They were god fucking awful. Don't let Kobe's FT numbers fool you, those all came late in the game and I think 6 of them by intentional fouls.
come on. the refs were letting contact go both ways. the "charge" walton drew on lowry(i think it was lowry) was garbage, kobe got away with one of the most blatant reaches i can remember with no call pretty late in the game, artest got a tech(along with kobe) when artest did absolutely nothing, they called artest for a very cheap foul to give the lakers free throws when it was tied near the end, and yao shot 2 free throws all night. oh and kobe got two ridiculous free throws on a "foul" by carl landry when kobe missed a dunk. the lakers really can't complain about the officiating like it was biased against them or somehow hurt them in this game(not that the rockets can either, like i said they were letting a lot of stuff go both ways).
I was posting from a Lakers' perspective. The refs were awful, both ways. I didn't think that charge was garbage though, Walton was there and his feet were planted. Artest and Kobe were getting a little chippy, those were good tech's.
Im not bitching about the refs at all but the plays you mention were legit. I assume you are mentioning the Artest foul by the 3 pt line on Pau during the screen? I tivoed that play when it happened. Artest was all over Pau. The Luke Walton charge...It was a bang bang play but Luke DID get hit square in the chest. The Kobe blown dunk was exactly what I thought it was too at first. On the replay you see (I think) Landry totally undercut him with his body. Kobe should have made it anyways but it was an obvious foul when you look at it again. It being a late whistle didnt help the matter
the artest foul was legit(though a little weak and one that i don't think would normally be called at the end of a game), but at the same time gasol was setting a moving screen. how was the luke charge different from the battier blocking foul that had been called minutes earlier? to me it seemed like both should have been either charges or blocks. i still didn't think the landry play was a foul. he was just standing there. but i guess he was in the no charge zone and there was a little bit of contact. they'd been letting that go both ways though up until that point. i think the only reason they called it was because kobe missed the dunk.
i don't understand the point of picking a sole perspective and then posting way over the top to try to get that point across. i don't care who the call is against, a bad call is a bad call. if i was to watch a game with you'd, i'd be the first to point out a bad call even if it favored the rockets. i didn't think the refs were awful. i think they established that they were going to let both teams get away with a decent amount of contact and then were fairly consistent in calling the game that way.
Sure Gasol wasnt moving cause Artest had a handful of jersery and body? I dont recall the play you are talking about. I think they made the right call (the Luke play)but wouldnt have been suprised if the called blocking The bump was only noticeable on the replay from the baseline angle. It was significant but on such an easy shot they decided to let it slide...until Kobe missed, hence the late whistle. Totally agree on that part
it was funny on the rockets broadcast they commented on how gasol was setting a moving screen and artest was just trying to hold him in place. it was a few minutes earlier, kobe came around a screen and just put his head down and lowered his shoulder right into battier's chest sending him to the ground with a blocking foul call. i personally wouldn't have called it a charge, but i wouldn't have called the luke one a charge either.
