No. Certainly no more significant than the Jazz shooting in the mid to low 30s in the 2nd half last night.

No more ridiculous than whining about whining.

Rock, I have always been with you....there IS superstar treatment in the NBA. Of course there is. Kobe will always get his calls. This isnt new or unique to this series.

I dont think it is significant, no. In Utah, Fish got saddled with quick calls on both nights. The Lakers lost two straight and were literally minutes away from LOSING last night.

The Jazz had plenty of chances to win last night. They could not convert. Pretty simple. Okur missed a free throw that would have given them a one point lead. AK missed a layup. Sasha threw up another 3-pointer and it bounced to a wide open Gasol under the basket.

Making excuses is lame. I wont do it. If the Lakers lose this series (which they very well could, since I think they will lose on Friday), it wont be because of refs. It will be because one team played better than the other.

I'm not whining about it. I am mocking it.

Not in this thread, you are whining. Calling it ridiculous is whining. Moreover pretending you're somehow better than the whiners becasue you mock smacks of pseudo-intellectualism.

So in other words, you can't challenge the rationale used by whiners or else you will be called a ridiculous whiner too?

If you do it over and over then you are doing pretty much the same thing. Why are you sosensitive about this? Guilty conscience?

I haven't blamed the refs for the loss, but to say that they aren't a significant factor is just retarded.

Guilty conscience? Hardly. I'm just curious how whiners get carte blanche.

Point taken and I respect it. I don't think the refs are the reason why the Jazz lost, but I still contend it's a significant factor on both sides.

To me, there's no worse subjective officiating in major sports than in the NBA. I know you disagree and feel it's baseball and I'm cool with that. Just different points of view.