Game 6: The Saddest Cut of All

the team just got completely flustered and let it slip away in the first half. Then they came out the 2nd half and knew they didn’t have it so they half-assed it, as we’ve seen throughout a big chunk of this season.

I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned, but I’d like to point out the time difference. This game started at 9:00 PST, or midnight Eastern, and played til nearly 3am EST. They only have a day to adjust, and after such a physical game on Sunday, they probably needed the rest. I know these guys are professionals and deal with this all the time, but it can’t be easy. Which is why I don’t get the schedule for the finals. There were three days off between Games 1 and 2 and between 4 and 5, both of which were at the same venue, but only two days off between travel. I thought the whole purpose of the 2-3-2 was so TV crews weren’t rushed between moves? Wouldn’t it make sense to put the three days off between travel?

However, I’ve been saying since Game 4 that Stern would force a Game 7. Not a doubt in my mind that he gets some sort of cut from this. And if you look down through NBA history, the games that seemed iffy tend to be Game 6’s in marquee matchups.

However, if this Celtics team has taught us anything, it’s that they don’t like being blownout, and they usually come out the next game pretty pissed. Expect this Thursday. Perk will play, the Big Three will be on, and Rondo will be cutting and diving like never before. Plus we’ll actually get something from the bench.

Try being a Clipper or Net fan.

you wouldn’t have written this article if they won that game.

“Hey guys, we’ve got to lose game 6, because if we don’t get a game 7, we’ll be out XX millions of dollars, and so will the NBA, and we’ll all go broke and you’ll be out of a job?”

are you serious? these players already make millions and all of them would just give in to greed? i doubt it.

don’t you think they were tired from the cross-country trip with just one day rest? similar to what happened in game 3?

it’s good to know that this is your last post. bye!

1} They shoot 60-65% from the floor.

2} Gasol sprains his knee 30 seconds into the game.

I doubt that the NBA would dare fix the games blatantly, but I expect that there is some manipulation of games integrated into the league’s feedback to the refs, as Dougherty states. This probably causes the refs to favor certain players and certain teams in certain situations. Seeing as the NBA is a business, it would make sense if big market teams often got preferential tratment and big name players got star treatment. This seems to be the case. I expect that most players have tacit knowledge of how this works, but prefer to take the approach that they can over come it when a game isn’t called their way. Sometimes they can, sometimes not. Looking at Kobe after a game that he doesn’t win, I can almost hear him wanting to say, “I would have won the damn thing if they had called it my way!” I suspect it is his way of crying, “sour grapes.” He is a big name star in a huge market town, making him (and the Lakers- I wouldn’t be surprised if the Gasol trade got a push from someone above the ranks) one of the top 2 or 3 most favored players in the game, so I expect he is a bit used to having it his way. Basketball has become so hard to call that both sides have legitimate grievances— the problem is when it tips one way or the other.
I could be wrong (hope I am), but I expect game 7 calls to favor the Lakers for several reasons: 1) bigger market 2) more popular overall 3) helps rivalry, as both teams will have a victory over the other 4) help Kobe’s marketability (The league would love a “Jordan” back, one way or another.) 5) home court, proably the least important reason
 On the opposite side Boston has: 1) Celtic mystique— no longer so popular outside Boston 2) Faded star appeal of big 3 and possible star potential of Rhondo 3) The comparison to the last victory of Russell over the Lakers, again, not so big a deal outside Boston, but it makes a good story.
Hopefully the Cs will persevere and win, even if they must overcome their lesser status. I think that they have done this in the playoffs already (I’m fairly sure that the league would have loved James here.), so they can do it again if they don’t get too discouraged. Just makes it harder than it should be— the Lakers probably can’t beat them, but the league just might, for the sake of the pocketbook.

No, he clams up and smiles. In fact, he complains so little that I suspect he is holding back a whopper. Just my observation.

Comments, like, “We just need to stay out of foul trouble,” are telling, however.

Yeah, I hear you. When I listen to most post-pressers, I hear players talking about what they could have done differently— owning up to their mistakes. I hear little complaints about the refs from Kobe, but I also hear little owning up. He might say, “I stunk,” if asked directly, but mostly he sits there w/o saying anything, making me think he feels robbed— but just isn’t saying it. Of course, I haven’t seen him everytime he lost… so I need to qualify this statement.

In his post-game interview, the way he talked about the Celtics and how they would come out and play in game 7 — he smiled, and said that they would be VERY different in game 7 as opposed to game 6. He smiled like he had inside knowledge of that, inside knowledge that made him ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of what he was saying.

I.e., Kobe KNOWS FOR SURE that the Celtics will be different in game 7 as opposed to game 6, because he knows the Celtics threw game 6. Because, of course, he’s in on the whole thing. (He has to be. He was part of the Lakers throwing game 5, most likely.)

I said earlier that I thought he sounded like he was ready to lose game 7. This is what I meant. It wasn’t really that he knows he’s going to lose… just that he knows the Celtics are going to be playing all-out and for real…. and I think he knows the Lakers can’t beat the Celtics straight up.

The best team in the finals is the Lakers. And their most formidable opponent is themselves. What is scary is how tough the Lakers might be next year if they close out against Boston.

When they are motivated and focused, they have won games 1 and 6 by dominating every statistical category.

Game 3 on Boston home court to grab back home court immediately showed LA’s strengths again.

When they have lost in games 2 and 4, the games have been close enough to go either way. The block called on Kobe with the Celtics up by 6 was one of the worst calls of the series. Both the announcers and replay showed Kobe setting up in position almost a foot in front of the circle and taking the charge — Laker ball going the other way would have been a huge swing.

Boston has shown why it beat the Cavs and Magic — experience and desire. Problem is the Lakers have as much plus they have home court (and LA Staples isn’t Cleveland or Orlando).

Tough break for Boston about Perkins — but Bynum has been injured all of the last three years and his playing through his injury during these playoffs is remarkable and ridiculous.

Boston would have beaten any of the other western teams.

Staples will be rocking on Thursday — and Kobe will be holding the Bill Russell trophy.

Part II.

 Die-hard Lakers fans should hold the refs to a high standard and watch for calls that favor their team. There is every reason for NBA marketers to prefer their victory, so if their team wins it will be suspect. If the Lakers win, it is more likely to be a biased victory for the reasons I stated above. After much watching, I happen to beleive that it is bias, not pre-judgement that is the operating principle of reffing. It has been easier call-wise for the Lakers to win than the Celts, and this, more than home court, is what gives them the advantage. Such is my opinion— for now.

You’re focusing only on this series as a basis for your claim.

Let’s look at the big picture. If the NBA would want to maximize profits, every series will go 7 games but that would be too obvious. Maybe they’ll have game 7s from time to time but not always. However, in these playoffs, how many game 7s did we have? TWO. There are more sweeps in this series than game 7s. How would the NBA profit from that?

And if the NBA was fixed, the SUNS WOULDNT HAVE SWEPT THE SPURS, we wouldn’t have won the first 3 games against the Magic, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, the finals matchup would have been Kobe vs Lebron, Lakers vs Cavs, that goes to Game 7. That would be the most profitable. But now we have the Celtics vs Lakers, which is profitable, but not as much as Cavs vs Lakers would have been.

I am not hating, I just think facts should be used, not emotions or feelings, when dealing with these kinds of stuff, i.e. profit maximization and fixing games. Look at these facts, they happened already, and with these facts I CAN SAY THAT THE NBA IS NOT FIXED. Hell, the playoffs have been boring as hell (not for us since we’re Celtics fans), and if the NBA wanted profits, the playoffs wouldn’t have been this boring.

Again, I’m not hating, but how can the NBA be fixed based on these facts?