I can't help but to chime in now. First, I agree that the refereeing has been inconsistent and that there have been blown calls. But when was the last time you saw a perfectly officiated game? You have the same chance as having a team shoot 100% from the field...
I'm not sure what some are saying that refereeing has changed this whole series... I'm not sure what we mean that we get no calls inside...
First, the Laker bigs get calls inside because they are the aggressors. They are attacking the basket more than we are. During the Phoenix series, Lakers were complaining that Phoenix was getting all the inside calls. Duh? You had Nash, Amare and company constantly attacking the basket... They attacked the basket, they started getting calls. The Lakers had to adjust but Phoenix still averaged 100+ pts per game on them. It's just too bad Phx didn't play ANY defense. Who was attacking in games 1 & 3? Perkins? Sheed? C'mon. We are not running good offensive sets. Period. Doc alluded to this. We are taking some bad shots, and a lot of outside jumpers. What foul are you looking for there? We still shot free throws last night, because when we attacked the basket, we got foul calls (i.e. PP's late minute and 1). I almost threw something at the TV when I thought Bryant fouled Perkins on a drive. Then I see the replay and he packed Perkins who took the ball to the rim weaker than a 6th grader. When you see that play, you realize why he doesnt get a call...
The game has been called tight on both ends. Artest drew 2 very quick fouls in the 1st. When YOU KNOW this, you must adjust. Can I ask this? What was PP doing trying to root Artest from the block on his 5th foul? Artest 50% of the time will turn the ball over, 30% of the time will dribble out the shot clock, and the other 20% of the time throw up a ridiculous shot that has 10% chance of going in. The game is being called tight and you have 4 fouls... soooooo... you want to fight him for position? PP is a vet and should no better... Kobe? He didnt get fouls called because he was playing 10 feet off of Rondo... what did Rondo do? Nothing. His j is decent, he needs to drain a few to create respect and have Kobe play him honest. That will open up the offense. Sheed's foul on Gasol was phantom, but he shouldn't have leaned his arms over. They go straight up, no foul and Gasol would have bricked the shot.
I just watched the game again on DVR. The Laker bigs "lean" on picks, but Boston bigs create the illusion of moving when they get called. They need to create cleaner picks. Plain and simple. KG got goaded into the illegal pick after the replay reversal. Gasol flopped but KG didn't need to push off (slightly). Ray had a clear path to the basket without the push (but he didn't make it anyways). We didn't lose the game there anyways. We lost it on the 21-5 run in the first. We just played horrible. No execution on Off or Def. I hate playing catchup.
I think the 1st to games were a wash, because we defintely got the better end of the calls on game 2 (not complaining). Kobe's fouls were very ticky tack (especially the one Rondo got on him falling out of bounds). But you see what happens when you play aggressive? Also, we got a crucial call go our way as I thought they were going to reverse the out of bounds call at the end of the game when the ball went off KG. I think this is what Doc was alluding to when he said "had to be conclusive" regarding yesterday's reversal. The call on Artest agaisnt PP on the break went in our favor as well. Score game 2 for us.
Yes, I hate that they call it tight, but that's how they are calling it. We had our chances yesterday. The foul Rondo committed on Odom wasn't called and we got the ball back. What happened? We didn't execute. The reach around foul on Rondo before Fisher hit that shot wasn't called and could have been and and one. But does it matter? No. What mattered there was the p----poor pick and roll defense. That was the 2nd time they ran that same play and got the same result.
What we need to do is play smarter. Their defense is based on rotations. That's what created so many open shots for Ray in game 2. In game 3 they were quicker on rotations and jumped out to contest Ray's shots (blocked 2 of them). How bout Ray give a pump fake and draw a foul ala Kobe? How bout he pump fake and drive it to the basket. Ray is a very underrated driver. Now that we know the tone of how the games are being called we can adjust and I believe Doc can create a winning game plan.
