It's about Stern controlling the series. He wants seven games because he knew the winner was going to play some JV squad from the eastern conference. The western conference finals, at that time, WAS the NBA Finals. I don't think Stern determines who is going to win, but he DOES want the series to go seven games.
2006: Free throws: Mia-Dal 19-26 32-28 34-26 36-27 49-25 37-23 207-155 Game 5 won by drawing two FTs at the end iirc. I don't think the Mavs were that great either, but just in terms of this topic this would be my nominee.
Oh man, I really liked those Kings teams that had Vlade, Webber, Christie et al. Then again a lot of that had to do with Adelman; I always hated the way he got let go in Portland and I've rooted for him wherever he's gone. Man, that series was such a screw job ... terrible, just fucking terrible.
Kind of funny that Hedo and Wallace (two relative wet dreams for many this summer) were buried DEEP on the bench for those teams.
Yep, the Kings had that series wrapped up in game 6, and bullshit call after bullshit call after bullshit call after bullshit call after bullshit call after bullshit call after bullshit call, then presto Lakers win, and go on to win the championship with ease. The Kings were robbed of a championship.
I just watched all 9 parts. What really stuck out to me was how Shaq was allowed to step over the line while shooting free throws. Crazy.
Shaq had one free throw in Game 5, and fouled out of the game 32 minutes in. LA lost that game by one point. A lot of people don't really want to pay attention to the entire series. Some of the whining in here is embarrassing. I guess if you want to ignore everything that went the Kings' way before game 6, they got robbed. Here's what happened, two very evenly matched teams (LA was second in offensive efficiency, seventh in defensive efficiency while Sac was 3rd/6th respectively) got to a game seven in overtime. LA won, they didn't have homecourt, they didn't get the FT edge (by a margin of 20), they got screwed Game 3 and 5. If you want to bitch about calls do it in the right manner. The Kings were slightly better in the regular season by 3 games (61 to 58). Shaq played in 67 regular season games and some of that Sac depth becomes pointless in the playoffs with a shorter roster.
LOL, even Ralph Nader complained about that series being a screw job. He wrote a big public letter about the officiating being out of control and obviously biased. If you read what Donaghy wrote you know that it's not just about pure numbers of fouls, but about MOMENTUM robbing fouls. Fouls the Lakers have had go their way since Kobe was a wee shitty player and all throughout his career. Basketball is a game of rhythm the best crooked refs use momentum to do their job. Swinging it from one team to the other. Two bad calls can be a six point swing, that's huge momentum wise. In fact it doesn't have to just be fouls, three in the key gets a free throw and resets the clock. Tipped balls out of bounce can easily be given to the favorite. Traveling calls on the PG, on and on. The foul is simply the most obvious call that is used, not necessarily the most important. The Lakers have quite a few legit titles since 2000 and they possibly should have won against Boston. I definitely felt game 2 in that series was questionable and in favor of Boston. I honestly think the Lakers won 3 championships this decade. One with Shaq and Kobe (the non-kings or Portland win Donaghy says both of those were given to LA) and two with just Kobe (last year and against Boston in 2008). So it's not like I'm claiming it ALWAYS goes LA's way, just the way Stern wants. Sorry buddy that's the way it is. If you don't MASSIVELY destroy the chosen ones you will get jobbed. Look at Chicago vs Boston last year. It's quite obvious if you pay attention. I've seen LeBron get handed dozes of games in his career and I don't even follow him that closely. Sorry but welcome to the real world buddy. A very corrupt and shady one.
