An LA Team Wins Because of a No Call? Surely You Jest

Well, well, well, that was a close one, wasn’t it? Yet strangely, it wasn’t supposed to be that close in the first place. When I saw the Lakers cruise to a 7 point lead with one minute left, I already had some post ideas in my mind, all oozing with sarcasm. What should I write about? Should I do a fictionalized monologue about how Manu totally stunk it up again? Or maybe just something insulting at San Antonio? So many ideas were brewing in my head.

But then I switched back to the game and a turn of events unfolded that almost left me dumbfounded. First Gasol misses the free throws, then Manu hits an amazing three (and I was about ready to trash the guy, figures). Just like that the Spurs were only down by 4. That’s when my interest level slightly raised up a bit, because 4 is still a bit of a deficit with only half a minute left.

Then there was the missed shot and the goaltending call in favor of Parker. Awesome. All of a sudden they were only down by 2, and I already had an article in mind about Phil Jackson totally losing it if the Spurs end up winning.

Fifteen seconds later, with only 2 seconds left on the clock, the set up was complete. The Spurs were in bound on to Barry. Shit, that’s kind of far. Fisher takes him, and Barry fakes. Fisher jumps up in the air and then….. completely elbows Barry in the head. No call?!?! WTF?!?! Barry shoots a miracle, and it falls flat. Game over.

TNT then replays the shot, and it does look like it is a clear foul. Talk about anti climactic.

This is outrageous, right? I mean c’mon, a team from Texas totally getting screwed because of a bad call while a team from LA benefits of it. Who has ever heard of something like that….?

Photo via Deadspin

(Told you something would be oozing with sarcasm)

Oh yeah, that’s right, Los Angeles cannot be defeated by normal means, which is code for rules. I mean to call a foul against LA would be ghastly. The supernatural powers that the city of Los Angeles has over referees have been brought up before. Yet, it seemed that this was only relevant to the college game, who knew it would spill over to the pro side of things? Guess so.

Then again, the foul was committed by D Fisher, who is the NBA’s darling, and the shot was made by Brent Barry. Who is the ref supposed to choose? A guy who has gone through so much with his daughter’s medical ailment, or Brent Barry, who’s um…. white, I guess. Yeah, not really a tough choice.

Plus, the ref on hand was Joey Crawford. I guess if you can’t physically beat up Tim Duncan, you can always beat him up mentally.

But now that that whole officiating fiasco is over, we can look forward to game five in Los Angeles, where it is assured that the Lakers will get away with murder. Literally. Yes, I really mean literally.

From Around the Blogs:
Coaches and corporate management [HR World]
Adroin behind backstop for the Dodgers [Absolute Dodgers]
ESPN addresses the Vanessa Bryant-Laura Lane standoff [Awful Announcing]