lakers & twolves, game 3

[- Ace -]

For the people who watched the TNT telecast, what did Ainge and Barkley say specifically?

[Andrew]

ainge was awesome. he was saying exactly i was thinking. nice foul called on wally on pargo's layup attempt. since when do they call fouls on basketball jerseys???

Good call by Ainge. Just makes the Wolves' victory more impressive - against the defending champs, in Los Angeles, in overtime, without their best player and despite some questionable calls down the stretch.

[- Ace -]

LOL

pasted from ESPN:

Garnett, who had 33 points and 14 rebounds, fouled out in the opening 12 seconds of the overtime period on a highly questionable call -- one of several that went against the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter and overtime.


But they won anyway.

The Timberwolves appeared to have the game wrapped up after Hudson made two free throws with 22.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter, giving them a 101-96 lead.


But Bryant made a 3-pointer five seconds later, was fouled by Szczerbiak on another questionable call and completed the four-point play to cut Minnesota's lead to one.


The Timberwolves committed a turnover trying to inbound the ball, and Bryant was fouled by Rasho Nesterovic -- who was standing still with his hands straight up -- on a drive to the basket with 12.1 seconds to play. It was Nesterovic's sixth foul.

Jannero Pargo made two free throws after another suspect foul call, putting the Lakers ahead 108-107 with 47.7 seconds left in overtime. Trent was fouled by Bryant on a jumper, then put the Wolves ahead for good.

[air gordon]

it's best explained by seeing the telecast yourself...

basically ainge was openly disagreeing and said terrible a few times on several calls made by the refs. the replays showed ainge was right.

[Andrew]

You know the calls were bad when a site like ESPN makes a note of them. In my experience, recaps from ESPN and NBA.com don't usually give questionable calls that much attention.

[- Ace -]

When nba.com writes about it you know the officiating was bad. usually nba.com censors everything negative

from nba.com

Garnett, who had just two fouls heading into the fourth quarter, picked up three in a three-minute span. He fouled out on the first play of the extra period, leaving Minnesota vulnerable in a game it had in its grasp.

Part of the reason the game went to overtime was questionable officiating by the crew of Ronnie Nunn, Leroy Richardson and Bill Spooner. Bryant completed a controversial four-point play late in regulation after Wally Szczerbiak was whistled for a foul, although he did not appear to touch Bryant.

Szczerbiak also had his jersey grabbed by Lakers forward Rick Fox on the next play but was called for stepping out of bounds.

With Garnett on the bench, Los Angeles had a golden opportunity and took its last lead on two free throws by rookie Jannero Pargo with 47 seconds to go. Pargo went to the line after Szczerbiak was called for another foul, although he again did not appear to make contact.

[Andrew]

Guess we shouldn't complain too much, Minnesota did win afterall. But yes, an unusually revealing and uncensored recap by NBA.com.

[Prototype]

I totally agree with mkw3 and limpdilznik. I would've posted the same exact comments about the game. It was really frustrating watching that game towards the 4th and OT on the officiating that was done by the refs.
It was a very disappointing and controversial game to say the least. However, at least the Timberwolves still managed to get the win despite the roadblocks set by the "zebras". There's a big difference between watching and observing the game on the net...and you'd be shocked if you only saw all the Laker games Andrew...it's unbelievable. Well, just hope Timberwolves can still have their game on this Sunday to pull off another one...

[.]

well, congrats to the Wolves, LA played just played so bad they didnt deserve to win it. But I´m still not nervous about this loss, its only 2-1 and the Lakers will win the next game at home.

[Stevan]

Wally Szczerbiak was whistled for a foul, although he did not appear to touch Bryant.

Pargo went to the line after Szczerbiak was called for another foul, although he again did not appear to make contact.

LOL what the hell is this, Netball??

[Matt]

OMG, the Lakers only chance is the refs..........we'll probly see fouls called on players not even in the game

go wolves.........KG kicks ass again, Kobe has a shitty game....oh well, Wolves hopefull will win this

[Steve04]

While it was a bad call, I think the 3pt shot foul called on Wally was an anticipation call, Wally was coming down on Kobe but managed to avoid him, but the Ref's had already blew the Whistle.

I was rooting for the Lakers, but the Refs did kind of take something away from the game..

And guess what? the T'Wolves did what the Kings could not last year, they played through the bad calls and won instead of getting caught up in the heat of the moment and choking!

[Andrew]

...and you'd be shocked if you only saw all the Laker games Andrew...

I was shocked/surprised even having only read the recaps/"watched" the live scores. I wasn't even more surprised that both ESPN and NBA.com made a point of mentioning the amount of phantom calls. I agree that the calls were questionable, having read and heard about them.

well, congrats to the Wolves, LA played just played so bad they didnt deserve to win it. But I´m still not nervous about this loss, its only 2-1 and the Lakers will win the next game at home.

With all due respect, why does every Laker loss have to be a bad game for them? I mean, it's sort of saying that there's no possibility that the opposing team simply played better basketball.

[Bill Russell]

Kobe is so well-protected by the zebras, someone who makes eye contact is fouled!!

[Boyk]

well ill admit it, the lakers were outplayed.
they did shoot bad (well terrible) but i think thats got more to do with the t-wolves defensive efforts.

im hopin shaq and kobe can get out of this funk there in and start playin normal LA ball.

hey phil! put kobe on hudson then lets see what he can do
that would be funny IMO

[mp3]

hey phil! put kobe on hudson then lets see what he can do
that would be funny IMO

phil used to do that with jordan, put him on scoring pg's

[shadowgrin]

Barkley: "WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO SHOW ALL THE BAD CALLS"

EA Sports should really get Sir Charles as a commentator for NBA Live...

Kobe is so well-protected by the zebras, someone who makes eye contact is fouled!!

so Kobe IS the 'next' Jordan...

[Andrew]

Not to start another Jordan debate, but most any star player you can name has received the benefit of calls over the years, from Patrick Ewing's extra step to Shaq's offensive fouls to Karl Malone's elbows. Not all of them are as blatant as the fouls in Game 3 (again, I didn't see the game, but when NBA.com makes explicit references to questionable officiating, it usually means the officiating was pretty poor).

[Boyk]

Yer and Jordans push off on Russel in the finals

also sometimes shaqs steps look a little suspect lol

[Andrew]

Everyone always mentions the push off in the Finals, but not many people talk about Reggie Miller pushing off MJ with both hands before hitting a three to win Game 3 of the Eastern Finals that same year. Since most of us play/have played competitive basketball, I think we're all aware that for a non-contact sport, there's a fair amount of contact - and the offensive player usually gets the benefit of the doubt.

[Boyk]

hey i aint sayin it was a bad thing andrew lol
i thought it was good to see the jazz go down again lol

[Andrew]

Sorry, didn't know where you were coming from. I guess it comes down to the fact that bad/non-calls are great, as long as they work in your team's favour.

[Boyk]

Sorry, didn't know where you were coming from. I guess it comes down to the fact that bad/non-calls are great, as long as they work in your team's favour.

lol true true

but that is prolly one of the main reasons so many people hate the big time players like MJ and Miller and Kobe etc.

coz they get away with stuff that hurts there team lol

[Andrew]

No doubt, star treatment/calls for veterans definitely invites hatred of certain players.

[Bill Russell]

Lakers won today in Minneapolis, one more win to finish off the Wolves.

Sad as it is, looks like my prediction will turn out right.