Great idea, I think to officiate the games on monitors are the way NBA will go. Furthermore, sofeware are developing under way that games will be ultimately opened to fans around the world to officiate / vote the game on line at real time.
Howard did appear to get the benefit of the doubt when he knocked the ball away from Kobe at the end though. If it were LeBron I'm sure at least one ref would have called a foul on Howard and put him on the line to tie it up. I can't wait to see how the credibility of the game is affected by the legalization of the "[STRIKE]crap[/STRIKE] crab dribble"
Halftime notes....The Magic are getting most of the calls. If not for the 8 TO's they could be up 20 by now. Who dressed "Magic" Johnson in his "Magic" powder blue suit. Is it mandatory for Bill Russell to talk to the Eastern Conference Finals center each year??? If Patrick Ewing is Dwight Howards coach and mentor for the past couple of years, why hasn't he taught Howard his fade away jumper yet?? Does Phil need a haircut or does he just need to comb his hair. Will the Magic fold and let Kobe take over the game and lose it in the end??
Pietrus is a good player from a physical standpoint but my God what an idiot. EDIT: way to redeem yourself!
And to think there are people who don't want to touch Turk with a 10 foot pole, lol. Turkoglu actually punishes people with his body, despite being slow as balls. However, he's not any slower than Tayshaun.
Damn, Magic just crapped themselves. Lakers have been getting screwed the last two quarters and Fisher bailed them out. The Magic playing prevent defense AGAIN... I love the Magic but they choked HARD on charity stripe. I hate the Lakers but if they win, you can call it a statement game. And that's it. Kobe gets the monkey off of his back, with the help of Fish. Still think they need to play Farmar?
Somehow, some way, Orlando managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in this game. I guess learning how to close out a critical game like this is something that only comes with experience.
Blame this on Magic 3rd qtr collapse when they went didn't go inside at all. Then blame it on Superman for missing 8 FT's and why was Jameer Nelson out there defending Fisher.? Even though they had a foul to give, I still would have tackled Fish before he stopped...
You mean, why did he not bother to defend Fisher at all? As JVG pointed out, Nelson gave Fisher plenty of room and practically dared him to take the 3-point shot that tied it.
Looking at SVG in his presser, he looks like he aged 10 years since the introductions, when he looked cool and confident. Of course he will take the blame for the last sequence where he didn't take the foul and chose to let it ride. But excellent call by Phil the way he set it up. What happen to Ra-shard tonight?? I hate when the experts call it like the PTI and ARTH guys did today....and it comes true.. The strong shoulders by superman were to strong as all of his shots seem to long. He was as bad as Shaq and Ben when they were missing in crunch time. IMO it was hack-a-superman the whole series as don't believe he got more that 4 uncontested buckets the whole series.
And you could tell that Howard was letting the missed free throws get to him -- and anxiety about one's free throws only makes the problem worse.
Still wondering why all of this talk about Kobe's legacy?? Derek Fisher has as many rings as Kobe...now he can say he finally won another one without Shaq... Oh yeah we can give credit to Fish, but what about Ariza who brought them back in the 3rd....remember how Lee said two years ago we should have traded for him when he was lounging on the Magic bench...
How bout all the Superman talk? Superman sure gets stripped and taken down by Jordan Farmer, Fish and Kobe a lot. I don't recall those types of players doing that to Shaq.
When Dwight bricked both FT's it was over. I knew the ball was going to go to Fish. Orlando wasn't gonna let Ariza burn them again, nor Kobe. The Magic effed up rushing Jameer back, and Jameer effed up by pressuring them (if you believe in that kind of logic) by ensuring him that he was ready, although it's hard to fault someone for having a competitive spirit. And Dwight Howard plays into fouls. His double clutches even gave Farmar enough time to wrap him up.
