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the only time a foul is ever called against the guy guarding shaq is when shaq is displaced in midair or hacked across the arms/shoulders/head when he's in the act of shooting. they give him very little leeway because of his size. however, every defender he faces makes a point of pushing with both hands or completely rapping both arms around shaq before the catch, usually with no call. eckstein is right, if they call everything, it will work in the lakers favor.
as for the minnesota series, game 3, i agree that there were some horrible calls down the stretch of that game in the lakers favor. i always hear game 6 of last year's sacramento series as exhibit a of the lakers getting calls, but i watched that game from start to finish and didn't think it was ridiculous. i know bibby got popped on the chin by kobe in the last minute as a direct result of moving under kobe on the catch of an inbounds. that's supposed to be a foul on the defender every time, an offensive player has to be able to come down. even if you wanted to whistle kobe, it would have to be a double foul, which i've always felt was pointless unless a brawl is ready to take place. the reason why i didn't think game 6 was a big deal was because i watched game 5 of the same series, where sacramento got rewarded for flop after flop and bobby jackson got away with a cross body block on kobe on the last possession. which goes back to my original point, home teams get calls in the nba.
matt davis-if you genuinely believe that the nba threw game 6 for the lakers, then you believe that the nba is the same as sports entertainment, like pro wrestling. the league decides who it wants as a champion, and there's nothing else real about it. then, from your perspective, why watch pro basketball?
i can see the ad now...tired of watching predetermined outcomes of nba games??? new from 400 software studios, total pro basketball!!!
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