I would like to thank the officials...

[fairweatherfan]

The refs gave us a few phantom calls in crunch time.  Yes, the refs helped us.

Lakers got some phantom calls too in their favor.

I was ticked at that when I saw it, but watch the replay that shows the whole play.  Ray kind of walks under him as he shoots, using his shoulder to take Kobe's legs out from under him and affect his balance.  Not the sort of thing that normally gets called, but absolutely the sort of thing that was getting called last night.

[blake]

I would like to thank them for handing us the game.  It was obviously biased our way.  I can't say that it seemed intentional, but that was the outcome.

[Amonkey]

The thing that ticked me off was how they were complaining on Sportscenter how the fouls were favoring the Celtics, just because Kobe got into foul trouble.  I admit that two of the fouls were weak and should be noncalls, but if Sportscenter is gonna complain about the fouling, why not mention the free throw discrepencies?  Also, those two blocks were clean as my drawers after a double wash.  I would say one thing though, the only consistancy thing from this refs are that they have been consistently calling bad fouls.  It's pretty bad that (apparently) these are the best NBA refs because the bad calls are amazing.

[blake]

I would like to thank them for handing us the game.  It was obviously biased our way.  I can't say that it seemed intentional, but that was the outcome.

I just got an invoice in my email for 10k from the NBA signed by Stern. 

[Roy Hobbs]

The thing that ticked me off was how they were complaining on Sportscenter how the fouls were favoring the Celtics, just because Kobe got into foul trouble.  I admit that two of the fouls were weak and should be noncalls, but if Sportscenter is gonna complain about the fouling, why not mention the free throw discrepencies?  Also, those two blocks were clean as my drawers after a double wash.  I would say one thing though, the only consistancy thing from this refs are that they have been consistently calling bad fouls.  It's pretty bad that (apparently) these are the best NBA refs because the bad calls are amazing.

Yeah, the thing that worries me is that people have seemed to buy into the "the Lakers got screwed" narrative.  If all the media attention is directed at a laughable pro-Celtics bias, that means we truly are going to get screwed in Game 3.

[Schupac]

Normally I rage at NBA refs but last night, I can't complain.  The free throw discrepancy looks bad, but there were a small number of calls that I thought were just flat out bad, and two of them were against Kobe Bryant, which you'll rarely see.

The refs called it a little tighter than I'd like, particularly in the front court (I feel like the wing players on both teams get away with a lot more than the big men). 

I have a hard time saying good job on not giving the double tech, since I hate that call in general.  I feel like it's congratulating someone for not screwing up.  The double tech is the ultimate cop-out call, where a ref wants to assert control but doesn't really have a basis to do so.  And I *HOPE* Perk doesn't get T'd up again in this series, since 2-3 of the T's he is carrying right now were complete BS  (how can you give a player a technical foul when he complains about your terrible call?).

[connerhenry43]

The thing that ticked me off was how they were complaining on Sportscenter how the fouls were favoring the Celtics, just because Kobe got into foul trouble.  I admit that two of the fouls were weak and should be noncalls, but if Sportscenter is gonna complain about the fouling, why not mention the free throw discrepencies?  Also, those two blocks were clean as my drawers after a double wash.  I would say one thing though, the only consistancy thing from this refs are that they have been consistently calling bad fouls.  It's pretty bad that (apparently) these are the best NBA refs because the bad calls are amazing.

espn talking from a laker point of view? say it isn't so! 

[kozlodoev]

I was ticked at that when I saw it, but watch the replay that shows the whole play.  Ray kind of walks under him as he shoots, using his shoulder to take Kobe's legs out from under him and affect his balance.  Not the sort of thing that normally gets called, but absolutely the sort of thing that was getting called last night.

Wasn't called on the other end, though. I guess they decided that since they will be calling Fisher for trying any wrestling techniques know to man on Ray Allen, they'll swallow the whistle on anything that happens in the paint.

There were bad calls and make-up bad calls all night, in both directions.

[Beat LA]

There's so many things wrong with your logic here, I don't even know where to start.

I probably shouldn't but...

Let's start with the "league's agenda". Can you explain what it is? Because it seems to me that if the league has ANY agenda, it's not handing the Lakers a 2-0 series lead. Because that doesn't make them more money

And I don't think ANYONE thinks they just want the Lakers to win, just because. If you're claiming an agenda, let's hear the logic behind it. The only logical agenda would be to split the first two games to drive fan interest, advertising dollars, and box office numbers.

To your point about the conference finals schedules... you really think the timing of the games was deliberately planned, along with "criminal" officiating, to give the Celtics a disadvantage vs. the Lakers in the finals? Really? If so, why?

Do you think that Phil Jackson was commenting on the officiating to perhaps sway favor in game three?

And yeah, all those calls on Kobe were not legit

Really?  Are we even talking about the same game here?  Did you not witness that crime against the sport of basketball last night?

Look, I will say this: The Celtics had a really bizarre schedule this year, while the Lakers got to stay at home for the first two months.  Their longest road trips were a pathetic number of games compared to ours. 

Also, I do think that David Stern believes that it is in the best interest of the league if the Lakers win, because, bottom line - that's where the money is.  The Celtics are a smaller market team and do not produce nearly the same revenue as the Lakers per year. 

I also can't ignore perhaps the most remarkable of coincidences in that most of the conspiracy theories over the years all seem to come back to the Lakers.  Remember when Stern said his dream match up in the finals would have been Lakers vs. Lakers?  I kind of understood what he was saying, because it would have been the best team against the best team, but it was the wrong thing to say. 

And who could forget the infamous game 6 between the Kings and Lakers.  That game, and series, was stolen from the Kings - they were the true champions that year.  It was the same thing in the 80s - in '88, the Pistons should have won game 6 but the refs bailed them out with a dubious foul call on Laimbeer late in the game (and yes, I hate Laimbeer, but that call was, at best, debatable).  In '87 the refs got the Lakers back in Game 4 against us and let them shoot 16 more free throws than the Celtics, and in Boston no less (although K.C. Jones was more to blame for his non use of the bench, but still).  In Game 6 of the finals in '85, McHale fouled out on a ridiculous call (although that series was lost for many other reasons).  In '86, when the Rockets beat the Lakers in Game 5, Mitch Kupchak started a fight with Hakeem and got himself and Olajuwon thrown out of the game, which Houston still won on Sampson's last second shot, but in Game 4 of the Finals the following year, James Worthy had his shot blocked (it looked like) by DJ and was fouled hard by Greg Kite.  Worthy came up swinging, and Jabbar got Kite in the face.  Were either of them thrown out?  No, and Dennis Johnson, of all people, was called for the foul.  Those are the only ones I can think of right now.

In response to your question regarding the scheduling of the Finals, I don't think that it was set up that way on purpose, but don't you think it's at least strange that there is only one day between games 2 and 3 when the teams have to travel to Boston?  It should have been 3 days off before the Finals, then a day between games 1 and 2, and 2 days between games 2 and 3 for travel and rest purposes, but I guess that's just me.

I also don't understand why David Stern, after telling NBA coaches to stop complaining about the officials, doesn't enforce his own policy and fine Phil Jackson.  At least Doc is cautious about it, but Phil just seems to whine, whine, and whine, with no punishment.  Although, the real problem here is that the league treats its refs like sacred cows.

IMO, Kobe, like Jordan, gets away with murder out there all the time and is never called for it.  Were some of the calls questionable, sure, but so was every call made on the Celtics in Game 2.

Finally, I'm sorry that my post seemed sensationalistic to you - I really do try to look at these games objectively, but I guess after reading my previous post that would be the last conclusion one could draw from it.  It was just so frustrating last night and I needed to get it out of my system. 

BTW, I am a skeptical person by nature and, while there probably is no conspiracy involving the Lakers, there are certainly instances when it can feel that way - to me at least.   

[footey]

Speaking of the refs, I thought it was classic Phil Jackson lamenting the official's calls, basically crying over the loss of Kobe for big chunks. I don't recall Doc saying boo after game 1, when Ray sat for even larger chunks of time. 

I'm glad Doc is our coach.

[Finkelskyhook]

Lakers got to the line more because they pounded the ball inside more.

There were bad calls on both sides.  Kobe did get royally screwed in game 2.  So did Garnett.

If they just called techs for obvious flopping a lot of this crap would clean itself up.

[connerhenry43]

Lakers got to the line more because they pounded the ball inside more.

There were bad calls on both sides.  Kobe did get royally screwed in game 2.  So did Garnett.

If they just called techs for obvious flopping a lot of this crap would clean itself up.

la went inside more? how did la manage to block 400 shots during the course of the game?

agreed on techs flr flopping.....fisher would be gone.

[droopdog7]

I DO HAVE A RULES QUESTION:

On the out of bounds play that was reviewed between KG and gasol, I wonder what the rule interpretation is?  KG obvioucly got more of the ball than gasol did.  You could argue that gasol didn't touch it at all.  But assuming that gasol DID touch it, and it was relatively simultaneous with KG, who should get the ball considering that gasol's hand was behind kg's?  I always assumed that in that situtation, the person in front (or in this case, the hand) would get the benefit of the doubt?  Regardless of whether gasol touched it, does anyone else have any insight into this?

[lon3lytoaster]

I DO HAVE A RULES QUESTION:

On the out of bounds play that was reviewed between KG and gasol, I wonder what the rule interpretation is?  KG obvioucly got more of the ball than gasol did.  You could argue that gasol didn't touch it at all.  But assuming that gasol DID touch it, and it was relatively simultaneous with KG, who should get the ball considering that gasol's hand was behind kg's?  I always assumed that in that situtation, the person in front (or in this case, the hand) would get the benefit of the doubt?  Regardless of whether gasol touched it, does anyone else have any insight into this?

The replay has to be 100 percent conclusive. One of the refs had already called it Celtic ball, and I guess they just simply decided it was too close to call so they went with the original decision.

Although, I do think it probably went off KG.

[Mr October]

Going back to the OP: hat tip to the officials. I hate the double tech rule for getting physical within the construct of the game. I'm glad they showed restraint.

As to a team bias, the calls were wacky on both sides. Kobe and KG got called on some bad stuff.

I would also like to throw this in there: When will Bynum be called for a 3 second violation?

There were a number of times I could count to 5 or 6 when he was in the paint. No wonder the dude is constantly in the right place for an offensive rebound.