Have To Include The West Coast…
We got started late but since this is a Lakers game we didn’t miss much early. For what we did miss, we apologize. It will never happen again. We’re not going to go into some tortured preamble again about why we’re doing this. If you do want to read the explanation for why we’re writing about the NBA on a NFL fantasy blog, go here. Or just roll with it. I recommend rolling with it, the only thing more obnoxious than unnecessary open tabs is meaningless explanations for writing blog posts no one really reads.
If you’re wondering what the strands of numbers at the end of each quarter mean, see if this makes any sense (the parentheses only apply to the second and third quarters): Great non-calls (total for game)-Legitimate calls, those that were impossible for the official to botch (totals for both in parentheses)-Questionable calls (total in parentheses)-Atrocious calls (total in parentheses).
1st Quarter
Is anyone still claiming either of these guys are better than LeBron?
11:10- Good foul call when Kenyon Martin gets clocked on a baseline dump pass from Billups. 0
8:25- Good no call on foul after jump shot. 0
8:22- Ticky-tack reach in from Martin gets called, he might as well just stand stationary and hope someone on Lakers actually drives to the hoop and runs into him. /
8:19- Good no call yet again on Dahntay Jones poking the ball away from Kobe, legit foul call after he misses the layup on the other end gathers his own rebound and is fouled on second fast break attempt on second play. 0
7:40- Off the ball foul call on Kobe guarding Melo, a forearm to the upper back tends to go noticed, even by NBA officials. 0
6:39- Kobe is fouled driving to basket, made it look harder than it really was, as he is prone to doing. Still a legitimate foul, though. 0
6.28-Highly peculiar moving pick call on Melo. If you’re looking to either refute the notion that stars get preferable treatment or prove that the Lakers are officiated favorably at home, look at Melo. He’s leading both teams in fouls this series. /
5:50- Legit 3-second call on Nene. 0
4:32- Melo gets fouled by Bynum on three point play (though melo misses the free throw), because Bynum still doesn’t understand the concept of putting your hands directly above your head. Someone teach this kid how to play “I’m a little teapot”, post-haste. Also, does anyone who watches 30 Rock and basketball look at Bynum and not think “Heavy is the head that eats the crayons”? 0
3:10- LA called for defensive three seconds. Sure, why not? 0
3:01- Melo drives into traffic and is often the case in the NBA, it looks crowded and like their might have been contact with the way the player reacted to it, but it’s questionable if there was even any real contact. /
2:53- Ariza gets bailed out on a foul call. 0
2:28- Great no call on Kobe’s exaggerated post drive antics, when, in actuality he just turned the ball over. No one pretends to buy that shit until the fourth quarter. 0
2:23- Billups called for a pushing off when he jumps into a moving Ariza and moves his leg into Ariza’s chest. It was called like the ref just wanted the chance to call an offensive foul. X
First quarter tallies: 0-10, 3-3-1
2nd Quarter
11:40- No idea what happened in the post, but both guys ended up on the ground and Smith missed the free throw so it was of no consequence. At least in the short term. 0
10:10- Odom gets three point play by getting Birdman’s goofy, block-happy ass off the ground and jumping into him from baseline. I’m guessing that won’t be the last time. 0
8:54- Odom barrels into paint and draws touch foul on Kleiza. It appears the NBA is going in the direction that if you’re smaller than you’re opponent and he’s in the paint, you’re simply not allowed to guard him. X
7:14- Awful foul call on Anthony Carter when Kobe Bryant cut through the lane. Since looks can be deceiving so I understand why they called it, Anthony Carter doesn’t even look like he should be in the NBA. X
6:42- Good foul call on Walton hanging all over Nene like he’s his dad. 0
6:22- Questionable foul call on Carter when he fouls paper-mache Andrew Bynum from behind in post. Looked like he got mostly, if not all ball. But, see 8:54 in this quarter. /
5:14- Nene is called for loose ball foul after he lunges in front of Fisher going for a ball that he stole then subsequently lost. I have no idea what makes a loose ball foul, but it looked like both players were simply going for it, but Fisher just had the angle. Eh, it looked worse than it was. /
4:50- Kobe called for fouling Kleiza on baseline three. It’s Kobe fouling Kleiza in LA, so since they actually called it I’d be surprised if Kleiza still has all his teeth. 0
4:28- Bynum is fouled on interior pass from Gasol by Kleiza, who may have reached his elbow. 0
3:59- Kobe called for legit travel. It’s hard to take three horisontal steps and still progress ten feet vertically. 0
3:29- Ariza called for blocking violation at halfcourt, a lot of attempts at taking charges tonight but everyone’s too nervous to actually hold their ground. 0
2:36- Kobe gets bailed out on a weak foul call on Billups, he might have grazed his elbow with his finger-tip as Kobe charged into the lane and had nowhere to go. X
2:27- Ariza is called for a foul because he tried to run forward while Nene was standing their and he pretended to be knocked down. Lot of people hitting the deck this game with little contention between the players. All of a sudden everyone is John Stockton now. /
1:50- Kobe fouled driving to the hoop and in between the foul and putting the ball in for a perceived “and-1″, lost control of the ball. Van Gundy browbeats us and his coworkers into agreeing with him. Which you should, because he’s right. But still, he was fouled, he just shouldn’t have gotten the continuation. /
:51- Nene fouls Gasol in legit foul call today that never would have been called fifteen years ago. I understand it but I don’t have to like it. 0
:37- Melo draws foul on Walton during jump shot. Since he jumped into him (and Walton was to his side), I’m not entirely certain that call should have been made. /
Second quarter tallies (totals in parentheses): 0-8, 4 (18, 7)-6 (9)-3 (4) In short, way too many whistles this quarter. Both teams were in penalty for last three minutes of half and it was insufferable to sit through.
3rd Quarter
10:20- Fisher called for a handcheck that lasted all of half a second before Fisher realized what he was doing and withdrew his hand. /
10:11- Jones called for loose ball foul on Gasol, who’s apparently claustrophobic and the officials are respecting that. X
9:23- Martin called for body check on Gasol on Gasol’s spin move, which I’m not sure how you guard if that’s a foul. We’re not off to a good start. /
8:59- Bynum, once again called for foul because he doesn’t know what 90 degrees is. This is why he would be forced to go to college now. Or at least Europe and be forced to learn the metric system. 0
8:12- Dahntay Jones called for lightly bumping Kobe, who pretended to be knocked off balance and out of bounds. /
7:58- Nene bumps Ariza on a three while the shot clock buzzes. Can’t after replay we can’t argue with the call, though it was soft and would never be called in a pickup game. 0
7:43- Fisher called for what looks like a braze of the arm on a baseline drive by Jones. /
7:38- After Denver collects another offensive rebound, Melo is fouled because Fisher thought he could pretend to play defense. X
7:22- Bynum throws Nugget out of the way with hands, gets called for off the ball offensive foul, goes to bench with four fouls. Obviously it was a flop by unnamed Nugget, but Bynum went through the motions. 0
5:36- Good no call on loose ball scramble by Anderson, Brown and Kobe. 00
5:15- Another good no-call when Melo goes desperately barreling into the lane hoping to get fouled first then praying his hideous shot attempt went in. 00
3:53- Kobe called for another offensive foul trying to run through JR Smith like he was the invisible woman. 0
3:38- Melo called for travel. 0
Third quarter tallies (totals in parentheses): 2 (2)-5,2 (23,9)-4 (13)-3 (7)
4th Quarter
9:43- Chris Anderson gets baptized by Lamar Odom and is called for being so overrated. 0
There are a slew of technicals called and (according to the announcers) not called that the NBA doesn’t want us too see, so I can’t give you any assessment as to there validity.
This doesn't do either the fell on or against Melo justice.
9:33- Nene gets absolutely home-jobbed battling for position in the post with Gasol. Handily the worst call of the game and Nene’s reaction shows it: he gets T’d up for complaining about it. X
8:54- Melo basically clotheslines Kobe out of frustration because he’s been so ineffective this game. You know it was hard when Van Gundy suggests it could have been called a flagrant. 0
7:52- Melo draws foul on Gasol by trying to run him over like he’s in Pamplona. Has Gasol ever forced a charging call? 0
7:03- Birdman is called for what looks like a touch foul on Gasol, who appears to be the main beneficiary of any LA homerism that’s been pretty light so far. /
6:35- Yet again, Gasol draws foul because JR Smith tries to Bryant and Gasol steps into him while dribbling. /
4:58- Exceptional non-call on loose ball scramble that Breen and Van Gundy both give a seal of approval. The refs are clearly letting them play more down the stretch than they have been. 00
4:47- Odom called for foul because he made Kleiza react to the defense, we couldn’t tell what the degree of contact was, or if there even was any in the first place. /
4:25- Good no call when Smith strips Kobe in paint. 0
4:02- Nene called for defensive blocking foul because (surprise!) Gasol felt the need to trip over his own feet into him. Second worst call of the game since the last time Nene and Gasol were guarding each other. X
3:49- Melo gets bail out call so it doesn’t seem too one-sided. /
3:38-Alright, they’re starting to tighten up, Kleiza called for foul because he made a roundhouse attempt at a block but completely missed all contact. X
3:04- Billups called for foul because he had the gall to try to front Odom, who flung him like the much smaller man that Billups is. Did I mention LA is in the penalty now? They’re in the penalty now. Have been for a couple minutes. X
2:24- Funny that the announcers are falling in love with the officiating tonight as nothing has been too egregious and none of the players are kicking up much of a fuss (sans Nene). If you don’t make a scene it appears no one takes notice. But relatively speaking, it has been improved. Melo would have gotten the foul call here if they were in Denver. /
1:02- Martin hits Odom on elbow with a closed fist after a beautiful pass inside from Kobe. 0
:43.1- Kobe is hacked like a tree driving inside. Thank god this shit isn’t going into overtime. 0
38.3- Melo is given continuation on ridiculous foul from Ariza. 0
:37.3- Fisher is fouled intentionally to stop the clock. 0
Fourth Quarter tallies:
1-8 (5)-5-4
Final Tallies:
Great non-calls: 3
Legitimate calls/good non-calls: 31 (14 of which were obvious)
Questionable calls: 18
Atrocious calls: 11
We couldn’t be more thankful that Denver isn’t going to spend the remaining 30 seconds fouling, then chucking up a three, then fouling again, then going inside, etc. You weren’t meant to win this game with or without the interference of the officiating crew and I’m glad you realized that. This is why it’s hard to hate George Karl.
Anyhow, there wasn’t any fouls that were too outrageous except for a couple relatively innocuous calls in Gasol’s favor, but Denver had a few questionable calls go their way. If you were looking for a general theme, it was that the Lakers seemed to have a slight edge in what they could and could not get away with. Some will pass that off as homecourt advantage, but it only really seems noticeable if you’re Boston, LA or Dwayne Wade is involved. And really, why should playing at home result in favorable officiating from the governing body for that entire game?
As for the numbers themselves, the total of calls we gave the stink-eye on were increased in terms of percentage, but since there were fewer overall whistles the game, even with the anticlimactic finish it was easier too watch in spurts. That’s kind of what we’re campaigning for while doing this. Just put the whistle away, let the game breathe and try to avoid any subconscious bias you might have for various individuals.
Either one or two more of these before the week ends. We’ll see what happens in that league they play American football in. What was that called again?
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