It's not evidence of unfairness. It is evidence that one team is getting called for far more damaging fouls than the other team. The reasons why are to the judgment of the observer, hopefully using other observations.

The driving thing is one good reason for the disparity. That said, the Lakers have to my eyes actually driven more to the basket in this game than in Game One, and the disparity has actually gotten larger.

Also, you would be ignoring the fact that there is a general trend to giving the home team more calls, a fact that has borne itself out throughout this playoffs. To disregard that and assume everything is on the up and up would be silly. It seems pretty clear to the Celtics have benefited here (and the Lakers will likely see similar benefits at home, thus the value of home court advantage).

Oh, and BTW, wow, nice comeback.

kudos to the lakers for making it an actual game - celtics really need to close out games better

The Celtics gotta have Killer Instinct in LA, that's two straight series we've almost thrown a big game away

I know the Celtics are a good defensive team, but you really should give the Lakers some credit

Paul Pierce is on his way to being a Boston-area legend.

It's not evidence of unfairness, I agree. But just because it isn't, doesn't mean that it was reffed fairly as well either

I don't watch a lot of NBA basketball, but there was one point late in the game where Vujacic was shooting a wide-open 3 right in front of the Boston bench. As soon as Vujacic caught the ball, three Celtics jumped up off the bench and started running toward him, screaming and waving their arms to try to distract him. Is that normal? Seems kinda bush league to me, but I dunno. Whatever the case, I thought it was pretty funny.

They got really hot from 3 ball land. No lead is safe if they hit threes like that

Already there. Heck, he would have been there just for surviving multiple stabbings, regardless of what he does on the court.

If anyone actually uses that term, I would probably just laugh. Most of their fans have no problem doing it themselves :)

Heh, really? I missed that. Yeah, that's bush league. Don't think it's normal, but maybe every team does it, and I just never noticed.

I'd say that's somewhat commonplace. You should watch Ben Howland on UCLA's sideline. He's notorius for waving his hands around when someone is on that side of the court

Very one sided game in my opinion. If the Lakers can even the series up at 2-2 I can see them winning this series in 7.

I saw that too, but I thought they were yelling at the ref for some call they thought was missed. I could be wrong, and it's already deleted from my TIVO.

Well, depends which fans you're talking about. The ones in Jack's neighborhood take out contracts. The ones in Pedro and Long Beach do it themselves.

The ones in the OC just cry themselves to sleep.

Yeah, it was the 2-on-1 where Radmanovic stole the ball and passed crosscourt to Vujacic for the 3. I guess I'm wondering if every team does that, or if maybe there are just a few guys in the league who'd pull that stunt.

I feel good, that only two teams have won all three games at home since the finals went 2-3-2, and the Lakers have to get all three.. do you think they can come to Boston and win both?

No, they didn't jump up until Vujacic caught the ball and was clearly about to start his shooting motion.

If they are up 3-2, yes. If they are down 3-2, no

I assume this is about the Vlady fastbreak dunk? I see a lot of travels in the NBA go uncalled (and probably saw about 5 off the top off my head tonight), but that was perhaps the most obvious travel I've ever seen go unwhistled. He shuffled his feet after picking up the ball, and then took 3 steps after that just in case anyone missed it the first time.

It'd be a pretty neat trick if the Lakers won two games in Boston if they go up 3-2. :D

Lakers fans shouldn't be complaining about the refs. They got destroyed by Boston for 3 quarters and deserved to lose. The Lakers made a nice run in the end, but ultimately the Celtics have them in a position where they have to sweep all 3 games at home or they're finished.

Wait, when did the NBA start calling traveling again, especially on a breakaway dunk?

There are four quarters in game if anything the Lakers should take this game as a positive.

It was a makeup call for the play right before where Kobe was grabbed and twisted. I'm at peace with it :)

Ya, I think it's like a language at this point - after some time, it changes, no matter what the dictionary/rules say. Traveling hasn't been called by the rules as long as I've been watching the NBA (since around 1986). At some point, people will finally give up and accept it.

You know what I mean :)

Newsflash, a game is four quarters long. You play all four before the game is in the books. And if that game is called straight, maybe the Lakers go back with a split right now. Lakers' fans have every right to complain.

The "Arizona Hop" rule

Traveling never gets called when a player is that far ahead of the defense.

That's been my experience with it, too, as I watched the NBA a lot from the early '80s up until John Stockton retired. Yeah, Radmanovic did travel, but nobody's calling that. Hell, once he got clear of the defense, he could've gone the whole way without dribbling and they wouldn't have called it.

Ummm no they don't. That game was called just fine.

I have no horse in this race but I think the Celtics got the best of that deal.

Easily. No one is blaming the refs for the loss, that is on the Lakers still. But the Lakers weren't the home team and didn't get the benefit of the calls. It's the unfortunate break

Yeah, and W is a good president!

Any NBA game = losing team's fans (and 50% of neutral fans) think they were screwed by refs

The Celtics play a weak schedule/can't win against the West/can't beat a good team in the playoffs/can't win on the road/get the benefit of referee calls.

You guys are hilarious!

dola

I'd also add that if it's true that home teams get the benefit of calls, then perhaps the Lakers should have won more games in the regular season.

It's fine to say that now, but there was good evidence for all of those except the second one (they always had a good record against the West). Can't really say people saying that at the time could have been said to be wrong at that point. It's only in hindsight that you can dismiss #3 and #4. And the Celtics did play a weak schedule (that is still true), and they clearly benefited from referee calls tonight. Really, it's unbelievable that that is even in dispute when the FT discrepancy was almost four to one.

Both your comments make little sense.

Chief, you know that physical teams rarely foul. :)

As much as I hate to see a Boston team be successful --- GO FOR THE SWEEP!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

maybe if the lakers drove to the rim instead of settling for jumpers they'd get more FT's

Playing the maybe if/what if game will get us no where. Maybe if the refs called the game a bit more balanced, we are tied 1-1 :)

KOBE CAN'T WIN WITHOUT SHAQ

JORDAN CAN"T WIN WITHOUT PIPPEN ;)

so when the C's lose a game in LA (and I have no doubt they will lose at least one) you Lakers fans are going to be okay with us Celtics fans bitching about all the calls the Lakers got, right?

you're not all going to be a bunch of hypocrites, right?

Whether or not they played a weak schedule is irrelevant. The criticism was that they only had a good record because of that weak schedule, which is a stupid criticism since they played very well when they did face tough teams.

Free throw disparity is a pretty dumb way to criticize refereeing. Do you think it is impossible for a team to commit 30 fouls and the other team to commit only 6? I don't think it is.

Let me ask you, what is a reasonable disparity? If the Lakers got 10 more calls, so it was 30-16? Then maybe the Celtics don't ease up and still win. Or would it have to be 30-30 for the game to be fair?