NBA basketball fans out there?

Well, what Kidd did to Kobe at the end is really obvious, but it's not really a play that the refs can call anything on. It's the NBA and if you watch any game, there's going to be that type of play, more so in the post-season than anything else. I think it's just assumed that the player (Kobe) will be able to get free either by pick and roll or by shear strength that even the hugging won't affect his play. But ya, I agree with you, jetty, the replays showed pretty obvious sign that Kidd was hugging onto kobe like a koala hugging onto his eucalyptus.

Yea, that stuff is to be expected... But in all honesty, I believe the refs are not inherently bias, they just make bad calls. Fortunately they make bad calls consistently so everyone gets dinged eventually. One would hope it just isn't at a make or break moment

Posted from my mobile device

um so yea, wtf lakers?!

yeah, about the lakers tonight....

something is seriously wrong with the entire team as a whole. you can tell not just from the game play but the lineups matches and player rotations.

A) why is kobe playing only 6 minutes at a time? Especially when the Mavs have 4 of their 5 starting players on the floor?

B) sloppy rotations from offensive pick-n-rolls...can't like Kidd get away.

C) Kobe missed a layup? Gasol missing free-throws? Are they not getting enough sleep?

D) Odom getting in an argument with Phil Jackson right during the game? (actually, Phil has been making some pretty crappy player rotations so I can understand)

E) Three-point shot FAIL. Blake, Kobe, Artest, Brown, Barnes wtf man?

---------------

On top of that, Chandler got like 2 easy dunks with no one guarding them. Can't happen anymore.

---------------

In any event, the Lakers are going to face a serious uphill battle as the next 2 game are away. Pretty sure the Mavs fans are going to hit them rough. Sucks. And seriously being a hardcore lakers fan, I can understand why they were booing Gasol on the floor. Slacking on their game man....bad bad. I don't even have anything to say. Just a bad night. Bad game. Bad shots and passes. Bad communications. Artest pretty much ganked JJ at the end kinda brought a smile to my face though. There isn't many players on the Mavs that I can respect. Hope they can pull through the next 2 games away. Maybe they need the location-change to start fresh or something....in any event, all will unfold friday

i hear you... i only had my partial attn on the game, but every time I look up, I saw a 3 pt clunker. Not playing like a Championship caliber team at all... D:

I almost want to call the lakers game a fluke yesterday night...but the way the team was performing, it really didn't look like they wanted it, nor does it look like a incumbent champion's game...

yeah i have to agree. sad but i will have to side with you. they can't leave Dirk wide open and JJ was just owning them with layups. By the 3rd quarter, they looked like they were tired or something.

Very quickly we'll be able to determine whether lakers will make it or break it this season. The game on friday night is crucial and I have no doubt that lakers will be playing hard from the get-go. It will probably be how well the team deals with frustration against the mavericks team as a whole, as well as against the fan base that will cheer so loud that it'll be able to blow the roof off. Good luck, lakers, good luck.

yup, do or die tonight... getting swept by the mavs would be the worst!

...and ron artest being suspended from Game 3 doesn't help =(

I'm just speechless at this point.

you leave dirk, kidd, and terry wide open with uncontested shots.

it'd be awesome if they can come back from a 0-3 run but i doubt it. i just hope the Mavs get what they deserve later on in the playoffs.

I didn't watch the entire game. I had a chance to watch just the first quarter and at that point, it was a fairly even game. As I was driving (for the past 3 hours), I constantly refreshed my blackberry browser and it was a really balanced game in terms of score. Then I guess 4th quarter was when it all came down wrong, especially the last several minutes. I just finished watching a 4-minute recap of the game and while the clip doesn't do it justice, it certainly looks like lakers just getting sloppier and sloppier. At this point, I just hope it's not a sweep against the incumbent champion because that's just pretty embarassing.

Lakers going to have some serious serious reforms here ladies and gents. get ready for the next season, i'm pretty sure we're going to see some new faces...like Dwight Howard. maybe Phil will come back for another season since this one was pretty much a flop?

Well, it was a good run for the lakers during the season. The way they played the hornets seemed like everyone's in it till the finals. I think the mavericks had proved this concept wrong and was able to take it out of the incumbent champion. With this win, I think Mavericks will be going to the finals, beating out whoever the winner between grizzlies and thunders. On the east side, as much as I love the bulls, I just can't see the bulls making it the the finals mainly because the players are just shooting at such a horrid percentage. D-Rose makes some crazy moves and dang, some are just crazy moves! But still, if you can't make shots, you can't win the game. I have a pretty strong feeling that heat will take down the celtics and the team that comes out front between the hawks and bulls. I think the final will be mavericks and heat.

it's either going to be heat or Oklahoma. pretty sure about this :D

You think okc will take down the mavs?

nah.... any cricket fans out there by any chance?