"These rose colored glasses, that I'm looking through show only the beauty because they hide all the truth" Ps Yes, I did bust out some old school Jon Conley on your ass!
I don't know the time but I remember the the ABC guys were laughing it up because Shaq planted his elbow in Nestorivic's face and and Nestorivic got called for the foul. They showed the play a couple times.
alright, i'll look for the play. it would help if you knew the quarter though. and htown, you don't think "rose colored glasses" applies to you as well? i have surfed over a lot of message boards, and one thing i have always noticed is that fans everywhere are just about the same. they all see what they want to see. my pov is biased, i'll admit that, i can't help it. nobody can. i do try to be objective though, and after watching that play again for the umpteenth time, i still say joe smith flopped.
I'm pretty sure it's in the 2nd. Don't remember what time. If you talk about flopping, look at Fisher's act at the fastbreak. It's so funny. Nobody touched him and he was flailing his arms and jerking his head. The refs didn't buy it. . . for once. Also, the traveling of Shaq was outright blatant. Did you hear the announcers mocking him say, "That's how you play it. First find your pivot foot. Then find another pivot foot. And find your open teammate." LOL That 3-pt shot by Kobe should've been nullified because of Shaq's obvious walk before he made the pass.
I didn't see Game 3, but I saw yesterday's game. I said before the game that the Wolves will be playing 5 against 8, and for the most part, it was true. Shaq committed many obvious no-call fouls, he traveled constantly (Walton was in rare form making some of these observations, btw). You almost have to pity the Wolves. No way David Stern lets these Lakers go gently into that good night.
The Wolves lost the game themselves. Giving it to Garnett 15 feet out so he can throw up a low % fadeaway is not going to get it done. And the Lakers kept coming on offense, the Wolves couldn't keep Shaq away from the basket.
have you seen how garnett travels in the post? he had one move where he literally shifted pivot feet three different times. shaq travels, i'll admit that; unfortunately so does evert post player in the league. the majority of the time though, shaq's footwork is pretty good, as is kevin garnett's. and garnett is still moving on those screens. he leveled derek fisher today.
classic stuff. this is why i love walton. never afraid to point out blown calls and be sarcastic at every turn. also, joe smith did not flop. all 3 announcers and millions of people watching at home thought it was an obvious charge. a 350 pound man went straight through him. if joe started falling a little before, which i don't think he did, good for him, and it certainly doesn't change what shaq did. shaq made a move in which he was going straight through the defender's, who was set, body, and it wasn't light contact, it was a steamrolling. if shaq absolutely flattening a guy isn't a charge perhaps you should purchase a rule book and check up on the definition. i'll never understand why fans have such a tough time seeing favoritism for their own teams. hell, i'm a fan of duke basketball, and i know they get a crapload of calls. i don't even feel particularly good about it when i see it happen. same with the comets when they were winning titles. there were lots of times i thought they got away with stuff other teams couldn't possibly get away with. it's not like it's hard to see or illegal to admit preferential treatment, especially blatant no doubt about it favoritism in the case of the lakers, for your team. i'd say the 3 teams i have hated most in my life, jordan's bulls, the jazz, and these lakers, i have hated b/c of the refs treatment of them. it's the common underlying theme to all 3 teams.
it was a flop. shaq spun, his back touched joe smith, and joe smith threw himself down. he didn't stumble back, he threw himself straight down to the floor, wwe style to try to draw the foul. yes, shaq gets calls. he also gets screwed as well. or are you forgetting the shaq "flagrant" on kendall gill that on replay looked like almost all ball and was later rescinded by the league? have you not seen kevin garnett move at will on screens (last night hurting derek fisher)?
If he stumbled, it would have been a blocking foul. You have to have your feet planted to get a charge. What do you expect the defender to do? Shaq's big body makes it easy to knock down people. That is (or should be) the disadvantage of being big. (There are many more advantages than disadvantages for being big, of course.) But the refs seldom, if ever, grant that disadvantage because they don't want to see Shaq fouled out in the 2nd Q every game. When they occasionally do, Shaq and Phil will whine about it till you throw up.
You're waisting your time. This guy will never be able to see anything other than what he wants to see. It's a gift really.
watch the play again, as i have. there is NOWHERE NEAR enough contact to send joe smith straight to the floor like that. he pulls a vlade and slides back, maybe, but he threw himself STRAIGHT DOWN TO THE FLOOR. the angle at which shaq touched him wouldn't cause that.
