NCAA hoops are an incredible spectator sport, but I stopped watching the NBA years ago when they began calling penalties differently for and against "super stars". As far as I am concerned the NBA is on par with professional wrestling.
"You don't think LA being the largest TV market has anything to do with NBA referees making yet another business decision do you?"
If that is always the case, it sure as hell didn't help the Lakers last year, did it?
This is the view that my mother takes. She belongs to the "black helicopter", "grassy knoll", "one shot or two" view of the world. When any team but the Lakers wins, especially when they beat the Lakers, it is because they were the better team. Whenever the Lakers win, the "fix" is in.
Supposedly the playoffs being extended to all 7 game series (as in hockey), was to be a big boon to the Lakers (how, I'm not quite sure).
What happens next? Kobe partially dislocates his shoulder on a dunk attempt in Game 2 of the 1st Round. He continues to play, but is nowhere near his aggressive self. Rick Fox shreds his heel (or Achilles, don't know which) during Game 3 or 4 of the same series. He next plays in January of this year.
That is a loss of six rings right there, which stretches to nine when Devean George suffers a badly sprained ankle early in the fourth quarter of a Game 1 against San Antonio that was a very winnable game for the Lakers.
Robert Horry, usually steady in the playoffs, was a total tank, including the infamous Game 5 in-and-out shot.
Things happen. Who knows, if either side could have made its free throws, they win by double digits.