If what you were doing before was not getting the results you wanted; try something different. I hope Flip looks at this game and box score.
Oldest team in the NBA, played 7 games before this series. Came back to their homecourt and give the Lakers a good spanking. I don't care bout the outcome of the series but my point here is, THIS IS THE WAY YOU SHOULD PLAY AFTER COMING BACK!!! THIS IS THE WAY YOU SHOULD PROTECT THE HOMECOURT ESP THE 1ST GAME BACK HOME IN A SERIES!!! A BLOWOUT!!! Not a NO ENERGY, NO INTENSITY, NO HEART GAME!!!
The question is, who do you have more faith in? [STRIKE]And why? [/STRIKE]I won't even bother to ask why.
Barry just got ripped off. Joe Crawford should be out of the league, he's total trash. What a screw job on the Spurs by the refs.
Too many three point attempts by the Spurs trying to go take the lead instead of just short jumpers by anyone other than Duncan. Duncan forced so many shots in the paint, as the refs swallowed their whistles. Why Stern assigned Joe Crawford to this game only the conspirators know for sure. Barry was definitely fouled in the end but.... Tony Parker disappeared in the 4th qtr and Manu disappeared for the whole game. Robert Horry was a waste and only Brent Barry showed up off the bench.
Wow, the Spurs really choked that one away. The Lakers kept giving them chances in the 4th, but they couldn't take advantage. The one no-call at the end might have been a tough break, but the Spurs had a big edge from the FT line for most of the game, so I don't think an honest assessment can chalk up this loss for them to the officiating. Lakers will probably wrap this one up on Thursday and get a week off before the finals start. Pretty amazing that Barry was +24 in 27 minutes. Finley might have had the worst +/- rating I've ever seen for such a small amount of playing time: he was -18 in only 9 minutes!
why is he assigned to ref back to back games? with his history? doesn't this league want to remain above reproach? just insane.....
I am sure Kobe and Gasol won't be fighting over shots like he and Shaq did. I would rule the Spurs out yet though, if they get game 5 then game 6 will be a lot easier.
They ended Sportscenter by asking if that play happened to Kobe in LA, would he have got the call? The other guy just made a whistle sound. It was definitely a foul. Not a shooting foul though, but a 2-shotter. And yeah, this is exactly why they shouldn't have had Crawford in this game. Why does the NBA want to be in this situation? A lot of calls are 50/50, so you don't need an official with a possible bias being forced to make that call. Also, the layup by Parker was cleanly blocked by Odom and it was called a goaltend. It was very close, but on the replay, you can clearly see that Odom touched it into the glass. So, 2 missed calls in the final minute of a playoff game.
Without a doubt, Crawford missed it (if it was his assignment area), but the Spurs didn't deserve to win this game. There was poor play all around and Duncan looked bad with very little spark. Age is starting to show. It seems that the core elements of all the playoff teams revolves around how the trinity base provides enough stability to keep them in the game. Variables include depth of bench, guard and wing flow, early lead-half time psychology and how the trio components can over-come one or more of their base not having a strong and consistent showing. The stable point (by this I mean having at least a 1.5 showing) is a must to have a potential win. With the latter, it should give the opportunity for elements of the bench to make the deciding difference.
i kind of agreed with the TNT guys...if you get a guy off his feet, you put your body into him, force the contact, and force the foul call. barry cowered from it. it still was a foul though (before the shot) and should've given the spurs 2 FTs.
