You know how I felt that the Lakers really got a gift from the refs in Game 3 against the Timberwolves, and that I was glad that the Lakers lost that game because the officiating was so bad? If I was a Spurs fan right now, I would be ashamed that the Spurs won this game. You only need to look at the difference in the number of free throws that were shot tonight to see how unbalaced the officiating was:
Free throw attempts for San Antonio: 35
Free throw attempts for Los Angeles: 12
Now sometimes the number of free throws will be a little skewed one way or the other. Usually its surprisingly close. But this is really absurd. The Lakers shot more times than San Antonio did, to boot, so it wasn't like they weren't getting any shots. There were a number of things that were really disturbing regarding the officiating. Shaq fouled out (which he only did a few times all year), and on the other end Shaq only had 6 free throw attempts. Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, took 38 shots, and only got to the free throw line FOUR TIMES. The Spurs meanwhile, had a rookie who comes off the bench, Manu Ginobili, take only 9 shots and still get 8 free throw attempts, twice what Kobe had. The amazing thing about all this is that the Lakers still had a shot to win the game, even with them being clearly on the wrong end of some bad officiating, with Shaq fouling out, and with Rick Fox out hurt and Devean George going down with an ankle injury too. If the Lakers can just get a fair shake from the refs, they should be able to beat the Spurs.
So I'm annoyed, of course, but the positive I take from this is that the Lakers won't shoot that bad every game, there (hopefully) won't always be such a huge discrepancy in free throw attempts, and Shaq will not usually foul out. Given that all happened and the Lakers were down 3 points with 10 seconds left, how can I really be that upset? I'm mostly upset about Devean George being hurt, but maybe its not as bad as it looked.
I fully expect the Lakers to win Game 2.