I would like to put myself in that category, but I have to be honest — I do believe that the refs have thrown, consciously or not, several huge playoff games, and hence at least two titles, to the Kobe Lakers. The ‘00 title, where Blazers WCF series was thrown, and the ‘02 title, where the series versus the Kings was thrown, should be revoked. I believe the league let these series be thrown because of $$ and $$ only. If that makes me a conspiracy theorist, so be it.

It’s going to be extremely difficult for a small market WC team like Portland to unseat the Lakers for this very reason.

There’s another insidious bias that can’t be chalked up to conspiracy; the media fawns over the Lakers. Announcers, from TNT, to ESPN, to CBS, take their point of view. And commercial announcers obsess on the Laker celebrities, like Rick Fox, Kobe and Shaq. The game of basketball gets lost. Sportswriters do the same thing. Try reading an article about the Lakers-Jazz article written on NBA.com or USAToday. Invariably it will be written from the Lakers point of view: what the Lakers need to do to win, how the Lakers will have to make this adjustment or that adjustment on defense.

I’m not saying the NBA is the WWF… and not saying anyone shouldn’t be a Lakers fan, but it’s extremely obnoxious to have these realities glossed over.

Re-read my post, and you may notice these key lines:

My issue is not with those calls; they’re not why we lost those games. My issue is with the bloggers, who cry foul when the Lakers benefit, and turn a blind eye when they don’t.

I’m not complaining about the calls, in any way, shape, or form. They are not why the Lakers lost those games.

But many others — perhaps yourself? — complained in those situations that I mentioned (and many others) where the Lakers have gotten the benefit of iffy calls. My issue is with them for only complaining when the Lakers benefit.

Regarding the calls themselves: Fisher’s was, technically, a foul. I didn’t argue that. But there was more contact on Ariza than there had been on Mason, so that should also have been a foul.

Kobe’s 6th foul was also a foul, but it was a touch foul that is almost never called. It was also called after a stretch of 4+ minutes in which the refs had been “letting them play,” allowing them to be very physical. To do that for 4 minutes, and then turn around and call a touch foul, is ridiculous.

That said, I’m not complaining about the calls, because they’re not why we lost. We should have played better against the Spurs; some hint of defense, and we wouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with. Same against Charlotte — we let them in the game. Besides, Kobe shouldn’t have had 5 fouls in the first place.

So I’m not complaining about those calls, or those games. But I am expecting those who would complain if the Lakers were the ones that benefited to do the same when the Lakers don’t benefit.

That’s what this is all about.

Kobe got called for the touch foul b/c the ref had let so many others go; and said no more to Kobe.

If you want others to “man up”, you should look in the mirror first.