maddux doesn't get different calls than a rookie pitcher. Jerry Rice doesn't get more calls than a rookie receiver. The NBA's favoritism is ridiculous. They call fouls on people who don't commit fouls, and don't call fouls on some people who do commit fouls. And you know what it is when you don't follow the rules? It's called CHEATING. I mean I know referees and umpires make mistakes, but none of the calls were even questionable AND there was a ton of them. You had... 1. Garnett's fifth foul wasn't a foul 2. Kobe's four point play wasn't a foul 3. Hudson got pushed down on the next inbounds 4. Wally got pushed out of bounds on the next inbounds 5. Nesterovic's foul on Kobe was questionable, Kobe just has to run into people and it's automatically a foul on the other guy. 6. Garnett's sixth foul was so obviously a flop 7. Wally's technical shouldn't have been a technical 8. Marc Jackson got a CLEAN block on Shaq, but the refs just assume nobody can block Shaq so it must be a foul. 9. The foul on the layup by Pargo was the single worst call i have seen in all of sports, and why is Pargo even getting calls? This is the very fist time i've seen or even heard of the guy and he's get favorable calls in the playoffs.
You expect me to believe that Wally/KG fouled 11 times and Shaq/Kobe only fouled someone 2 times? Please. Shaq does get fouled more than they call, I admit it, but there is NO WAY he has ever gone an entire game and only commited one foul. And even though Kobe is a good defensive player and very under control I find it hard to believe that he only gets one foul in a game too as aggresive as he plays.
Originally posted by Quezzy...and why is Pargo even getting calls? This is the very fist time i've seen or even heard of the guy and he's get favorable calls in the playoffs.
Why WOULDNT Pargo be getting calls in the play-offs? What happened to all that "Superstars shouldn't get all the favorable calls" stuff you were just talking about? So now just because he's a rookie, there are certain calls he shouldnt get?
It's always amazing to me how people hating on a certain team or person will bring up any reason they can to start bashing, even when they only end up contradicting themselves.