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Unfortunate thing for both teams in the series is that neither can get a reasonably called game on the road. The FT disparities reflect that well...game 2 (43-16 FTs in LA's favor) vs game 4 (45-25 FTs in Utah's favor) for example. No question Utah is a 'physical' team; but in this series Gasol, Odom, and company are playing just as physical. And a superstar like Kobe will always get away with more than anyone else until he's in a series with LeBron or the defending floppers--I mean champs--from San Antonio. (Malone did the whole latter part of his career just as Jordan did in the classic '98 finals clincher. That's the way if goes. Ronnie Brewer has been keel-hauled and roped all series by the refs...welcome to the league, soph.)
Bottom line is this...the officiating has been inconsistent at best, but at least it's been consistently inconsistent overall, with the home team getting the better end of the deal thus far. Unfortunately if it comes down to it (and I believe it will), game 7 in LA will give the Lakers the series unless things change and the three blind mice can figure out a way to make things equitable. And if not, well, that's why they play 82 before the playoffs to determine who gets thrown the gift...and LA took care of business then. Just sad the series outcome may be decided by officiating (which is rightly to blame if one team shoots 20 FTs more than the other...esp in game 7).
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