just plows into a bigger defender? Yeah, sure. It’s called a flop, and while attempting to draw a BS offensive foul, which the refs were going to let go and NOT call a blocking, they did when his feet tangled up Pau’s and toppled him to the ground.

Alot of times, the ref’s reasoning is they don’t call a play a foul if the foul did not affect the play had the foul not been made.

ie, if a player bumps a offensive player in the post, clearly disloding them, the correct call is a blocking foul. But if the offensive player simply turns from his new position and drops in a shot, the refs will let it go, because despite the foul, the offensive player was still able to make his basketball move and make the shot. Even if he missed, they still wouldn’t call it.

First, that was a weak foul, but it’s Nene’s fault that the refs had to call it. No, it was not an offensive foul. Nene did not have position, his feet were still moving, which means that the right to that space belonged to the offensive player – Gasol. Now, had Nene not fallen down it would have been a no-call, and that would have been correct. But when Nene fell down, and Pau with him, that forced the official’s hand, because that play affected the possession. He had no choice but to call the foul. Conclusion: Technically, it was a foul, but had Nene stayed standing, it would have been a no-call; the fact that Nene fell down (what big man flops to draw a charge when he’s got 5 fouls??) was what forced the ref’s hand.

Also, convenient that you mention the Nuggets attacking the basket in Game 4, but overlook the opposite happening in Game 5. In fact, given how many outside shots the Nuggets took, and how few points in the paint they scored (those numbers were almost identically reversed from Game 4), they actually got favored treatment to get only 5 fewer FTAs than the Lakers – whereas in Game 4, when the Lakers played like the Nuggets did in Game 5, they got 14 FTAs less than the Nuggs.