Lakers came to play and their role players came through. Odom, Bynum and even Ariza did much better jobs than they had all series. Fisher was appallingly bad, just dumb play after dumb play. I'd be very surprised if this isn't his last season.
The Lakers were taking the game over at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth and then the Nuggets made a run and got it to 5. Then the refs did their best to take the Nuggets out of the game by calling an offensive foul on Nene, which seemed like a bullshit call, but they didn't show a replay. But they did give Nene a technical for arguing. Then, Gasol backed Nene down just below the key, and they called his 6th foul on him. That one they did show the replay on and it was clearly an offensive foul.
That killed the Nuggets momentum and any chance for giving us an exciting game at the end. Without Nene they had no chance of keeping LA out of the middle. IMO, the Lakers would have won the game anyway, but the refs ruined what could have been a much better contest.
Those two fouls were questionable, and Nene's 6th foul could have been called offensive as well. I've seen both of those fouls called against the Lakers in Denver so I'm not shedding any tears.
Rick, how come you FAIL to mention the flagrant foul that Melo got away with? He CLEARLY grabbed/hit Kobe ABOVE the shoulders when he was going for the rim. Above the shoulders is supposed to be an automatic tech, it was worse than the Bynum foul you seem to think was so dangerous. Melo should have got a flagrant and a 1 game suspension since that would put him over the limit, but those refs you're so found of didn't give it to him nor will the league upgrade it to a flagrant. Game 4 was an officiating disgrace so 2 calls in game 5 seems like a pretty good trade for the Thuggets. You must be a big fan of Karl, whinning like a baby about the refs after all the BS the Thuggets have gotten away with in the series. The Thuggets had a +14 FT advantage in game 4 and the Lakers had a +5 advantage, if it wasn't for the refs the Lakers would have won this series already. Good call Rick.
Because the foul that Melo committed, was accidental, or at least it appeared that way to me He was going for the ball and missed and hit his friend in the head. He knew he made a mistake and went over to Kobe to make sure he was ok. In this instance the ball was above Kobe's head, or even with it. If it were intentional I'd agree, but it's pretty clear it wasn't. Kobe wasn't upset about it either, so why were you?
You've got to be kidding about the refs calling the games in LA's favor. The Nuggets have been more aggressive on the offensive end for most of the series which is why they've gotten the calls. Last night, LA was more aggressive, with Odom and Ariza slashing to the basket. You should know better than to compare the number of calls as though both teams played identically, and you can't use that to determine fairness or bias. The only thing that indicated bias, was the timing of the calls on Nene, and the fact that at least one of them was a bad call, where Gasol led with his elbow into Nene.
You should be annoyed to, because it turned what was a closely contested game into an easy win for LA, which makes for pretty bad entertainment for non-Laker fans.
The refs haven't interfered with the outcome of games in this series, IMO. The Lakers deserved to win last night, Denver fell apart in the fourth and missed shot after shot, and most likely would have even with Nene in the game. The only thing Nene would have done was gotten them a few more boards and made life a bit tougher for Gasol and Bynum, he's not a big part of Devner's offense.
Both Karl and Jackson try to work the refs in their post game comments, it's what they do.
This was a bad loss for Denver, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next game. LA will want to close them out to get on to the finals, and if they can come up with an equal effort they will. Denver did not keep their composure last night, they crumbled under the pressure. It will be easier for them at home, but they can't win the series without taking another game in LA, and I doubt that they are mentally tough enough to do so.
