Lakers vs Spurs Game 4 - Did Refs Call It Right?
Published by lakers-fan.com on May 28th, 2008 | Tagged lakers vs spurs
To answer the question…YES! For those that missed the drama in Game 4 in the Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs, a 7 point lead for the Lakers with under a minute left ended with only a 2 point victory for the Lakers, with a questionable call.
With 2 seconds left, The Spurs inbounded the ball from half-court to find Brent Barry (who had been the hot hand all game with a career playoff high of 23 points), who went on to pump fake the three to get Derek Fisher in the air. Barry then went on to dribble around Fish and try to find the open shot while being “bumped” by Derek Fisher. Barry then went on to throw up a prayer, but came nowhere near the rim to end the game.
Although the initial reaction from The Spurs and commentators was that there was a big controversial “no call” to end the game that would be the cause for much discussion for the next couple of days; however the “no call” was the right call. Even The Spurs themselves admit that the call was the right call, and that you can’t have the refs make that call to determine the game.
The entire game, The Spurs had been getting their home court calls putting both Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom in early foul trouble. The Lakers were getting no calls and were fighting through the frustration to continue leading in scoring throughout the entire game.
There was in fact a real “no call” with 4 seconds left in the game, when Derek Fisher missed a shot with 2 seconds left on the shot clock and the ball ended up going out off the Spurs. The refs said that the ball did not touch the rim, when indeed the replay shows that it does, which would have given The Lakers a full shot clock with 4 seconds left. So in the end, karma played out.
With a 3-1 lead in the series and heading back to LA for Game 5, The Lakers are in prime position to return to the NBA Finals with one more win. You can be sure that The Spurs will come out fighting, but if The Lakers keep their composure, focus on their strengths, and play the classic Lakers basketball we saw at the end of the regular season, we should have no problem closing out this series.
2 Responses to “Lakers vs Spurs Game 4 - Did Refs Call It Right?”
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Danny Gomez & His Lucky Purple Shirt
TWEET DA MACHINE!
June 11th, 2008 at 10:51 am
i think that it wasnt a foul,
because the shot that Kobe had,
he should have gotten fouled,
but he never did.
So it was kinda the same thing,
you dont foul Kobe, you dont foul that Barry guy:]
January 28th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
The worst part about that game was that the day after i was sportin all my lakers gear…but i live in san antonio so everyone was hatin on me sayin it was a foul….but i was supporting my lakers all the way!!!!