They have done that once, and that was in Game 3. I don’t care how much better a team played in the first, second, or even third quarters, if the other team makes key shots down the stretch, how can you say that they did not deserve to win. The Lakers did not erase a 12 point deficit by magic (sorry, no pun intended), and unless the officials walked up and let the Lakers shoot free throws to win, then…oh wait a second, they did that FOR the Magic in the fourth, and they still couldn’t pull it off. Give credit where credit is due.

As for Ariza, I hope you were watching the game in person and on the other end of the court in the nosebleeds, because the broadcasters went to great lengths to show that his foot was down on the court before he touched the ball. I guess true love really is blind.

And on the Kobe elbow, it’s unfortunate that it hit Jameer across the face, but as you said, that’s basketball. You probably don’t remember, but there was a play where Gasol got absolutely smashed across the face. A foul was (correctly) not called for it because it’s just something that happens when you play a physical sport. So no, blow to the face is by no means an automatic foul.

There were TONS of calls missed. If you were to break down the game from an objective standpoint, I have 100% confidence you’d find that the Lakers were on the receiving end of the bad refereeing tonight. How many times did Kobe drive into the lane only to be met by a moving, jumping, hulking Dwight Howard at the rim? When Cleveland played Orlando and Lebron James was “doing work”, those were blocking fouls.

Did Kobe deserve an offensive foul? Maybe. What if it was a taller player like Dwight or Hedo coming down to help on Kobe? Then it goes from being an elbow in the chin that looks real bad to a small bump in the sternum. It was a no-call. No matter how decisive it was, you have to deal with it like all other no calls in basketball.

You’re the second person to complain about this. Again, ABC even used a bright yellow circle to show that Trevor’s foot was back in bounds before his grabbed the rebound.

Here’s the rule as well:
Section I-Player The player is out-of-bounds when he touches the floor or any object on or outside a boundary. For location of a player in the air, his position is that from which he last touched the floor.

We can infer from this rule, that since he was “touching” in bounds with his foot before grabbing the rebound, that he was within the rules.

You just jump from one to the other. Foul, probably. Suspension, please.

read (and watch). I missed ATH, Rome, and PTI, but on the 1st and 10, and SportsCenter, it was viewed as a non foul, and a completely boneheaded move by Jameer to lead with his FACE. Never double leading with your face.

If your talking about articles, I will let you in on a secret. Everyone except Adande are secret Lakers haters, with the except of Bill Simmons (who chose the elbow and Ariza’s foot as the controversial calls.. too bad he didn’t actually watch the game. What a MORON.), who is a professed Lakers hater.

Speaking of missed calls, how about the time where Howard grabs Gasol’s jersey and drags him away from the rebound? Non-call. How about nearly every drive Hedo makes to the hoop, using his right arm to push off Ariza? How about the time Lewis whacked Fisher directly in the face, but the call on the player is out of bounds, Lakers side?

I could go on and on.