Lakers/Magic

Well, Magic apologists certainly can't be complaining about the calls after game 3 of the finals. While a Lakers fan, I was willing to concede that there were more than a few questionable calls throughout games one and two, on both sides. However, the calls seemed egregiously in favor of the Magic in game 3. I used TiVo to rewind and look at nearly every foul called and there were very, very few that were even close to legit. Most should have been called the other way.

Aside: Matter of fact, that is a point that I hate about the NBA today; whenever you hear the announcer(s) say, "He did a good job of initiating contact..." that means the person with the ball should have been called for the foul. If you read the NBA rules, it is the person who initiates contact that is supposed to be the guilty party.

Of the four fouls that Lamar Odom finished with, three should have been called on the offensive player (twice being Howard) and one the other was a questionable/close call that could have gone either way. Hell, at one point Odom was standing with his arms up and his feet planted and Howard just barreled straight into him, hitting Odom in the chest with his lead shoulder and somehow it was a blocking foul on Odom. On another, Odom flew through the air, avoided all contact with Howard(?) as he went for a dunk, managed to block the shot cleanly, and was whistled for a foul.

Another egregious call. Howard got the ball, turned into Bryant, who wrapped up the ball and held onto it. Jump ball, right? Wrong. Although he held onto it for a full, slow two count and Howard was unable to raise the ball above his waist, not only was this somehow a foul on Kobe but also a shooting foul because "Howard's shoulders had been moving toward the basket" according to announcer Mark Jackson. Uh, so? Shoulders moving toward the basket is not "act of shooting."

And two of Howard's blocked shots were clearly goal tending, but were not called. One of which happened in the closing minutes and should have been a three point play.

The Magic shot lights-out and did a good job frustrating Kobe after the first quarter explosion. They set a record for a half in the finals by shooting 75% (and, even more strangely, the Lakers played decent defense-- they just couldn't miss a shot). I don't think the Magic can play a better game than that... and they only won by 2 points. I think the Magic should be very worried about their chances in this series.

A series doesn't really get interesting until a team wins on the road. So far, both teams have done what is expected... win on their home court. Should be an entertaining series from now on.