Bottom Line

Here's the bottom line in the Lakers / Spurs crazy ending to game 4:

1) Replays showed that Fisher's shot grazed the rim and the shot clock should have been reset

2) Replays showed that Odom's "goaltend" on Parker was a legal block. Odom touched the ball before it hit the rim. (the curious question to this play is why Doug Collins and Marv Albert didn't notice this. I saw this when they first played the replay from sitting on my couch)

3) Replays showed (and the NBA admitted) that a foul should have been called on Fisher on the last play.

Bottom line: All 3 of those calls were during the final minute, 2 during the final 3 seconds. 2 of 3 went the Spurs way, on their home court, and the Lakers still won. I will give the credit to the Spurs for taking the high road - that's a classy organization!

Spurs / Lakers

1st Quarter, Phil Jackson not happy with the officiating. Could it be that the "Conspiracy Theory" about Joey Crawford will actually help the Spurs. My thinking is that Mr. Crawford will not want any questionable calls to go against the Spurs so that no one will be talking about him tomorrow.

Good acting job by Bruce Bowen on the offensive foul called on Jordan Farmer midway through the 2nd quarter. I'd say he took some lessons from Ginobili or Parker, but he didn't fall over and put his thumb in his mouth.

I know nobody likes to get fouls called on them, or calls no go their way, but no one argues and looks "innocent" after every play like Tim Duncan. It doesn't matter what end of the court he's on, he's mastered them all.
"Are you kidding me, I didn't even touch him?!?"
"He was ALL over me!!"
"That was clearly NOT off me"

And then when Tony Parker drives to the lane, gets fouled, makes the shot to put the Spurs down one with a chance to tie... Parker lets out a yell, and goes to high five Tim Duncan, and Duncan face is pointed to the ground, no emotion, no passion.

A lot of "no-calls" tonight... which are good for the game.

(Ed Note: I wrote that line above in the middle of the 3rd quarter)

Spurs down 2, with the ball with 2.1 seconds to go in the game. Brent Barry with an amazing game tonight - will he get a 3 point look, or will Spurs go for the tie since they are at home...

Crowd on feet...

Horry in game too...

Barry shoots... misses! Ah... Of course... there's the conspiracy "no-call" we've been waiting on all night. Yep! Replays show Fisher fouled Barry, question is would it have been 2 or 3 free throws for Barry. Joey Crawford was the official that should have made that call.

On Sportscenter after the game, Tim Legler said:

Brent Barry needed to go through the contact to get the call, since he stopped and bounced backwards - no official would have made that call to end the game.

When asked if it was a good call because of how Barry reacted, Legler said "yes".

I will disagree with Legs though and say that it was a bad call, and Barry should have at least been put on the free throw line for 2, not 3 foul shots.

Legs did say however, that if that is Ginobili or Bryant, they get that call everytime. Since it's Brent Barry, it's no call. That's they way it goes for role players some times.

Phil Jackson response:

Fisher's ball touched the rim with 4 seconds left, and therefore we should have been given the ball with a new shot clocked and the Spurs would have been forced to foul us... but yes, he bumped him

Barry takes the high road in his interview, he says "that's not going to get called" he actually gave Fisher credit for a great play.

Popovich apparently said the no-call was the right call.

As anyone interviewed Tim Duncan yet? Someone ask him if it was a foul or not and see how many faces and reactions they can get out of him.

Bottom line, even though the Spurs made a valiant comeback in the final minute, they did not take advantage of opportunities all night long. They really did not deserve to win this game. This was a lot like game 1, except unlike the Lakers in the opener, the Spurs could not get the steal on their homecourt. Lakers lead 3-1 with game 4 on Thursday night at Staples.

Spurs/Lakers Roundup

This picture is from Deadspin... classic! One thing we know if that his wife knows he's ok. She's screaming from the crowd, "It's ok - he's faking it!"

As for the game, I only was able to watch about the last 8 minutes on the game (caught most of the 3rd on the radio) didn't seem like there were too many bad calls until the final minute. The refs totally missed a Pau Gasol foul or at least knocking the ball out of bounds play on Tim Duncan under the Lakers basket, but they quickly redeemed themselves by totally missing Manu Ginobbli shoving Pau Gasol out of the way, then knocking the ball out of bounds himself. By giving the Spurs the ball there, the refs completely took away any "excuses" Spurs fans could have made about the final minute. Unless of course they didn't like the fact that Kobe treated Bruce Bowen like he was Bryon Russell in 1998 but that's the advantages that MVP's have late in the game. On ESPN afterwards, Jamal Mashburn was asked if this game was in San Antonio, would that have been called a foul. Mashburn said no, all great players can get away with that. If I recall - the Jordan play was in Utah, so Mash has a point. With that basket and Ginobbli badly missing a 3 attempt on the other end, Lakers fans everywhere could breath a sigh of relief. Spurs fans may think the 2nd half was a dream, and I think they are still sleeping. If you go to poudingtherock.com, there is no game recap, and you can still vote for "Spurs in 4". I just voted and noticed that 3 other people are with me. Think it will come true?

Stu Jackson Speaks Out On Blown Call In Lakers / Warriors Game

Via fanhouse and latimes:

Many, especially Warriors fans, thought if there was a foul at all, it was committed by Fisher. Stu Jackson, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations, agreed.

"We did review," Jackson said Tuesday. "The call was incorrect. After looking at the play, the foul was on Fisher and not Ellis. It appeared that Fisher pulled Ellis down."

Jackson said the league informed the Warriors of its analysis. Delaney was also informed, though Jackson kept the discussions with the respected referee confidential.

In other news, Kobe Bryant just picked up another technical when he called Stu Jackson to argue the comment.

The Officials Love LA!

Well... the Bruins aren't the only team in LA getting all the calls. Warrior fans are not at all happy at what happened in Overtime of last night's loss against the Lakers:

4 Seconds Left: Inbound pass set in Faker territory. This is it. The last play of the game. Nellie’s timeout prepped the team to tie it or shoot a 3 for the win. As the whistle blew and the players wrestled for position … the unthinkable happened. Fisher fell to the ground grabbing Monta with him, and the ref Delaney, blew the whistle calling an offensive foul.

This was the 2nd call during the 2 day mini-series where Fisher had a call go his way, well... the other was a no-call when there should have been a foul called. At the end of the 3rd quarter of Sunday night's game - The Warriors threw a full court pass to Stephen Jackson who had gotten behind the defense... his intent was to catch and shoot in one motion - but Fisher fouled him knocking the ball loose... however, no call was made. I was listening to both games on the Lakers radio broadcasts, and both of these calls were questioned and criticized by the LAKERS ANNOUNCERS! Now Spiro Didas, (sp?)is a great announcer who's very unbiased, but Michael Thompson tends to be very pro-Laker, pro-Kobe, and EVEN HE questioned these calls.

Going back to UCLA for a second, over at TBL, they are trying to figure out why UCLA is getting all the calls this year - Sunday's no call takes the total to now 3 HUGE calls at the end of games that could have gone either way - but went their way... their possible explainations:

Is this the 100th year of UCLA basketball? Is the NCAA trying to get a final one for ailing John Wooden? Or is karma at play here, for the Bruins having lost the last two years in the Final Four to the eventual champion Florida Gators?

Don't come into Smush's house!

According to NBA.com front page:

"Smush Parker and the Lakers host Stephon Marbury and the Knicks tonight on NBA TV (10:30 ET) as the two teams conclude their season series."

I just thought that was funny... I know Smush is playing pretty well this year, but when did this become his team? Personally, I think Kobe will put up 40 points tonight to show New York what they missed out on when he was suspended for the game in New York a couple weeks ago.

Update: Kobe nails long range 3 at the buzzer to give him 18 points at the end the 1st half.

Update2: The Knickerbockers win it as Lamar Odom misses game winning opportunity. Kobe was doubled, couldn't get open, ends up with 31 points. Smush Parker, perhaps feeling the pressure of this being his team, ends up with 9 points on 3-13 shooting. Lakers have lost 4 straight. Meanwhile, the Knicks have already matched their win total from a year ago with one game to go til the All-Star break.