No other sport has this sort of treatment for its superstars. One of the many reasons why the NBA has a long way to go to catch up to where it once was. Its one thing to give a guy the benefit of the doubt throughout the game... but its a totally different situation when you're going to bail him out with a phantom call when he's shooting a fadeaway 3 at the buzzer, on the road. Yea... I love this game. (and don't get me started on what the refs think is a foul in the eyes of defense against Yao Ming, vs. defense against Kobe Bryant).
Amen, that call was ludicrous - my roommate who doesn't even really watch bball that much just agreed with me on that call. In addition, anyone see the traveling call on Tim Duncan when he got pushed out of bounds? That one was ridiculous too. I just don't understand how the Lakers and Mavs get so many calls.
I saw that play, and at first it looked like Kobe forced contact with his arm. But after I watched a couple of replays, if you look at the lower half, you'll see there was plenty of contact below and that's why Kobe's body turned and his arm hit the other guy's arm.
I would have to completely disagree with this after looking at the replay 10+ times. Not only was there zero body contact by the defender, but Kobe clearly kicked his leg out after releasing the shot simply to feign contact. And this was actually after the obvious contact he forced with his right arm. Incidentally, this is the same ref, Ron Olesiak, that George Karl just got suspended 2 games over.
That's just what I saw. You may be right. But the refs looked over the replay and still gave Kobe the shot, so I guess even though the contact was forced, it's still a foul.
The zebras miss a lot of calls and/or make a lot of superstar calls, but this particular call was especially egregious, IMO. Because of the way the contact was made. Instead of naturally following through his shot downwards after the release, he suddenly swipes his shooting arm to the right and into the defender's arm. My guess from the looking at it is that he knew his shot was going to be off, as most players know whether it'll be good or a brick after they let it fly, and so he just tried to manufacture some contact and plead for a foul. And as Kenny Smith pointed out, the ref was looking at his feet and the 3pt line initially, and by the time he looked up probably just saw the upper body contact with the defender and decided to blow the whistle. I'm not sure what the rulebook says for the last second replay - whether actual calls can be changed or only the clock and position behind the arc can be reviewed. But in any case, this definitely doesn't look good for the impartiality of the league's officials. Superstar calls are getting out of hand.
Sadly the refs could not look at whether it was a foul or not. All they can review is whether it was a 3 point shot, and whether the ball was away in time. Wonder how that felt for that dumb ref to look at that replay over and over again and see how bad he screwed up. I would say that the refs should have the power to see whether a foul occured there, but that would set an ugly precedent. Every game would be reviewed at the end over some contact that inevitably occurs every game. Dumb ref.
This has been, IMO, a brutal season for officiating in the NBA. The refs are just inconsistent as hell. It's taking a lot of the fun out of the game. To prove how bad it is, I used to cringe every time I watched a game where I saw Violet Palmer was officiating. Now, I don't even bother because she's not that much worse than a lot of the other refs out there. That's just sad.
That was a horrible call. Kobe wasn't touched, but he pulled a Reggie Miller with that leg kick. Nice to see the Fakers were still able to pull it out in overtime with Kobe on the bench.
I watched the whole game pretty much. Kobe got bailed out there for sure, but the Jazz had around 50 Ft attempts. why did I watch the entire lakers-jazz game you ask? Bet Over on the O/U, and won!
The Jazz got screwed on that call. There was no contact until after the shot was released. Kobe basically leaned into Brown's outstretched arms. However, I just can't feel sorry for this Utah team. Deron Williams is going to be a fine PG in this league, though.
I thought Devin Brown stepped on Kobe's toes? Either way, it was a horrible call...disgusting that the Jazz lost that way
That was a terrible call. Like one of the commentators said, it was one of those games where you hated to see either team win. I loved the Kobe bashing in the post-game show. They were asking how many times Chuck, Reggie, and Kenny took 30 or more shots a game. Kenny Smith - 0 games- career high of 24 FGA, 41 points Reggie Miller - 0 games- career high of 29 FGA, 57 points Charles Barkley - 3 games in 16 years - I don't remember his point totals Kobe Bryant, THIS SEASON - 7 times in 15 games
as I stated many times It is more WHEN THE CALLS are made than the amount You could shoot 50 FTs to their 10 but If those 10 constitute 5 fouls on T-mac in the 1st half . . . and 2 at the Final seconds of the game. . . YOU GOT SCREWED Rocket River
He really is a delusional fruitcake! "You never call it with the game on the line, but that was pretty blatant," Bryant said. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2005120126
