I have no particular rooting interest in either team. My team is the T-Wolves. They suck. I’ve had a hard time rooting for Kobe ever since the rape charges, so it isn’t like I’m a big Laker booster. I think it’s just that the Lakers are like the Yankees. Everybody outside of LA hates them and wants them to lose. I also think that the perception that LA gets favorable treatment from the officials is exaggerated. I think home teams get the calls in the playoffs, and Orlando got some last night. It wasn’t egregious, but it was enough in a close game to really help. The two free throws Dwight Howard got after getting a call in his favor that should have been a charge were the difference in the game. So was the goaltend he got away with.
In LA, I think it would be the opposite, though. And I do think they started stiffing Kobe a little bit after he gave them that staredown.
That wasn’t egregious, just a tough call that was missed (Kobe sold it like he got hacked in the face. It looked convincing in real time). How about that charge that Howard got away with?
I’ve read several “The Magic shot 63% and barely won” stories/comments this morning. Does no one remember they shot 40% and had a chance to win on a Courtney Lee oop in Game 2? It’s not as if they need to set shooting records to get back into this series; it just happened that they did.
That’s what I wanted to bring up. LA won game 2 but needed Odom to go 8 for 9, Gasol to put up 24, and LA shot 86% from the foul line and made seemingly all of them down the stretch. And they needed every bit of that to win at home to avoid losing by a layup at the end of regulation.
As an aside, is Andrew Bynum one of the most overhyped players ever? He gets more fouls a game than rebounds and is only in there for about 15 minutes. LA is demonstrably better playing Odom than they are him. I just don’t get. If he didn’t play for LA and wasn’t mentored by Kareem, would we really even know who he is?
Well, to be fair, Dwight’s offensive game is “dunk, alley-oop dunk, putback dunk, ugly skyhook”.
If he added a short-range jumper or a couple other post moves he’d be virtually unstoppable. If he added a midrange jumper he’d be absolutely unstoppable… and he’s only 23, so he’s got plenty of time to improve.
I don’t think Howard is all that powerful either. He can slash to the basket, but he gets pushed around a lot underneath it. He can’t just plant and power to it like a Shaq, and he doesn’t have a reliable short-range shot like Kareem’s skyhook. He’s a good rebounder and he’s fast, but I think he plays more like a forward than a classic center. I wonder if he’s in the right position. I don’t think he’ll ever be physically dominating under the basket.
