It also claims that Kobe was hammered by Posey, resulting in a no-call. "Refs blow another: The NFL doesn't have a monopoly on bad officiating with the game on the line. Unfortunately, one of the most riveting and entertaining games of the NBA season - the Rockets' 108-104 overtime conquest of the Lakers on Friday night in Houston, which featured the much-hyped Shaquille O'Neal-Yao Ming matchup - probably turned on a brutal call by referee Monty McCutcheon. With Houston leading by one point, McCutcheon called a flagrant foul on Shaq with 1:11 left in overtime, when Steve Francis fell hard after colliding with the Lakers' 340-pound center in the lane. Replays clearly showed Shaq merely put up his hands and arms to stop the ball as Francis drove toward the basket, which is why Lakers coach Phil Jackson protested so vehemently, leading to a technical foul. The calls gave the Rockets three free throws and possession of the ball. In addition, Kobe Bryant was hammered by Houston's James Posey as he drove toward the basket with the score tied in the finals seconds of regulation. No call. Naturally. The game was in Houston. All Kobe could do was laugh. http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=21285§ion=SPORTS&year=2003&month=1&day=19
Karma. The Lakers got away with bloody-freaking-murder in the West Finals last year. But yeah, that flagrant was only called because: 1) shaq went for steve, not the ball 2) shaq knows that what he did would probably raise the probablity for steve to get injured, as opposed to a normal foul. Phil Jackson really screwed himself by blowing his top and getting a technical. If you want to whine about bad officiating, it goes both ways.. (anyone remember the mobley no-touch foul on kobe's jumper?)
If that was a bad call by the Refs then what about the "FIVE" bad calls they made against the Rockets and in favour of LA. What about the elbows and shoulders to the chest thrown at Yao Ming by Shaq, that were not called as fouls and should have been called, according to NBA Rules!!!!
Yeah, maybe that call was wrong. It was a hard foul, but not a flagrant. However, if replay was allowed, Sharq's goaltending would have been called. Also, Kobe would not have gone to the line for at least two occasions. The fact is Lakers got more wrong calls favored to them in that game. That author is a sore loser. Whoever complain about Kobe's not getting the call at the end of the regulation must know nothing about NBA. Nobody is getting that call at anywhere. Kobe may appear unhappy with that, but keep down he knows it is fair.
I do not understand why some keep making a big deal out of this play. Personally, I felt the call was a lil questionable. Utlimately it end up costing the Lakers only 1 point, and that is only because Phil got a technical foul. In the end, this call had very little impact on the outcome. If the Lakers want to be mad at anyone, be mad at the coach for costing them a point because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.
I don't think that it was a flagrant foul. But what about all the fouls called on Cuttino Mobley for not touching Kobe Bryant?!?!??! They made a lot of unfair calls that benefitted the Lakers and the Rockets. We won. Phil complaining about doubledribbling? I didn't see Francis doubledribble...
Being upset about the Shaq flagrant foul I can understand. But the non-foul call on Kobe is stretching. Sure, there was contact. But Posey jumped straight up with his hands in the air, and Kobe jumped directly into him. I don't blame the refs for not calling that foul when it was Kobe, not Posey that created all the contact. Saying that Posey "hammered" him is ridiculous at best.
ahahahahah............As much whining there is, it aint gonna change the fact the Rockets won the game. After the made tech and flagrant free throws, rockets missed the free possession shot anyway. If Phil had kept his cool, it really wouldn't have mattered. I think all the bad calls balanced out. The bad possesion call with 22 secs allowed the Lakers to go up by three. If kobe had not missed the second free throw, it would have cost the Rockets the game. Francis had to hit a clutch three to send it to overtime. So, why are the Lackers whining? Champions my ass. they were suppose to dominate the Rockets. Shaq was supposed to break Yao in half. Kobe was suppose to score at will on Mobley. Lakers are good, but not invincible.
i watched it over and over, there was no double dribble. Phil Zhen master is just bitter and a whiner. "we are the world champions, we are suppose to get all the calls" mentality
Paid a quick visit to the Fakers forum. Man, I couldn't belive my eyes there are pages and pages of whining thread! It got to the sorriest place on earth after the Rockets game and Shaq/Kobe got their Mojos stolen by Yao, Francis, and Mobley. http://forums.lakersground.net/viewforum.php?forum=1&30456
I was going to say the exact same thing Raven. All the laker fans are constantly whinning about this same non-call. He drives into posey who jumps straight up and kobe flips up some behind the head shot hoping to draw the foul...I guess the Laker fans are so use to getting this call that they've come to expect it. They should be whinning about his 5-21 shooting, hell, Iverson could've shot better than that ...but Kobe can do no wrong in LA. The article also says O'neal just raises up his arms and hands....HA! How they can describe the actual situation so erroneously is beyond me. How can Shaq be 'just' raising up his hands when they are coming down on Steve's face in the replay? Shaq was going for a hard foul that shouldn't have been flagarant, but to say he 'just' had his hands up is laughable.
Exactly. Laker Fans: "Oh, Oh we didn't have every call go our way in the end...and...and... one actually went against us too! waaawaaa! We're all writing David Stern about this injustice! The scales must be tipped back in our favor!" You guys should check out every laker loss that isn't a blow out...I swear its always the ref's fault. It like a bunch of Bizarro 'The Cat' posters over on the lakers' BBS.
Its pretty dumb that the author is making a big deal out of the play because regardless Francis would have went to the line to shoot free throws anyway. The Rockets werent even able to capitalize on the possession following the FTS anyway. So what if they called that foul a flagrant, Ive seen many other games where they did the same exact thing, refs often times just call a rough foul a flagrant. I thought the refs called three other fouls in favor of the Lakers they shouldnt have. Shaq's goaltending was completely obvious, but they didnt get that. There was this play where Kobe faked Mobley up in there and he pulled himself away from Kobe (didnt even touch him before he went up) and he got to shoot free throws. Then there was that other possession where it was pretty obvious Shaq hit the ball out of bounds, but the Lakers got it right back. No matter how much the Lakers fans want to whine about that flagrant foul, the Rockets fans had to endure two more stupid calls.
Boo frickety hoo Lakers. Get over it, you lost, you got outplayed by Stevie Franchise and your record sucks. Phil blew the game for you guys, but the Rockets still deserved the win.
Lakers fans only whine because they're used to getting favorable officiating. So they can't comprehend that it's possible to get calls against them.
