Black Omega said:
I would disagree that there has been no trash talking. From Fox running down the Kings multiple times to Shaq accusing them of cheating to Phil Jackson's comments on Sacramento, the Lakers have a clear lead in the trash talking department.
I'm glad someone mentioned this and didn't let it slip by.
Unless you as a fan ignore a LOT of garbage that's been coming out of the Lakers' mouths, there's no way you should be able to miss all the trash and disdain that Fox, Samaki, and especially Shaq have been saying since the first day the match-ups were known.
The Kings have only gotten any begrudgingly generous comments from the Lakers by forcing them by beating them repeatedly, and well.
Shaq has once again showed how thuggish, dull, and absolutely deluded he is by his many comments this series. ("The only way to stop me is to CheaT", predicting lopsided victories all the time, and then last game saying he's never complained about the officials.)
It would be a boon to the NBA if THAT arrogant of boring and two-dimensional team that expects and RELIES on referee-bias to win would lose to the
better team, that plays with passion and TEAMWORK and fun and Showtime and has had to claw and scrape for everything they have now.
There are 3 scenarios for the game today (depending on how cynical you are):
1) The Lakers, being the large-market, supposed-fan-"favorite", will get the calls and Shaq and Kobe will lift their team over the "upstart" Kings, proving their championship superiority and cementing their dynasty for YEARS to come (I'm not kidding - if they win this year, what would stop them for the next 7 years?)
(((a.k.a. the refs will rig it so the Lakers will win even if they don't come out and win outright on their own)))
2) The Kings, having fought long and hard all year to establish home court advantage over the course of 82 games
specifically for this one game, will dethrone the "champions" in a true team game, proving to all the small-market teams and fans that hard work, dedication, and great team chemistry still counts for something.
(((a.k.a. the refs will rig it so the Kings will win at home, getting the home-town calls IF they don't win outright)))
3) The refs will actually call the game fair and let the better team win.
The problem with #3 is that "calling the game fair" is not easy, because it does NOT equal "just let them play".
"Let them play" equals letting Shaq get away with slamming his defender out of his established position, which of course is the whole problem when talking about how the Lakers are officiated.
Also, the refs haven't really called a "fair game" yet, and it's so subjective and dependant on who you root for, that there's not much chance of that happening if it hasn't happened yet.
My prediction - I just don't know.
If it's based on history, what the refs will do is allow Shaq to get away with watever he wants inside (because he's the biggest and strongest), making it absolutely impossible to guard him OR score anything inside.
Also, you will see an UGLY game of the Lakers hacking at every single drive, dribble, and pass with those slapping-hands-defense that they prefer. The Kings will have to try to follow suit from the beginning, but their game is not designed for that, and will be unable to keep up with the excellent play of Kobe and Shaq (in that game-context).
However, the league would be smart to call the Lakers "fair", and not allow Shaq to become dominant be using brute physical strength (this game DOES have rules about what he does).
Because if they don't force Shaq to stop doing that, noone will.
And there is NO WAY that any other team in the next three years will even be able to compete against the Lakers if the Kings can't dethrone them this year.
Which would be a better scenario for basketball fans world-over?:
a) The LAkers continue to dominate for years by not changing a thing - playing a boring, bruising game based on physical brute strength, heedless of the rules in the books?
b)The Kings win by playing an up-tempo, exciting TEAM game with a racially and politically-diverse team with members from many nations, thereby making the Lakers come back, RE-TOOL, and add at least ONE more element to their game, instead of riding their TWO great players to a dynasty.
That was one of the best, if not the best Basketball game I have ever seen. I really have to give Sacramento credit. If they had made a few more free throws, I think they would've won. Great game, and it was absolutely fantastic to watch.
