1. Game 4 against the Spurs:
It was clearly a foul by the book, but in reality, it is not called most of the time at the buzzer.
Just a few examples, Lebron got hacked by Bowen in game 3 of last year's finals and it was a non-call.
As late as in the Utah series, Kobe and LO both got hacked on their drive to the basket with no call at the buzzer.
In any event, that is not a series-changing non-call for the Lakers were clearly the better team.
And if you really want to harp on that call, I suggest you go back and watch the 1st and the 4th qtr of the same game and see how many calls were made in favor of the Spurs.
2. 27ft in the 4th qtr, game 6, 2002 WCF
Totally agree, those were bogus calls. I believe the NBA wanted to extend the series to 7 games. And I was ashame d at the time while watching it on TV.
But if you claim that the Lakers won because of the refs in that series, I suggest that you look at other games to have a balanced view.
The Lakers were at the short end of the deal in both game 2 and 5. I'll juts give you one sequence for example.
Game 5, 20s left, the Lakers lead by 1. Chris Webber dropped the ball out of bound. You could see so much agony on his face because he knew he screwed up. But the ball was awarded to the Kings. Next, Kings inbound. CW set a moving screen on Fish and frees up Bibby for a jumper. 2pt, the Kings lead by 1. 10-something seconds left, Kobe at the wing. He moves to the baseline and gets away from Booby Jackson, pulls up to make a jumpshot. Bobby Jackson grabbed him from behind so hard that he yanked his shirt out of his shorts. No call, the ball doesn't go in.
There are always two sides to the same story.
It was clearly a foul by the book, but in reality, it is not called most of the time at the buzzer.
Just a few examples, Lebron got hacked by Bowen in game 3 of last year's finals and it was a non-call.
As late as in the Utah series, Kobe and LO both got hacked on their drive to the basket with no call at the buzzer.
In any event, that is not a series-changing non-call for the Lakers were clearly the better team.
And if you really want to harp on that call, I suggest you go back and watch the 1st and the 4th qtr of the same game and see how many calls were made in favor of the Spurs.
2. 27ft in the 4th qtr, game 6, 2002 WCF
Totally agree, those were bogus calls. I believe the NBA wanted to extend the series to 7 games. And I was ashame d at the time while watching it on TV.
But if you claim that the Lakers won because of the refs in that series, I suggest that you look at other games to have a balanced view.
The Lakers were at the short end of the deal in both game 2 and 5. I'll juts give you one sequence for example.
Game 5, 20s left, the Lakers lead by 1. Chris Webber dropped the ball out of bound. You could see so much agony on his face because he knew he screwed up. But the ball was awarded to the Kings. Next, Kings inbound. CW set a moving screen on Fish and frees up Bibby for a jumper. 2pt, the Kings lead by 1. 10-something seconds left, Kobe at the wing. He moves to the baseline and gets away from Booby Jackson, pulls up to make a jumpshot. Bobby Jackson grabbed him from behind so hard that he yanked his shirt out of his shorts. No call, the ball doesn't go in.
There are always two sides to the same story.