no matter how good the nets play the lakers would win…not because of shaq or kobe because of what goes on behind closed doors…
“The problem is that so many otherwise rational people think there is a conspiracy to put the Lakers (or, in their day, the Bulls) in the Finals, and that playoff games are fixed. The problem is that the very teams who compete now state openly that they expect to get screwed in important games.”
“For 15 years, I’ve listened to crackpots tell me how the league is no different than pro wrestling, that I should be ashamed to cover a sport where the results have been determined in advance by a cabal of power-mad men (the list is never the same but frequently includes David Stern, NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol, the heads of various Fortune 500 companies, and once – only once – Suzanne Somers). I laugh to myself, for there is nothing I can do to help these people.”
“And then comes a game like Friday’s Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. There is nothing I can say that will explain 27 free throws for the Lakers in the fourth quarter – an amount staggering in its volume and impact on the game. It gave me pause. How can you explain it? How can you explain a game where Scot Pollard fouls out when he’s two feet from Shaquille O’Neal, or that Doug Christie is called for a ridiculous touch foul just as Chris Webber spikes Kobe Bryant’s drive to the hoop, or that Mike Bibby is called for a foul deep in the fourth quarter after Bryant pops him in the nose with an elbow? Regardless of whether the fouls were called correctly or not, they put a black mark on what has been as compelling, dramatic and well-played of a series as I can recall in recent years.”
Doesn’t it make you suspicous how a team to play top-notch in three games…two games back to back and then lose giving away 27 free throws in the 4th quater alone…
“The pause comes because these fouls were called against the Kings in Los Angeles two days after O’Neal fouled out of Game 5 in Sacramento – the same game in which Bryant was saddled with five fouls. How can consecutive games be called so diametrically opposite – with such dramatic differences in the impact on the respective teams?”
"One day, Shaq is allowed to drop his shoulder and knock any defender senseless. The very next day, if Shaq looks at Bibby, he gets the foul. How can it be the exact opposite of what it was the game before? "
This makes me ashamed to be a fan of a sports team…it includes every sport it may be cricket and nba
"His (webber) lip was literally quivering, he was so angry. He spoke in guarded tones about how “we’re still the Sacramento Kings” and how he had been told it would be impossible to beat the Lakers Friday. “I was warned,” he muttered. Twenty feet away, Vlade Divac was asked if he played O’Neal any differently than he had the first five games. “Of course,” Divac smirked. "I thought ‘Tonight, I will play him very aggressive and foul him every time.’ "
“You can dismiss this as sour grapes from the losing team. But this has gone on for so long in so many losing locker rooms over the years, it is now part of the postgame procedure: Winning coach compliments spirit of losing team, losing coach laments horrible officiating. It is so matter-of-fact as to be a cliche: We got the calls tonight; they’ll get the calls tomorrow. Only in the NBA does a coach who’s won eight championships whine more than a stuck engine valve about refs. You may hear Lou Pinella rant about the strike zone on Monday, but he’s not still at it on Thursday. Officials blow calls every Sunday in the NFL, but that league makes sure you know about it on Tuesday, while the NBA still muzzles all discussion about its officials’ performance.”
his has been long but you ** MUST READ IT **