Originally posted by: BeauJangles
Originally posted by: Phokus
Originally posted by: OCguy
Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124
W T F
I think the Kobe elbow might not have been worth a flagrant, but at least call a foul on that shit, the replay shows it was blatant. Kobe plays dirty in the heat of the game, it's all over YouTube.
Youve never played any sort of sport (not attacking you personally, just saying in general) if you think that in the heat of the moment, you hatch some dirty plan to elbow the face of some guy who is running at you.
If they had some bad blood earlier, (say, it was artest..for instance) then I could understand.
They will probably give Kobe a Flag 1, keep the one on ORL a flagrant 1.
Even if Kobe were to be suspended a game, it would just rest him for Game 6.
OCguy is just in denial that Kobe is a piece of shit cheapshot artist and the refs let him get away with it, ALWAYS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJAx7dCnlnY
NBA = WWE
Some of the Kobe Rules last night were absolutely ridiculous. I like how every time Kobe got a player in the air and jumped into him, it was a foul, but that wasn't true for anyone on the Magic. Both Turkoglu and Reddick tried it at various points with mixed results. The leeway granted to Kobe by the officials to molest Howard down low was also pretty ridiculous, though not as ridiculous as the "defense" that Ariza plays on Turkoglu. I swear every single time he touches the ball, Ariza punches, slaps, or hits him -- all without any calls.
I'm all for letting players play, but if the NBA wants to do that then it needs to be true for both teams, not just the Lakers. Also, there were bad calls on the Lakers. I thought some of the fouls on Gasol and Bynum were complete bullshit, but they don't balance out how untouchable Kobe is throughout a game. He's a great player, but he gets bailed out by the refs all the freaking time.
Finally, the Magic should have won that game. Once again, they failed to get a good inbounds play and Pietrus basically panicked with the ball. Their inability, or unwillingness, to play good defense allowed Fisher (Derek "I'm-too-old-to-be-playing-this-game" Fisher!!!) to hit two big three pointers after he had continued his poor playoff performance.
I don't think the Magic can rattle off 3 wins in a row. It's amazing that the Lakers are going to win considering their team chemistry is essentially zero. It seems like success stories in the postseason are usually about superstars putting their "me, me" personalities aside and focusing on the team, but that clearly isn't the case. Kobe continues to be a poor teammate, a bad leader, and a selfish player. Despite his reputation as a "closer" the guy doesn't shoot well when he has the last shot of the game and only has ONE assist in that situation. During his entire career. ONE assist. Wow.
As a relatively casual NBA fan, this Finals disappoints me continually. Poor officiating is getting in the way of watching two teams slug it out. It hurts even more because most nights the Stanley Cup is on in parallel and it only takes one click of the remote to see how NBA officiating should be. Yes, NHL refs blow calls, but they don't systematically ruin the game. They at least try to be consistent about what is and isn't a penalty and, when the game's on the line (especially on overtime) the whistles go away. They let the players play the freaking game. I can't believe how frustrating it's been to watch some of these games in the NBA playoffs. "dribble dribble dribble... foul!" "dribble dribble dribble ... foul!" It seems like 30% of the time I'm watching, it's a free throw contest, not a basketball game.