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Don't Bet on the NBA
Forget Boston vs. LA; ref scandal harkens six years back
For reasons unrelated to Buzz Bissinger-style hateration, I can't easily read Simmons right now. Still I try, because he's my favorite blogging guy. Simmons is on about the burning questions of the 2008 NBA Finals, but a lot of us are right now ruminating on the Western Conference Finals of 2002.
I am a fan of the LA Lakers, but I'm the rarest kind: the one who also roots for the Sacramento Kings. (Yeah, yeah. Don't pillory me; I know the deal. Literally, friendships in my life have disappeared because of my split affinity. But what can I say? The Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento the same week I moved from Sandusky, Ohio to Sactown. They had me at hello. Yet, I do love me some Showtime, now. Rooting for the Cali teams while living in NYC will twist a man up real good.)
In June of 2002, completely down with Webber, Divac, Bibby, Turkoglu, Stojakovic, etc, I sat in The Colorado of Pasadena, just certain my Kings were headed to the Finals. They were up big in the fourth quarter of the clinching game, then the NBA took the Conference Championship from my Kings. Shaq shot free throws like they were his birthright because the NBA wanted LA — not Sactown — in its match-up with New Jersey.
I saw what I saw and no one can make me believe anything else happened. Apologists for the NBA such as Michael Wilbon saw it as a horribly officiated game. I say it was, like Porky's or a Michael Bay film, expertly officiated in that the refs achieved everything they set out to do.
I am a fan of the LA Lakers, but I'm the rarest kind: the one who also roots for the Sacramento Kings. (Yeah, yeah. Don't pillory me; I know the deal. Literally, friendships in my life have disappeared because of my split affinity. But what can I say? The Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento the same week I moved from Sandusky, Ohio to Sactown. They had me at hello. Yet, I do love me some Showtime, now. Rooting for the Cali teams while living in NYC will twist a man up real good.)
In June of 2002, completely down with Webber, Divac, Bibby, Turkoglu, Stojakovic, etc, I sat in The Colorado of Pasadena, just certain my Kings were headed to the Finals. They were up big in the fourth quarter of the clinching game, then the NBA took the Conference Championship from my Kings. Shaq shot free throws like they were his birthright because the NBA wanted LA — not Sactown — in its match-up with New Jersey.
I saw what I saw and no one can make me believe anything else happened. Apologists for the NBA such as Michael Wilbon saw it as a horribly officiated game. I say it was, like Porky's or a Michael Bay film, expertly officiated in that the refs achieved everything they set out to do.
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