I know i can get flamed for bringing up the refs bc it could be said that im looking for excuses or im being negative, or not confident, but i have a bad feeling that its not going to be fair. I am sure that we can beat LA heads up, but LA is LA and we all know how the NBA is. I hope im wrong but lets hope the refs dont get wise on us and not call it fairly. Here is to not favoring a team bc of their name and their value when it comes to ratings.
Ofcourse it's not going to be fair. Yao will probably be in foul trouble most of the time. They're also not going to let Battier/Artest get away with some of the stuff they did on Roy.
Thats one of my biggest concerns forget about basketball, pretty much my biggest concern playing LA is the fact that they are LA and the fact that it would be better for the NBA that LA went to the finals. And we know that NBA officiating is almost like the damn mob in my opinion
Its funny, in the NBA Dish I saw some Rockets fans making fun of the Jazz and Sloan about complaining about the officiating in-game. Particularly during the final 3 minutes of game 5. I didn't get it. The Jazz got screwed those final 3 minutes. Nothing was called on their end. If that crap happened to us I would have thrown a rock at my TV!
You'd be pretty naive if u think NBA, a profit Corporation, won't try its best to make Lakers win the series.
The Jazz got royally hosed when they played even in their own building. I hate the Jazz and even I saw that. We will be even worse off. This year it is all about Kobe vs. Bron and Stern has hundreds of millions in loans to make sure it happens that way.
It's time for the Rockets to show what they're made of. If you are being treated unfairly in real life by any person you do something about it right ? The Rockets should start to get the killer instinct and the edge the Championship teams had with Maxwell leading with some nice elbow work and technicals. The rest was also very vocal and uttered their displeasure when they felt the refs made a terrible call. Olajuwon, Thorpe, Elie, Drexler, Kenny, Sam, Horry and Herrera all challenged the refs when they made an unfair call. All received technicals and Olajuwon went ballistic several times over a call where he just looked at the ref à la Mutombo and went right in the refs face. It's time for Artest to start with some elbows and technicals if needed. Then I'm sure his little brother Von Wafer will get in on it and the rest will follow. Yao has got to be more vocal too if he feels he's being treated unfairly and not afraid to pick up the technical. This is where I miss Rafer, he had that edge and lead our team emotionally like Maxwell did. Ron hasn't been that guy so far and we desperately need him to be.
Portland fans said the exact same thing about us. We have the "superstar", we have the bigger market, the NBA wants Yao Ming to advance.
There is also another conspiracy where WE had to win or else LA is forced to play Portland. Portland is the only team that showed they have the matchups against LA and can beat them in a 7 game series WITHOUT homecourt. For some reason I find this conspiracy easier to believe.
"Dick Bavetta should count against the Lakers salary cap!" I dont't know who to credit for this line, it it is one of my all time favorites. I do know I stole it from this board.
LA is LA, but Yao Ming represents China, in a way. I expect the series to go 7 games. The NBA needs the chinese market just as much as it needs the Kobe market. Who wins GM 7? The better team.
We have a fair shot if Violet Palmer isn't officiating. How is she still in the league? I know that every coach and player despises her.
Dick Bavetta is just a bad ref. He's missing calls left and right, and totally inconsistent. Just my opinion. I hate Steve Javie's attitude and think he's going to burn in hell, but he's a very competent ref.
I agree. Javie loves being complementary to the home crowd (unless they tick him off) and has little temper tantrums during the game.
I said it in another thread that the economy is worse than ever. The NBA is probably affected by this more than the general public knows about. All the kids would want to see a Kobe/Lebron matchup. This way all questions would be answer about them. I'm sure the first 2 games of Rockets/Lakers will be fair, but if we manage to pull an upset then it will be all down hill for us here. Nevermind that Kobe will get his no call on traveling, but everytime he goes to the basket it will be a foul when no one is even touching him. Yao will definitely be foul out before the 2nd half begins. After witnessing such unfair bias calls against us, in the end of the day no one will do anything about it. China and Houston will not complain and will still pay money to NBA.
