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Are NBA Refs Pulling for the Lakers?

Ahhh, playoff time in the NBA.  Also known as Lakers get all the calls time.  (See last year’s How Fixed is the NBA? column.)  Well, after the Madsen trying to foul Shaq / Telling the ref he’s fouling Shaq / Shaq acknowledging that he was being fouled / no call from Dan Crawford fiasco, I decided to study the 4th quarter of game 4 to see if there really was a bias at the Staples Center.  Here are my running notes.  I will admit I can’t stand the Lakers but if you have the game taped, you can go back and find the times and confirm or refute my findings.10:34  Fisher switches pivot foot; no call.  He then scores.  (LA: 1, Min: 0)
9:54 Wally Szczerbiak hammered from behind harder than Kobe’s alleged victim. No call. (LA: 2, Min: 0)
9:33 Medevenko hits KG in the gut.  Technical called.  
9:18 Madsen still sucks.

Did you know that 10 Million Americans suffer from fatigue, with symptons including exhaustion, irritability and mood swings?  Listen, instead of taking yet another drug, how about just getting off your fat lazy asses and sucking it up?  I don’t hear the Amish complaining about fatigue.  How about you go churn some butter and raise a barn?

Speaking of fatigue, good to see that Brian Wilson is out of bed!

8:08 Mr. Vanessa Williams fouls Wally. Called.
7:52 Garnett fouls Malone. No call.  (LA:2, Min: 1)
6:59 Malone offensive foul on Garnett. No call. (LA: 3, Min 1)
5:44 Wally fouls Fisher. Called.

TNT is pimping Salem’s Lot hard.  This is the problem I have with LA audience. There are stars there only because they are trying to plug their next project that’s tied some way to whatever network is broadcasting the game. Hey look, there’s Rob Lowe. And hey, TNT is showing Salem’s Lot starring Rob Lowe. Craig Sager, go loft him some softballs.  As sick as I am of Jack, at least he’s always there.

5:25 Why does Malone get to grope KG?  I mean, he’s basically rounding second base there.
5:22 Defensive 3 second called on LA.
4:48 Madsen fouls Shaq. Called.
4:23 Szczerbiak can’t get a call if his life depended on it. (LA:4, Min:1)
4:22 Spree fouls Kobe. Called.
4:10 Madsen still sucks but foul is called on O’Neal. Seems he learned to shoot free throws from Shaq too.
3:02 Hey! The T’Wolves intentionally foul Shaq and it’s called.  Amazing!
2:55 Wally finally gets a call.  No he doesn’t!  Offensive foul called against him instead.  (LA: 5, Min 1)
2:42 Wally fouls GP. Called.
1:51 Wally finally gets a call!  LA crowd goes nuts in protest.  What are these refs thinking?  This is the Staples Center.  No blood spurting from the visiting team, no foul.
1:48 KG fouled by Payton. Called.
1:37 Madsen fouls Shaq. Called.

That’s it. The game basically goes to a dribble out the clock situation.  LA is up 3-1 in the series.  But on the ref bias front, they won the fourth quarter 5-1.  

I’m sure Lakers fans will go ballistic upon finishing this column. Oh wait, nevermind, they left earlier with 3 paragraphs still remaining.

By Vin

Vin is a Philly boy who shouldn't be invited into your house because he'll judge you on your book and music collection. He owns Dawkins, Utley, Iverson, and Lindros jerseys, which is all you really need to know about him. He can be reached at [email protected].

4 replies on “Are NBA Refs Pulling for the Lakers?”

Big market=$$$ Some people say that the NBA is rigged.  If it is, it’s not directed by the NBA, it’s directed by the massive TV contracts the major networks have shelled out.

The last thing the networks wants is a Minnesota-Indiana final.  That would ensure a rating of about.4 on the Neilsen.

The Lakers happen to be the best team.  They have four players who have good arguments for the Hall of Fame.  It also helps that they have a lot of selling points for free agents.  Then there is also the fact that they are the only NBA team for 600 miles (north-south) and 400 miles (east-west).  If you think the Clip Joint is an NBA team, I have a large bridge connecting Manhatten and Brooklyn for sale.

Refs care what players could foul out? I heard that one of the officials in the Lakers game asked how many fouls a player had at one point. Is this true? I caught a quick blurb on Mike and Mike on ESPN radio but never heard about it again…

Yeah, That was why I posted my conspiracy thread Tim Legler mentioned this during the game and kept harping on it for 10 minutes.

ESPN also interviewed Hue Hollins who basically backed up what Legler had been complaining about – basically, the refs ask the scorers about team fouls and individual fouls.

Stu Jackson came on and did NOTHING to disprove ANY of this.  He reinforced what Hollins and Legler were saying as a matter of fact.

The NBA has sucked since Stern took over.  I hate him, and I hate this bastardize cross of basketball and thug ball.  Fuck the NBA.  I hope they continue to have 70-67 games for the next ten years.

fixed 7th game, Lakers vs Pistons Of course it’s fixed, we all know it in Detroit, come on, looking the referree calls on the Laker’s court, someone trips Ben Wallace and as he falls, he recieves a penalty for his hand brushing another player, and since when had there been penalties for charging-till it was used to ignore two baskets! Come on, we know the bookies are tied into the NBA in Vegas, it’s big bucks, the Pistons and the Lakers should just walk off the courts, it’s no longer fun to watch, it is too preplanned when there are 60 point scoring discrepancies depending on whose court they play, disgusting, no longer athletes, just pawns.  Ridiculus, Rashid was just telling the truth and the word is on the street, you DJ’s are just ignoring it, but it is true, it is so rigged.

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