The way I see it, all the antics in Game 2 prove that either: a) The lakers are in the Rockets heads. They wanted to prove that Game 1 was a fluke. They wanted to make a point about playoff basketball, etc. The jawing with Scola, the Fisher cheap shot on Scola, the Kobe cheap shot on Ron, it was all calculated to intimidate us and get in our heads. Kobe knew exactly what he was doing. Trying to make Ron go off and take him out of the series. Or b) The Rockets are in the lakers heads. The lakers are a finesse team and all their Game 2 antics prove is that they are worried. For the first time this season, they are actually worried. After Game 1, they are now doubting they can beat us fair and square. They are expected to cruise to a championship this year and anything less would be a MAJOR disappointment. After Game 1, they are starting to wonder if they can beat us in a 7 game series. Sure, they might win a game at TC and get homecourt back, but they now know that we are perfectly capable of winning at Staples and we can do it again. So they resort to what they did in Game 2. They think it’s the only way they can beat us. So which is it?
i think it's definitely b. it's questionable that artest should've even been ejected and i believe his actions were justifiable, not to mention potentially smart depending on whether or not the nba wants to actually stop one of its stars from playing dirty. the lakers obviously don't like the hard play while we don't mind it. look at battier's reaction to the kobe play (which was dirty) amd the vujobitch play (which was not, just incidental contact in a playoff basketball game) in game 1. scola's foul on odom was no different than vujobitch's play on battier except for the foul call. now look at the reactions of the teams to the similar plays. scola simply reacted to trash talk with trash talk, but didn't retaliate after fisher's dirty play. imagine what odom would've done had lowry done that to him. rockets got this. they've fired themselves up, fired the fans up and they're firmly in the lakers heads.
I think it's really telling that Kobe has to talk trash and throw cheap shots to psych himself up against the Rockets. The motivation of being in the playoffs isn't enough. He wasn't ready for the physical play and has to dirty up the game to get enough motivation to play as well as he has. It's the sign of a team with a lot of bravado, but not a lot of real confidence, getting a shot they didn't expect.
hey wait...this isn't the hangout! very good point about kobe. i was thinking that the whole game. i mean, we all know how good shane is on the defensive end, but i couldn't help but think that jordan wouldn't have been in the face of someone like that in the 90s.
Of course Lakers have the advantage. You think NBA will let two teams not named Lakers and Cavs go to the Finals? Forget about it. It will be bad for business. NBA is an entertainment business and it has a history of manipulating the outcome of the games through officiating. Those so called all star calls, veteran calls, etc, especially in the playoffs. I never see anything like that in other league. That is why I am losing interest in the NBA. It is rigged.
Minus the few late game fouls when the game was over both teams fouled the same amount. Rockets shot three more free throws. Yes, the Artest call shouldn't have happened. Kobe got away with a shoulder to the CHEST(not the throat). But to say your team didn't get away with the same amount of calls is nothing short of homerism. I can list just as many if not more questionable calls against the Lakers then for them. Joined this forum for some research but when I see this ****, it's just disgraceful.
I'm going with "B", can't wait for tomorrow night. I think the Rockets lost in the best possible way. After the 1st quarter, this could have been a blowout but the Rockets showed how deep they are and made a nice comeback. Also, losing a heartbreaker could have been bad for the psyche and that didn't happen. If they had lost by 13 and not had the Fisher & Kobe incidents we would just be talking about a regular road loss. Instead I think the Rockets will be extra pumped come Friday night as will the fans and I look for the Rockets to have a convincing win in game 3. Toyota Center will be as loud and pleasantly obnoxious has it has ever been. We have the mental edge.
Every single ticky tacky foul letting the Rockets shoot free throws 4 minutes in to the fourth Scola is pushing of for every single rebound The Kobe technical (make up call?) Artest hitting the back of Kobe's head Artest pushing off on Kobe THE PLAY BEFORE, and subsequent plays before These are of the top of my head. Again, I admit ejecting Ron wasn't correct. But, to even suggest the game overall was "rigged" is idiotic.
maybe we should do the same research in ur forum [ QUOTE=ivictorr]Minus the few late game fouls when the game was over both teams fouled the same amount. Rockets shot three more free throws. Yes, the Artest call shouldn't have happened. Kobe got away with a shoulder to the CHEST(not the throat). But to say your team didn't get away with the same amount of calls is nothing short of homerism. I can list just as many if not more questionable calls against the Lakers then for them. Joined this forum for some research but when I see this ****, it's just disgraceful.[/QUOTE]
I think this is a good place to post this: Dwyer's got more there (he does not like it when you post the whole thing) and I encourage everyone to read it. This series is could go either way until one team settles down.
