Nice 3rd qtr, Kobes and Laker posters

[Reality]

sincerely,

Reality.

[Joe Vancil]

One question - who was guarding Ray Allen on the play where Rondo found him RIGHT UNDER THE BASKET in the 4th?  Odom was the closest player, but there's no way LA has Odom on Allen.  Somebody *REALLY* blew that assignment.

Rondo was the difference in that game in the 4th quarter.

I felt the officiating had some ridiculous moments:

When ball, hand, and backboard meet, isn't that still goal-tending?  Shouldn't the one Tony Allen block have been goal-tending *TWICE* ?  (I think it was the Allen block.)  At first, ball, hand, and backboard all met.  And afterward, it was batted after touching the backboard - and I *KNOW* that's goal-tending.

The Fisher/Allen double-foul was garbage.  Fisher should have been called, and because the official DIDN'T call the first *TWO* fouls, Allen really had no choice but to knock Fisher off of him.  If the official isn't going to call the egregious stuff, they don't really leave players much choice.

The clothesline play of Bryant on Pierce was called EXTREMELY late.  I thought they were going to let that go, until Pierce hit the floor as hard as he did.  That should have been whistled quickly.

Why wasn't Pierce's foul on Artest (on the break after Fisher won the tip from Garnett) called a breakaway foul?  Horrible call.  There was NO ONE between Artest and the basket.

Allen's foul on Kobe's 3-pointer was a horrible call given what the referees had let go to that point.

And I saw SEVERAL plays where I felt the referees let very rough Celtic play go without calls.  In comparison, Kobe's last 5 free throws were on cupcake fouls compared to the over-the-backs, push-in-the-backs (Rasheed Wallace got away with a HORRIBLE one), and arm-grabs Boston got away with.

I felt the game was horribly officiated.  LA should be really upset, and Boston should be as well.  I felt the officiating decided the game in Boston's favor by what they let go early, and tried to get LA back in it by what they called late.  This is exactly why I'm *REALLY* getting annoyed by the NBA.  That may very well be the deciding game of the series, and I felt it was decided as much by officiating as it was by play.  Just plain awful.

(Note:  I only got to see the late 3rd and 4th quarters.)

[Reality]

  I felt the officiating decided the game in Boston's favor by what they let go early, and tried to get LA back in it by what they called late. 
...
(Note:  I only got to see the late 3rd and 4th quarters.)

So are you talking early 3rd qtr?

Re the rest i also only saw the 3rd and 4th as i wrongly set record time for 6:10 pm.   Will get back to you on the plays, good questions all.  I thought Allen knocked the ball loose on Gasol before it hit the backboard, hence a clean block.  The ball then bounced off the backboard, making Allens second contact with the ball (to swat it out) was loose ball, clean.
Highlight reel block, i loved it.

[jn]

Joe I was just discussing that double foul call with a coworker who's a Laker fan.  We agree completely with you.  Fish should have been called twice before the double.  In addition, during the same sequence Perkins set an illegal pick on Fisher.   The refs then followed up by trying to get things under control by calling a couple weak offensive fouls on Perkins and Bynum.  Terrible work by the refs.

[Reality]

jn, Laker coworker and Joe, the Fisher play is exactly as jn wrote.  I will add that after Fishers two fouls on Allen, he then tries going for the trifecta in attempting to get the call against Allen!  Does his ballerina-car crash flop as Allen slightly bumps him.  How many playoffs have we seen Fisher awarded for that b.s.?  Not last night.  Well actually he was partically awarded on the play as the *double technical* was assessed.

How this little _____ has been getting favorable reffing thruout his career a travesty.  He must have video of Stern visiting a Catholic church to be with some boy as the priest held the boy down.  Said it before and I'll say it again, It's not basketball when Fisher is on the court.

Joe on the Allen wide open play to make it 81-71.
Allen is at the 3 pt arc guarded by Swisher.  'Sheed comes up and sets a pick on Fisher.  Good pick, nothing legal Fisher can do and it frees Allen to go around and towards the hoop.  Odom is the only Laker in the key.  Kind of hard to say if the Lakers are in a zone, Odom acts like they are.  Fisher, after getting past Sheed, surprisingly just loafs and kind of saunters a few steps towards Allen (who is now just about under the rim.), but then just stops and watches Nate R with the ball.  Yet Fisher neither yells at Odom to switch to Allen nor does Fisher himself make a bolt towards Allen.  Odom kind of drifts a few steps towards Sheeds direction, as if he is not sure if he is supposed to stay and guard the paint or go out and guard Sheed.  (Sheed planted at the trey arc.)  So you end up having Fisher and Odum pretty much standing right next to each other as Nate R zips the ball to Allen.
Botched zone?  Fishers man all the way and supposed to guard Allen after getting screened out?  I dunno.  Lets ask Kobes.

[Reality]

When ball, hand, and backboard meet, isn't that still goal-tending?  Shouldn't the one Tony Allen block have been goal-tending *TWICE* ?  (I think it was the Allen block.)  At first, ball, hand, and backboard all met.  And afterward, it was batted after touching the backboard - and I *KNOW* that's goal-tending.

Good, not perfect but good view of play here. 
http://vodpod.com/watch/3830670-tony-allen-blocks-po-gasol
I fwded to ref for review.

[Joe Vancil]

Excellent video, Reality.

At 0:12, Allen's hand, backboard, and basketball all simultaneously meet.  According to *NBA* rules, that's goal-tending - or at least it was just a few years back.

At 0:13, Allen bats the ball - coming off the backboard - with his other hand.  This one is done in a manner consistent with preventing the ball - which is now off the backboard - from going in.  If, in the judgement call of the referee, it had a reasonable chance to go in, then this one is also goal-tending.  There is that "judgement call," though.

Personally, I believe this should have been called as a goal-tend unless the NBA has changed their rules about ball-hand-glass, and afterward, it becomes a judgement call.  I think the refs blew this one....

...even though, yes, it was an amazing play.

[Reality]

Ref says: "The ball is still in Gasol?s hand when it is blocked by Allen.  Great no-call."

I'll ask him for further detail but obviously he thinks ball still in Allen hand makes it swattable w/o goaltend call.

[Joe Vancil]

Don't agree.  The NBA rule - and this is different from college, HS, and international rules - is that a defensive player may not trap the ball against the backboard.  Allen does this.  The rule is also pretty clear about his SECOND touch of the basketball, which is after the ball touches the backboard, although there is a judgement call that's part of this.

I will say this, though:  looking at plays like that one are part of the reason I like NBA basketball better than college ball.  There are no greater basketball players in the world than those in the NBA.  The athleticism these guys have takes the game to a different level.

Now if only they could find some worthy officials.

[rickortreat]

I think that harping on the refs bad calls misses the point, which is that Boston outplayed the Lakers and beat them soundly. Sure the refs made bad calls, they make them every game and all anyone can do is try to play the game more cleanly.  I don't think the refs calls were a major distraction, or the main reason for the Lakers failure to win.

Bottom line- the Lakers couldn't defend the Celtics and could not get stops. No matter how good Kobe was (Clearly the best clutch player in the game today, and the best MJ imitation I have ever seen) he couldn't get the Lakers any closer, because some Celtic would always find the basket.  The score wouldn't have been much different if it was just Kobe playing the Celtics one on five!

No defense from the Lakers, no reliable scoring from anyone on the Lakers except Kobe, tells me that Gasol and Odom are punks.  The Lakers other stars needed to step up and play, because in game 5 it looked like there was only one team playing together and working hard and that team was the Celtics.  That they didn't stand up or even try to put up a fight suggests that LA has a real problem. They aren't winners who lay it all on the line, If another team comes along and outplays them they just give up.

Kobe made the game look closer than it was. But if I was a Laker fan I would have been very disappointed with the rest of the team.  As an NBA fan I was hoping for a more tightly contested game.

[Joe Vancil]

I don't agree, rickortreat.

In the late 3rd quarter, which is when I tuned in, LA mounted a come-back, but was thwarted by several VERY ROUGH Boston plays.  If fouls were called on those plays, I think the comeback is completed.  At that point, I felt momentum had really swung in favor of the Lakers, but Boston swung momentum back with plays that would often get called as fouls.  And if those plays were refereed the way the last 3 minutes were, they WOULD have been fouls.

And if what was a no-call in the late 3rd were also a no-call in the last 3 minutes, the Lakers don't make it close.

Bottom line - to me - is that the inconsistency of the officiating had a huge impact on how the game developed, and would absolutely detract from any game plan either team had.  That, to me, is the absolute definition of poor officiating.

Granted, I have a limited perspective, since I didn't see the first half or the first part of the 3rd quarter.  But the officiating was incredibly inconsistent.

[Reality]

I think that harping on the refs bad calls misses the point, which is that Boston outplayed the Lakers and beat them soundly. Sure the refs made bad calls, they make them every game and all anyone can do is try to play the game more cleanly.  I don't think the refs calls were a major distraction, or the main reason for the Lakers failure to win.

Absolutely more good and great plays by the Celtics then good and great plays by the Lakers.
Ronda outjumping the Lakers for the tip in was a beaut.
The KG pass to Pierce, Pierce to Rondo, then Rondos opposite one legged layup was a beauty.
KG had a really nice dribble into the lane, set and fadewaway right over Gasol late.
Turnovers by Boston were slaying me, esp when they could have put the game away.  Ditto LA, on both of their comebacks when they got within 6, one was their own lame turnover that gave the ball back to Boston.

Pierce stripping the ball from Kobe was yet another Finals "Kobe Owns!!!" moment.