magic are playing better and its comforting that the game is so close, but they should be winning by like, ten right now. : (

sure you are right considering the refs have given the magic almost 10 more foul calls, mostly on the Laker big men. and this is on the lakers home court.

Lakers should hammer the guy before he tried to shoot.

LOL, Goaltending could have been called on Lakers as a laker smacked the rim on the last shot!

lol refs, Laker foul. too agressive fighting through a pick in overtime!

We finally traded Kapono for Reggie Evans. Made way too much sense for both teams to not happen eventually

That was an A+ game. One of the best of the playoffs

????? Kobe scored like 18 points in the 1st quarter and like 3 in the second.

good for Phil Jackson. His comments at end of 1st quarter. > lots of bogus calls out there. I am not sure what the refs are seeing.

Fisher is the man. What a 3-pointer. And Howard missed 2 free throws.

If Magic lose this one, it would haunt dwight for a long time.

I dont understand why stan van gundy did not tell his players to foul fisher before he took a shot.

Dwight

Fish

Turkoglu

yup, stupid play!!!!!! lost them the game and maybe series.

and what a cheap shot by Pietrus at the end. wow he lost it wiht that fore-arm slam as Laker was hanging on the rim.

Fisher did it again. both the shots did not even touch the rim.

Terrible foul by pietrus. They should make it Fragrant 2 and ban him for game 5. He just attacked gasol without even trying to go for the ball.

This series is over in 5.

Funny thing about last 2 games is that the team that played the best and deserved to win the game didn't. But both teams ruined their chances with a half quarter of bad play.

joke of the NBA - too bad the NBA wouldn't agree and make a statement how bad the Refs calls have been

From Yahoo...

Lakers’ Jackson fined $25,000 for ref comments
31 minutes ago

(AP)—The NBA has fined Lakers coach Phil Jackson $25,000 for criticizing the officials during Game 4 of the finals.

The league also penalized the Lakers $25,000 on Saturday for Jackson’s comments, which came during an interview with ABC between the first and second quarters of their 99-91 overtime victory Thursday.

Jackson said there were some “bogus” calls after the Lakers’ Pau Gasol(notes), Lamar Odom(notes) and Andrew Bynum(notes) each picked up two fouls in the first quarter.

and did joke of the NBA even comment on Pietrus foul as in any other situation he would have been suspended.

I also notice in Game 5, Magic are already getting the foul calls as maybe NBA/Refs want the series to be extended.

When did the NBA start letting the visiting team do the championship ceremony on the home team's floor? From what I can remember it was always in the locker room if the visiting team won.

And congrats to the Lakers. They absolutely dominated in the last two rounds. I think it might have been a different story if Garnett hadn't gone down, but that's a normal part of the game. The Lakers stayed the healthiest and with the talent they had they were going to be extremely tough to beat. If the two teams stay healthy I don't see how it could be anyone except the Celtics and the Lakers in the finals. I don't think the Cavs get there even if they pull off the deal for Shaq and I don't see anyone else coming out of the West unless the Hornets and Nuggets mature very rapidly.

As for the Magic? See you in another five to fifteen. With Dwight they'll be around, but they need another presence inside if they want to win the whole thing.

I didn't realize that the Lakers are creeping up on the Celtics for most titles.

Down by 2?

Also anyone see Bill Russell at the trophy presentation. He didn't look happy or he was bored/tired.

Just as I predicted lakers won in 5. Magic lacked the experience to pull it off. But they made it close. Rashard lewis had good playoff series and Turkoglu was excellent. But Howard needs to work on his offensive game. Lakers were able to make him ineffective easily.

I think cavs will probably add a better sidekick to Lebron (Michael Redd?) and manage to make it to NBA finals. Kobe/Lebron match hopefully happens at least once.

Kobe now has a legit case for the top ten ever... but he's still behind Shaq and Duncan I think he's level with Dr. J, Hakeem Olajuwon, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Moses Malone.



Cleveland still has a good chance depending on what they do this summer, they did win 66 games this year and Lebron is Lebron... Orlando was just a bad matchup for them. Orlando should also be good again next year with everyone back and Nelson healthy and more experience

Also if we trade Bosh (likely, he's confirmed he wants to be a UFA next summer and won't sign an extension - so it's trade now or risk him bolting for nothing) the most likely deal by far is with Miami for Beasley, so if they get Wade/Bosh and then trades expiring contracts for Tyson Chandler and James Posey or something... that'll put them up there to say the least

well you should have been wrong as except for a bone-headed play by the magic, the series should have been tied at 2-2 going into game 5 tonight at Orlando!

so what would have happened if tonight would have been 2-2 to start!

uh who cares, it didn't happen that way.

And that's what makes the debate between Red and Phil so fun. I honestly think you could flip a coin and no matter what side it lands on and you'd wind up with a correct answer. Red coached for 20 years (10 with the Celtics) and won 9 championships (all with the Celtics). Phil's won 10 in 17 years with three different teams. It's pretty close. They are the two greatest coaches (without a doubt) to coach in the NBA. Pat Reilly is a distant third.

Aside from my Celtics bias my pick would still go to Red Auerbach. He revolutionized the way the game was taught and the way the game was played. He was also the first to put a real strong emphasis on the "team" aspect. His structure would be followed for many years to come and it's still going today. Phil does that too, but without Red his way of doing it could've been vastly different.

Your argument of Hall of Fame players is a good one and I think that's where the distance lies between Red and Phil and why I would pick Red.

Red - When he started he had Bob Cousy (future hall of famer) and Bill Sharman (future HOF), but they weren't quite in their prime yet. They had to be molded. A few years later they drafted Bill Russell, Tommy Heinshon and K.C. Jones, and get John Havelicheck and Frank Ramsey thrown in their for good measure you have a pretty solid lineup. Without Red though there's a chance they go nowhere. Red single handedly developed Bill Russel's career from the ground up. He was a great player in college but Red made him into a champion (and future hall of famer) at the NBA level. The same goes for all the other players.

Phil on the other hand missed out on Jordan's first three years in the league. Now Jordan hadn't won anything up to that point and Phil introduced the team to the triangle style of offense, but would Jordan have remained the same player we all remember now without Phil Jackson? As much as I think Jackson is a good coach, I think if you stick Jordan on any team he'll turn himself and the others around him into future hall of famers. Jackson without a doubt had an impact, but I don't think it was to the same level that Red had. And it also helps to get Dennis Rodman who had already won a couple of championships in Detroit.

The same thing happened with Kobe and Shaq. Shaq was already in the league for a few years before he made the transition to Los Angeles and Kobe already had three years under his belt when Jackson took over. He still had to make it work between them though.

Jackson got his players in their prime. Red molded players to become great players and coached them from the beginning to the end of his career. Yet the both still won. Who cares if you have great players if you can't control them and get them to win?

A couple of disadvantages for Red's case though: The used to only play two rounds before finding out who'd win in the finals compared to Jackson's teams playing through four rounds to declare a winner.

Red quit at the top of his game yet the team he left went on to win the next two of three under Bill Russell. Was it the talent, or was it the talent mixed in with what Red taught them?

That's why I go back to the coin flip. Honestly, I think you could flip a coin between the two and whosever side it landed on you'd get a very good answer. Is Red the best? I think so even though Phil has won 10 now, but there are ways to deflate that argument just like there are ways to deflate the Phil Jackson argument.

And don't forget Bill Russell. He was the first true big man to play in the league. On a Top 10 list Kobe would be somewhere between 5-10.



See that's the thing though. A healthy Celtics team is a bad matchup and the Magic just as they are are a bad matchup for them. They have to do something or else they won't come close to winning 66 again next year. I think getting someone like Shaq would help them against Orlando, but I still think the Celtics would beat the Cavs if Shaq does wind up in Cleveland.