I hope that the final outcome is really determined by the play of each team rather than a night full of questionable calls. I cannot tell you how angry I would be if there is some horrible officiating. Especially knowing Phil Jackson and Rick Adlemans playoff history. Please NBA don't give me a reason to think you are staging the games like it's wrestling.
I don't want to see Joey Crawford in Game 7, but the man I really fear is Dick Bavetta. That man will hold Artest down while Kobe takes out his face.
I hope Stern will be there on Sunday, like what he did today. At least, officiating can not be too far under his eyes.
Things can go three ways. Either that the conspiracy is true and that Stern wants to profit from 7 games, which means game 7 should be neutral or The conspiracy is still true but this time Stern wants Kobe vs Lebron finals. or The series was played fairly with good officiating, and Laker's record of 10-1 in the playoffs when he is reffing and 9-8 in the playoffs when he is not is a coincidence.
when Joey Crawford or Dick Bavetta? And was this over the past 2 playoff seasons? Those are staggering numbers. I cant but help to think that they will call the game really tight in the lakers favor meaning Chuck Hayes will get called for ticky tacks and same with our "bigs" and it will force either adelman to play artest at center or bring non-rotational players off the bench
That is staggering! I am assuming you mean Joey Crawford. If that dude is in for Game 7, I will definitely blow a fuse even before the game starts. I will have NO RESPECT for the NBA if that guy gets to ref that game no matter what the outcome. I also thought there a couple of refs last night tried to really help the Lakers with some very questionable calls, but someone on the crew made some make up calls for the Rockets to balance things off. The thing about it, when the questionable calls where made, the Lakers made their 3rd quarter run. When the make up calls were made, the Rockets took the lead back up to never get in trouble of losing the game again. A poorly officiated game DOES make a difference in who can win or lose games at this level because teams are so evenly matched to even be here...no matter how much talent everyone thinks the Fakers have over the Rockets at this point.
In the past 28 playoff games, the Lakers are 19-9. They are 10-1 in that time with Crawford officiating. That's ridiculous.
Do you guys believe that the NBA might actually try to subtly influence the outcome of the game in favor of the Lakers through the calls of the referees? Honestly now. No hot-head over the top answers to this question, please.
