Houston vrs. that purple and yellow team

[Atzar]

Houston is sloppy in the beginning of the fourth quarter. 

[Cs09Champs]

Back to back turnovers for the Rockets. Lakers lead by 11 with about 8 mins. to go in the 4th.

[Fafnir]

Back to back turnovers for the Rockets. Lakers lead by 11 with about 8 mins. to go in the 4th.

Tons of time left, but I don't think Houston can get enough stops to make up the deficit.

[Cs09Champs]

Artest just got ejected. Lakers will probably win this one.

[Cs09Champs]

Was that an elbow Kobe threw at Artest's throat??

[bruinsandceltics]

Holy Overreaction Joey Crawford!

But what else is new.

Artest bumped Kobe, should have been a T but ejection hell no.

Joey Crawford must be taking lessons from Bennett Salvadore

[illantari]

Was that supposed to be a make up ejection?

[The Walker Wiggle]

Was that an elbow Kobe threw at Artest's throat??

Yup. Hard to say if this is just bad officiating or if this is one of "those" games.

[drza44]

I freakin HATE this Lakers team.  I HATE Kobe's cockiness...I HATE that they get away with so much junk.  There is HATE in my heart right now.

[lon3lytoaster]

Rockets not gettiing many favors with the zebras...

I do love Ron Artest though.

[fairweatherfan]

Was that an elbow Kobe threw at Artest's throat??

Yup. Hard to say if this is just bad officiating or if this is one of "those" games.

Wow, I wonder if that's a suspension for Kobe - the rules are very specific that any elbow foul above the shoulders is a suspension.  That looks very intentional on the replay - Ron had his forearm on the back of Kobe's neck and gave him a shove, and Kobe swung at his throat.

EDIT: The rulebook says it should be an ejection, but they suspended Howard for violating the same rule and not getting ejected.  The league'll probably declare it unintentional since it's Kobe, but this could get interesting.

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

how absurd, kick out artest on a play where he was called for a foul when being elbowed in the throat. joey crawford, give me a break.

and how absurd is doug collins talking about "tough" "heart" etc with fisher launching himself into an elbow blatantly and claiming artest has to leave fast when ejected (for nothing really, or nothing to be thrown out for). let your bias play much? ugh. i really really hate doug collins.

[Kuberski33]

There's some serious venom developing in this series -- good stuff!  The atmosphere for Game 3 ought to be electric.

[drza44]

Was that an elbow Kobe threw at Artest's throat??

Yup. Hard to say if this is just bad officiating or if this is one of "those" games.

Wow, I wonder if that's a suspension for Kobe - the rules are very specific that any elbow foul above the shoulders is a suspension.

Highly unlikely.  Last game Kobe threw a knee/elbow combo to Battier's head with no call at all...why would a sole elbow that resulted in a foul on ARTEST result in a suspension.

[fairweatherfan]

Was that an elbow Kobe threw at Artest's throat??

Yup. Hard to say if this is just bad officiating or if this is one of "those" games.

Wow, I wonder if that's a suspension for Kobe - the rules are very specific that any elbow foul above the shoulders is a suspension.

Highly unlikely.  Last game Kobe threw a knee/elbow combo to Battier's head with no call at all...why would a sole elbow that resulted in a foul on ARTEST result in a suspension.

That play in Game 1 looked at least somewhat incidental to Kobe standing up.  This was just "box out, get pushed, swing elbow into Artest's throat, grab rebound".  The rulebook is very specific that any elbow foul above the shoulders is an ejection.

I'll be shocked to see the league do it too, though.