Wednesday May 28 2008 – 4:15pm Eastern 

Sorry I wasn’t able to check-in on Tuesday.  I was a little pre-occupied … golfing ALL day … from 8:30am – 5:30pm.  I was taking part in a charity event for the Spina Bifida and Hyrdocephalus Association of Ontario.  “100 Holes of Golf – in 1 Day”.  Trust me, I’m feeling it today!

But I was able to come home from the golf – and the fabulous dinner – in time to catch Game 4 of the Lakers and Spurs. 

Although Los Angeles squandered an early 14-point advantage, Kobe and Kompany still managed to never relinquish the lead.  That’s a HUGE feat for any team … especially when they’re on the road and facing the reigning Champs. 

With the 93-91 win, LA has a strangle-hold on the series and Bryant has his eyes set on his first Championship without Shaquille O’Neal.

However, the story of last night’s game wasn’t the road win or 3-1 series lead.  It was the final play of the game involving Brent Barry and Derek Fisher.

Fisher bit on a pump-fake by Barry and appeared to foul the Spurs’ guard as he came back down to the floor.  Fisher clearly bumped into Barry.  It should have been a foul.  The whistle should have blown.  Barry – San Antonio’s best free throw shooter – should have been at the line for two shots and a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime.

But no whistle came. 

Fisher – after biting on the fake – leaped from the floor and then tried to contort his body as he was coming back down; hoping to not crash into Barry.  Yet when the officials didn’t make the call … Barry had to quickly rush up a shot at the buzzer.  It went way right … and that was that. 

Nevermind that Joey Crawford was the referee closest to the play — the ref that has a long history with the Spurs (see:  Tim Duncan ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu1Wz5JQEz8 )).  That doesn’t matter.  There was no grand conspiracy going on.  In fact, both Duncan and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after the game that they understood or agreed with the no-call.  Barry admitted the same as well.  San Antonio knew they lost the game well before the final seconds of Game 4.

Getting hammered on the offensive glass – and thus giving up nearly 30 second-chance points – certainly didn’t help. 

Not capitalizing on Bryant not getting to the free throw line ONCE … didn’t help either. 

Shooting 40% from the field and having Manu Ginobili pull another no-show (2 for 8 FG – 7 points) clearly was a major issue as well (though I will let Manu off the hook a little bit … in that he’s dealing with a wonky ankle). 

Simply put, the Spurs didn’t deserve to win that game.  LA may have coughed it up down the stretch, but for the majority of the 48 minutes, they were in charge and they made the bigger plays. 

Plus, you could argue that the Lakers were the team that got “hosed” … even more than San Antonio.  With just under 7 seconds to play, LA had the ball … and with the shotclock winding down … Fisher threw up a shot that grazed the iron, hit Robert Horry, and then rolled out of bounds.  But the officials ruled that the ball DIDN’T touch the rim.  Thus, instead of getting a fresh 24-second clock, LA was forced to inbound the ball and get off a hurried shot by Bryant … that missed. 

Had the correct call been made, San Antonio would have been forced to foul LA on the inbounded pass.  There’s no way of knowing if the Lakers would have hit both (or neither) free throws but that call definitely played into the Spurs favour and gave them a chance to win. 

You can’t wipe out the first 47:55 minutes and just blame the refs for the final 5 seconds.  Controversy or not, San Antonio lost the game long before the Barry-Fisher sequence.  To think otherwise, is bogus.

E. Smith

NOTE: If you’re interested in learning more about the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario, or if you’d like to make a donation, please check out this website:  www.sbhao.on.ca/

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