down the stretch the lakers were getting calls every time down the court.....so i dont want to hear any of that crap from those la loosers
It appears to be a moving pick only because the impact of Kobe's hip pushes Yao around a little, and then Yao turns to face the basket. At the point of impact, Yao is still. The Lakers argue that Yao creeps and inches closer to Kobe at the last second, which I don't think he did. It's the end of the game, whistles are typically swallowed unless it's a blatant, easy call. Juwon was tripped by Kobe a few plays earlier, too, but was called for traveling...you win some, you lose some.
Illegal screen are determined by what happens BEFORE the contact. It's not that Yao is still, it's that he has established position (being still) with enough time for the opposing player to change thier path. This is why some charges are called blocking fouls. Because the offensive player was already committed (moving fast and in an upward shooting motion) before the defensive player established themselves. He looks still, looks like a charge - but it's not. Because the offensive player must have the opportunity to change paths. You can't undercut someone. So it's not clear that Kobe had enough time or distance to adjust to Yao - Yao was moving late, but he looked still when the contact was made. The call in fairness could have gone either way - but on iffy calls it's best to just have no whistle blown which is what happened here.
But we don't say anything near as insane as Yao is loved by the officials all the time! I mean you have to admit that's insane. Then again, these are the same fans who, to this day, swear that David Stern fixed the Finals so that the Pistons would be them in 5 games.
Kareem's jump hook was the most unstoppable shot ever. He could hit it from 20 feet away and a release point 11.5 feet in the air. Kareem was a plenty good player with his other moves and was a good passer, but without that shot, he would have been just another really good center, rather than one of the all-time greats.
If there's one team that has zero right to complain about officials, it's the Lakers. No team over the last 30 years has gotten more star calls than them...
It just seems as if whenever we're playing a heavily broadcasted game, such as on ABC, TNT, or ESPN, the officials give Yao those calls. It's as if Stern gave them the heads up that China's watching or something. I've seen this trend for about two years now. I wish the officials treated him like that every game, that would be beautiful...
good point i think a no call on the pick, yao looked to be set, kobe may not have had a chance to change paths, but the issue became when that primadonna kobe acts his way into a foul. had kobe flopped outward and not touched tmac there would have been no fts for tmac on that play, probably would have called the contact on the screen a no-call/incidental contact. by kobe trying to draw the foul he hit tmac twice when he was trying to shoot, and kobe if anyone know that even if you get a fingernail on someone shooting a jumper they are gonna call a foul. anyways we got the W i dont think it needs to be hashed over and over not with tip-off for the jazz game less than 90 mins away
It's somewhat to do with the fact that the ref's are beginning to respect Yao and Houston as a premier team.
