NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LA LAKERS vs SA SPURS

Lakers lead the series 3-1! One win away from the NBA FINALS! Yay! ;p


The series so far:

Game 1 in LA: Lakers 89, Spurs 85
This is probably my most favorite game from this series, so far. The Spurs started out strong, giving the Lakers every headache, showing that they're the defending champs! By the early start of the 4th quarter, the Spurs are ahead with as many as 20 POINTS! But the Lakers didn't sit down and die. Instead, they staged a furious rally, eventually edging out the Spurs 89-85. Kobe Bryant was the main culprit on ripping the Spurs. This man is simply is a beast! Lakers up, 1-0.

Game 2 in LA: Lakers 101, Spurs 71
The Lakers started strong on this one. Not wanting to give the Spurs a chance to bury them again in a large deficit, the Lakers played strong and never trailed the game. The Spurs on the other hand was the exact opposite: Manu Ginobili played dismal, the Spurs shooters were off the mark. By the end of the 3rd quarter, it was the Spurs who were under in a big deficit. Nothing but Lakers dominance here. Lakers lead the series, 2-0.

Game 3 in SA: Spurs 103, Lakers 84
The Spurs showed just why they are the defending champions. Doing their best to avoid a 3-0 hole, the Spurs simply played a perfect game. The Spurs buried the Lakers as early as the 2nd quarter and they never looked back. Duncan had 22 points, Parker had 20 points, and Ginobili coming alive scoring 30 points! Top that off with the Spurs shooters hitting in all cylinders. The Lakers saw a sign of life during the 4th when Kobe scored consecutive three pointers, cutting down the deficit to 13 points. Hope was crushed when Duncan made a three point play and the Lakers never recovered. Spurs win game 3, making the series 2-1 still in favor of the Lakers.

Game 4 in SA: Lakers 93, Spurs 91
Now this will probably be the game everybody will be talking about for sometime. Why? Because of the controversial finish: Spurs only down by 2 points with just 2.2 seconds remaining in the game; Brent Barry catches the inbound, pump fakes, Derek Fisher jumped unto him AND supposedly fouls him (by the looks of it), NO FOUL CALL, then Barry hoist a shot that missed... giving the Lakers the win!

It was controversial because of the "no call" on the foul. If the foul was called, Barry would have been sent to the line to shoot two free throws that could send the game into overtime, keeping the Spurs alive. Instead, the refs decided to not call a foul and give the Lakers the win much to the dismay of the home crowd! Add the fact that Joe Crawford, who had a history with the Spurs (a past squabble with Duncan and Coach Popovich), led the officiating team.

I have no doubt that the Spurs fans (AND Lakers haters) have a lot to say about the game specially about the no call in the end. But the thing is, the Lakers outplayed the Spurs the WHOLE GAME. Ginobili, after the amazing game 3 performance, was dead the whole game just scoring 7 POINTS! Duncan just shot 8 of 25! The only one showing life on the whole Spurs squad was Parker and a hot Brent Barry who scored 23 points, shooting 5 three pointers!

The haters can't also take away the fact that the refs called most of the plays in the game in favor of the Spurs... it was the only reason that the Spurs got so close at the first place.

Later afterwards in the press conference, Spurs coach Greg Popovich commented that if he was a ref, he would do the same and NOT call a foul on that play. Duncan said the same thing. So did Barry, who was directly involved with the play. This just shows how respectful and classy the Spurs team is. They are a no excuse team. They don't blame any other factor besides their performance. Hats off. Much respect.

As a Lakers fan, I must say that my team got lucky. It was good enough that the refs didn't call a foul. Players should understand that they shouldn't rely on foul calls when the game is on the line. The refs tend to let the players decide the game for themselves.

Hopefully, the Lakers close out the series in game 5 in LA. Home court advantage baby! ;p