Yup Flopilenko is getting called for way more fouls on Kobe even though he was doing the same **** to T-Mac. Way to be consistent refs.
Through the first two games, Kobe has shot 35 free throws. McGrady shot 16. That's 9.5 of your 10 foul differential right there. That means the rest of the Lakers team has basically gotten as many free throws as the rest of the Rockets team did. It's not coincidental that in Game 6, when McGrady had 18 free throws, the Rockets had the same type of differential as the Lakers are having.
Whoops - I mixed up Free Throws and Fouls. Nevertheless, the fact that Kobe has that many free throws suggests that most of those fouls are being called due to Kobe driving. For the season, the Lakers were #5 in free throws taken. The Rockets were 25th. And that includes half a season with Yao.
Its all about how it comes across visually to the ref. Tracy tries to go over and around his defender to get off shots at the rim. Someone like Kobe goes through his defenders chin to get to the hoop which equates to more calls. (At least 3 times last night AK ended up on his butt and Kobe landed on his feet when a foul was called in the paint) This is precisely why Wade gets so many calls. He has a way to contort his body when airborne to make it look like there was contatct even when there wasn't any. Iverson, same skill.
I think it's entirely based on perception. LA is perceived by the public to be better than Utah so they get the calls. Same crap happened last year; Houston and GS got no calls and then SA got all of them because of public perception. That's why Jerry Sloan will never win championships, but you know what? He's ok with that. Everyone thinks he's the best or one of the best coaches in the league because his style is great for making it far in the playoffs until the refs decide that his team isn't all that good after all.
The Lakers are just too fast for Utah. Kobe, Odom, and Gasol are all quicker than their defending counterparts. Maybe Brewer's quick enough, but no one's staying in front of Kobe. Odom is giving Boozer the same treatment Boozer gave Yao last year. Utah's defense is all out of sorts. Also, the Lakers' gunners are all on fire. Fisher, Farmar, and Vujacic are hitting all their open shots, keeping the defense honest. If our guys could shoot the way they're shooting, Tmac would have had a lot more room to operate. They can't crowd Kobe at all. Kobe + space = murder.
The Lakers role players hitting an incredible amount of three pointers opens up the lanes for Bryant. Plus having Gasol and Odom roaming around doesn't hurt either.
Tracy is hampered before he even makes his move and takes a single dribble. This finally stopped in the last game as the refs finally "gave up" the secret to the Rox that they will not make the call until McGrady puts the ball on the floor. If we get that call in the first 5 games, we win the thing.
Exactly. I am not disputing the fact that the Lakers are probably more aggressive. But not by that much. I say Scola is at least as aggressive a Odom, probably more. But he hardly gets any calls.
They tried. The refs would not cooperate. I think that watching TMAC for years now, he is tired of no perimeter fouls with hands all over him, and tired of driving and getting very few calls. Remember the forearm to the about to be broken nose a few years ago?
To all the conspiricy theorists and whiners: Two quotes by Jerry Sloan after game one say it all. "We can't hold and grab them as much," Sloan said. "We got four or five fouls trying to pull guys' uniforms off. That shouldn't happen in a ballgame." Regarding his team's defense, Sloan said: ''It was very, very poor at best. (Fouls) are what you do when you try and bail out. I'd say that's very poor defence.'' Maybe, just maybe the Laker offense is better than the "fill in team here" teams offense? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
tmac avoids contact? how do you avoid handchecking? how do you avoid people bumping into you when you're just driving the lanes?
exactly, games 1 and 2 i saw the jazz picking up fouls just like that. The NBA would never do anything to their beloved Lakers team
Yeah - but it's exactly because Kobe takes contact that he draws more calls. I can't blame Tracy for trying to avoid contact - it's his body; however, making opponents expend their energy dodging around rather than playing is exactly what Utah wants. So it's either take the hurt and draw the foul or not get hurt and let their style of play get to you.
Yeah, the Jazz went from great D in one series to terrible D the next. They're playing the same D my friend. It's the same bumping and grinding they did against us. The only difference is Kobe walks through it and gives up his body. McGrady can't afford to do that because he gets hurt. And McGrady receives the contact before he even makes his move. By the way, somehow, it took until game 6 for McGrady and the Rockets to get the refs to tell them how to get the foul call on McGrady for all that contact and handchecking before he even made his move. It took until GAME 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY COULDN'T THEY FIND THIS OUT AFTER GAME 1?!?!?!?!?!
I'm thinking that it's possible the effects of the well publicized tape that Morey and the team sent to the league may be benefitting the Lakers. Very possible...
