After watching Game 3 of the Lebrons vs. Magic and the Lakers vs. Nuggets I have come to the conclusion that the refs are in complete of the every game. These guys call flagrant fouls like it's their job and also are giving T's like the 4 for $20 sale at Champs. I don't understand it at all. If these same refs were on the Bulls vs. Pistons or any Laimbeer led Pistons' teams, no one would be left to play. Those games were so physical with "hard" fouls all the time. In these series there will be "No Easy Buckets" because winning that ring means so much for these guys. Do they have to meet a quota just like the state troopers do? Now I'm going to throw out examples of ridiculous calls the past two games.
Anthony Johnson goes to the basket with the ball and inadvertantly hits Mo Williams in the eye. Now, Mo Williams did have two nasty gashes underneath and above his eye but it was clearly not intentional. Anthony Johnson intially gets called for a Flagrant 2 which means he gets tossed and I believe gets suspended for the next game. They somewhat come to their senses and only give him a Flagrant 1. The best part of it was that Mo Williams was called for fouling on the first whistle. And now, the NBA reverses the flagrant call on Johnson. I'm banging my head on my desk right now.
Second example is during the Lakers-Nuggets game, JR Smith gave Andrew Bynum a sharp forearm to his back while running down the court. It was clearly a foul, but the one and only Bennett Salvatore gave him a "T." Just call a foul, a "T" is completely unnecessary. I'm just waiting for Joey Crawford to get a Game 7 in one of these series.
Now on to something the refs missed. Dahntay Jones "accidently" tripped Kobe on his way to rebound. Typical Duke move, but it was clear to everyone that he did it on purpose and there was no penalty for it. I don't understand how you miss that. Stevie Wonder was complaining about that one.
It should be interesting to see what happens as both series go on. You know the league wants a Kobe-Lebron final. It will be huge for ratings as well a great marketing scheme for Vitamin Water and Nike. Unless the Nuggets or Magic are just dominant over the next couple of games, it will happen. It will be a similar situation to when the Bucks played the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2001. The League wanted to make sure they pitted Shaq/Kobe against the Iverson and Todd MacCulloch led Sixers. The Bucks were a much better team than the Sixers and it was clear until Game 7, the refs made several significant calls against Sam Cassell, Ray Allen (Jesus), and Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson. And guess who coached that Bucks team? George Karl. He might be screwed once again. You can say the refs don't change the game but when they make calls that are clearly wrong over and over again in big situations, it makes you think. Just to let everyone know as well, the refs meet with the TV execs before every game as well...
Now, I like to see teams have fun but what exactly are the Cavs and the Lakers trying to pull. The Cavs were wearing team shoes last night (am I the only one who noticed this?). All the starters and a couple of reserves were wearing the Lebron Soldier 3. The shoe that is black and has a white toe, look for it tonight. Just like the Cavs, the Lakers are doing the same thing with Kobe's new shoe, the Kobe 3. Now, not everyone is wearing the same colors but it's still the Kobe 3. I do like Kobe's shoe but I would never help that fraud in any way possible. I do like Lebron but I have a strict personal policy of never wearing someone's signature sneaker that is younger than me, unless it's free of course.
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