Los Angeles Lakers - Cheap Shot Artists Extraordinaire

I could not believe what I saw in the first game between the Rockets and the Lakers, which the Rockets won. There were more than 2 dozen cheap shots committed by the Lakers during the game, and no fouls were called on most of them. Some of the cheap shots yielded pretty gnarly results, like Battier with blood streaming down the side of his face from a cut that took 4 stitches to close. Or Kobe Bryant dealing Yao Ming a blow to the knee that, although not as serious as it originally looked, was the type of shot that has the potential to end a player's career. Kobe also kneed Yao in the head when Yao was down on the floor a few minutes before the knee shot.

What burns me up about the Lakers behavior that night is 2 things:

1) The Lakers are normally a pretty classy team. What I saw Monday night from them was pretty shocking. What the hell got into them? Their penchant for cheap shots was the worst I have seen in many years.

2) What about the referees? They were of the mindset "Just let them play". They were not favoring either team, but they were definitely letting the cheap shots happen without calling fouls. They need to reign this in before someone is seriously injured or a huge brawl results.

I have always respected the Lakers, but that respect went out the window Monday night.

Here's the one that ticked me off the most, when Battier was going for a loose ball from Kobe:


And there was no call, even though everyone on TV saw it happen live with the TNT commentators wordless.

There wasn't even a call on Sasha' elbow to Battier's eye and it took them a good 30 seconds to a minute to realize he was bleeding everywhere, even though he had to run up to two different referees showing them the blood.

Disgusting.

Best part was when they cut to Yao outside of the locker room, in the hall to the arena where he was like 'I want to go back out there'.

PS - danarhea

I don't mean to advertise (not my site), but have you ever been to ClutchFans/there forums? There's about 400 fans online right now, but after a game, there's over 1,500 including guests.

Degreez said:

PS - danarhea

I don't mean to advertise (not my site), but have you ever been to ClutchFans/there forums? There's about 400 fans online right now, but after a game, there's over 1,500 including guests.

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Got a link to it?

Degreez said:

Here's the one that ticked me off the most, when Battier was going for a loose ball from Kobe:


And there was no call, even though everyone on TV saw it happen live with the TNT commentators wordless.

There wasn't even a call on Sasha' elbow to Battier's eye and it took them a good 30 seconds to a minute to realize he was bleeding everywhere, even though he had to run up to two different referees showing them the blood.

Disgusting.

Best part was when they cut to Yao outside of the locker room, in the hall to the arena where he was like 'I want to go back out there'.

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I saw that one too. That was a couple of minutes before he did the same thing to Yao when he was down. He spared Yao the elbow, though, and only gave him a knee in the head.

Battier is probably the best defender in the NBA against Kobe, and that probably got Kobe frustrated to the point where he did all this crap. But that is no excuse. There is also absolutely no excuse for the refs to let this happen either. I will make the following prediction. Ron Artest is a very famous badass who went into the stands a couple of years ago, while at Indiana, and beat the crap out of fans that were giving his team a hard time. Here's the prediction. I bet that, if Kobe keeps this crap up, Artest is going to punch his baby ass lights out.

Gotta leave now - Game 2 is coming on in just a few minutes.

PS - Yao Ming is one tough SOB too.

Can't believe he got ejected for taking an elbow to the throat.

And don't even get me started on Derek Fisher's dirty cheap shot on Scola...

Degreez said:

Can't believe he got ejected for taking an elbow to the throat.

And don't even get me started on Derek Fisher's dirty cheap shot on Scola...

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His mistake this time was doing it to Ron Artest. Keep your eye on Kobe in game 3 and game 4. Artest is going to take him out.

Fisher got suspended for a game because of his cheap shots, but Kobe should have been suspended too. I understand why Kobe was not suspended, though. Without him, even the Minnesota Timberwolves could eat the Lakers alive. LOL. :mrgreen:

dan - Houston Rockets Fan Forum - ClutchFans

It's a really active website (been around since 1996, that particular domain/website has been up since 1999).

Currently Active Users: 1569 (895 members and 674 guests)
Most users ever online was 3114, 05-05-2009 at 01:21 AM.

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This is about an hour after the Rockets won Game 6. Usually right after a game, the website takes forever to load.

It's one of the best team fan forums I've seen. PS - Artest is registered on there.
ClutchFans - Artest on ClutchFans: Let Me In!

Degreez said:

dan - Houston Rockets Fan Forum - ClutchFans

It's a really active website (been around since 1996, that particular domain/website has been up since 1999).



This is about an hour after the Rockets won Game 6. Usually right after a game, the website takes forever to load.

It's one of the best team fan forums I've seen. PS - Artest is registered on there.
ClutchFans - Artest on ClutchFans: Let Me In!

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Artest is getting Kobe's goat now. Did you see what Artest did that got Kobe a technical foul? It was one of the most brilliant "flops" I have ever seen. After the foul, Artest and Kobe were talking to each other, and Artest stuck his tongue out. Kobe was rattled for the rest of the game, although he did end up with 27 points.

Kobe played with fire when he started messing with Artest, and Artest has his number now. LOL.

Can the Rockets take game 7 now, in Los Angeles, without Yao, without Mutombo, and without McGrady? I think they might have an outside chance. I believe they want it more. It is going to be one hell of a game.

I can't wait for Game 7. The Rockets came out strong in the 1st quarter of Game 6. They're gonna need a repeat on that.

Also, I believe Artest said something like Kobe kinda smacked him in the mouth and made him bite his tongue (which was bleeding slightly when he stuck it out).

Best thing was JVG's comments on the call, LOL

Degreez said:

I can't wait for Game 7. The Rockets came out strong in the 1st quarter of Game 6. They're gonna need a repeat on that.

Also, I believe Artest said something like Kobe kinda smacked him in the mouth and made him bite his tongue (which was bleeding slightly when he stuck it out).

Best thing was JVG's comments on the call, LOL

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Yea, Van Gundy went ballistic and totally lost his composure. He sounded like a whiney little girl. I enjoyed the crap out of it. LOL.

Eh, it's playoffs. Tensions run high and people get aggressive. I'm going to say that I approve of the refs calling few fouls and just letting them duke it out. Games are hardly worth watching when all the starters on both sides are in foul trouble the entire game.

I'm a Laker fan but don't condone any of this. I quit watching the NBA because it's been devolving into street ball for the last decade or so and miss the days of sportsmanship in this game and hope the league starts to tighten up on this.

LaMidRighter said:

I'm a Laker fan but don't condone any of this. I quit watching the NBA because it's been devolving into street ball for the last decade or so and miss the days of sportsmanship in this game and hope the league starts to tighten up on this.

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I disagree and got a feeling you know nothing about some real street balling:rofl

Kali said:

I disagree and got a feeling you know nothing about some real street balling:rofl

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HAHAHA! I've taken some pretty good pavement shots in my day. We'll leave it at that.