- Kevin Garnett setting about 57,439 moving screens in last year’s Championship run for the Celtics.

- “Big Baby” Davis somehow getting the same treatment, which is probably even a more shameless favoring of the Celtics by the refs because Davis is a load and knows how to throw his weight around and has no problem doing so with impunity during this series against the Bulls.

- Derrick Rose getting very clearly fouled on 7 consecutive possessions in the 4th quarter of Game 5 with only 2 foul calls taking place.  I know that the guy is a rookie, and I know that the Celtics winning the series could mean more money for the league, but do they have to make it so obvious?  This fact probably has me even madder than the Rondo-Miller play (see below) because if the refs would have called those 7 Bulls possessions according to the rules, then the Bulls had about a 80% chance of winning the game in regulation…not to mention Vinny Del Negro would not have panicked and would have kept giving Rose the ball every possession instead of Ben Gordon, who was still special, but you could tell he was feeling the effects of the hamstring strain he suffered in Game 4.  Rose, on the other hand, was able to get to the rim against any 2 Celtics defenders seemingly any time he wanted.  Granted, if I were Vinny Del Negro, and they were hacking the stuffing out of my rookie point guard like that at the end of the game and not getting called for it, I might have started to explore other options as well.

- Ray Allen getting a foul called on him for lowering his shoulder and trying to bully his way through a screen, then acting like the Bulls player (Brad Miller) initiated the contact.  This play looked even worse because Miller was kind of throwing Allen around like a rag doll by the end of the play.  It was, without a question, a very easy call for the officials to make…just like the ticky-tacky foul Ray-Ray committed on Ben Gordon that he whined to the refs about for at least 5 minutes.  Dude, you get 6 fouls, and you used them all…sit down and let the guys with enough discipline to play within the rules continue the game.

- The refs “missing” a fragrant foul call by Rajon Rondo against Brad Miller at the end of the OT in Game 5.  I will admit that calling this a regular old foul was an understandable call, as it happened in real time…but there was ample opportunity for the refs to look at the play and get it right, as Miller was trying to literally stop the bleeding on the Bulls bench.  There was even a question as to whether or not there was goaltending on the play, so you know damn well that the refs watched the play at least a couple of times, saw that Rondo was very clearly headhunting, as Miller’s arm was completely outstretched with the ball in it when Rondo smacked him in the face.  Here’s what else you have to know, if you either live more than 50 miles outside of New England and/or have an IQ above 80 – the refs absolutely, without question, had to make a conscious decision that, despite what they saw on the replay, they were not going to call a flagrant foul on the most important play of the game, even though that flagrant foul was probably one of the easiest flagrant fouls to call in the entire time that the league has had a flagrant foul rule.  If the replay is not enough for you, how about just looking at the dude’s busted grill?  For whatever reason (as if we don’t already know), the refs decided to ignore the rule in this particular case.

So, is there anything that can be done about this, other than bitching and moaning?  Well, I am not sure you will ever be able to get rid of the fact that smaller players usually get carte blanche to beat up on guys, even other smaller players (see Bowen, Bruce for more info)…and the refs seem to look the other way even more when you have a little guy going up against a big guy.  But that does not mean that the league is powerless in this case.

The league is probably the only entity that can right this ship.  The refs awarded a game of this series to the Boston Celtics unfairly.  The league can award Game 6 to the Chicago Bulls.  I know that we are talking about the No Balls Association here, but they would be well within their rights to suspend Rajon Rondo for Game 6, right?  I mean, he did commit a violent act of whaling on a defenseless shooter’s face during a league-sanctioned contest, right?  What’s wrong with taking away Boston’s most important player for Game 6?  A tooth for a tooth (pardon the pun) is what I say.

I, for one, do not think that David Stern has the balls, but that is basically all that is required here – a little testicular fortitude on the part of the commissioner to right a very clear, and very easy to fix, wrong perpetrated against one of its proud franchises by the refs…assuming that the refs did not make their decision because they have been under orders to favor the Celtics, Lakers and Cavaliers at all costs since October.  I mean, all of the ref problems are fixed after the league hired that military dude, right?

So, without further ado, here are the random thoughts from the end of Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

• James Posey.  Watching James Posey commit a foul after the whistle on almost every play was really wearing me thin.  Jeff Van Gundy summed it up best…he’s the kind of guy you want on your team, but every other team hates him.  Move over Bruce Bowen — there is a new queen punk bitch in the NBA.  Although Posey actually brings something else to the table, unlike Bowen himself.
• All Praise Big Baby.  I was struck by one thing above everything else…a dude with the nickname Big Baby was the only player on the Celtics with any class down the stretch, although even he could not resist one punctuation dunk.  The rest of the scrubs at the end of the game were launching threes and trying to set up alley-oops (were you surprised…remember that Doc Rivers is still the coach), but not Big Baby.  For the most part, he was making the extra pass and trying to use as much clock as possible…kind of like a good basketball player that has a little class.
• Joey Crawford is a dick.  What else can you say?  When we will finally be rid of him?
• KG’s Moving Screens.  This is one of the things that I will remember the most from this Finals.  KG pretty much committed a foul on every single offensive possession, and he got called for ONE illegal screen for the whole series.  Granted, with the amount of heart that Kobe and the Lakers showed, it would not have made a difference, but it would have been nice to at least have a few of those moving screens called.
• Paul Pierce Dousing Doc Rivers with Gatorade.  No other player on any other winning basketball team in history has done anything that stupid at the end of the game.  Seriously, how rock freaking dumb do you have to be to even consider doing that at a basketball game?
• Kendrick Perkins Holding His Son.  Just when you thought that the Celtics’ stupidity and lack of professionalism could reach no greater heights, we had Perkins holding his son on the sidelines of an NBA game in progress.  How special do you think the Celtics moment would have been if a basketball or a player went into the sidelines at a high rate of speed and seriously injured that kid?  Man, that is quite a bunch of professionals they have there on the Boston Celtics.
• Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers Went Looking for the Lakers.  After the final whistle, while KG was trying to get some alone time with the camera so he could suck face with the Celtics logo at center court, and while every single other member of the Celtics was running around acting like a bunch of recent parolees, Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers went looking for the Lakers players and coaches to shake their hands and congratulate them on a great year.  I am very conflicted that the two main players in the Gatorade incident were the only two Celtics that displayed any redeeming qualities whatsoever immediately after the game.
• Kevin Garnett is the Craziest Dude in the World.  And he doesn’t care if we know it.  His emotion at the end of the game was touching at first, and then I slowly started to realize that this was what was happening in that dude’s brain…just all of the emotions and slogans and buzzword coming all at once…anything is possible…I love my mom…I can’t believe that former Celtic Kevin McHale traded me here for 23 cents on the dollar…etc…etc…and his brain could not handle or process it.  Somehow, through all of the uncomfortable realization of “I am in KG’s mind and I want to get the hell out, right now”, he remained engaging.
• KG and Bill Russell.  I hate everything about the Celtics.  They disgust me in every way.  I did not have a single beer in me at the end of Game 6.  When KG said “I hope I made you proud, Bill”, it was a bit dusty in the Mack house.
• The Celtics Boo the Commish.  Did you expect any better from Celtics fans?  The guy is trying to present your team with the championship trophy, and you are booing him.  Granted, I am not sure how you could not boo him for the fact that without steroids or a work stoppage, he has somehow created a black cloud over his league.  What a mook.
• Stern is the Champeen. David Stern said the word “Champeen” twice in 15 seconds.  I have never heard a lawyer sound so stupid that was not in court or on the courthouse steps.  Amazing.
• The Celtics Fans Boo the Commish Again.  And he is so out of touch that he thought they were saying “Trooooooooth” as a tribute to Paul Pierce. 
• Final Thought.  Kobe Bryant is no MJ…he is not even AI.  If Kobe Bryant would have made a conscious effort to take the ball into traffic and take a beating, like Allen Iverson did during his years in Philly, the Lakers would have had a pretty good chance to win the series…probably without a lot of trouble.  Not only did Kobe not want to take the punishment, he shied away from critical moments and put the ball in the hands of lesser players than himself.  But at least he made sure that he gave the Lakers fans what he thought was important…closeups of his wife and daughters after every home game.  Yeah, that sounds like an MVP to me.

Man, that game was something.  It was, without a doubt, one of the most dramatic moments I have seen in sports.  Couple that with Tyree’s catch and Kansas-Memphis…and I am done for 2008.  I can’t take any more.  What a year it has been…and it’s not even half over yet.

So, let me take a little time and explain why Game 4, despite all of the drama, proves once and for all that the NBA is not legit and the fix is on. 

But, before I do that, I need to digress for one minute.  Bill Simmons, one of my favorite sports writers of all time, wrote a game diary for Game 4.  As usual, his typically rabid and overly dramatic Boston fanhood comes shining through…it is why lots of people (including me) love to read his stuff.  He is not ashamed to be a fan first and a writer second. 

As for myself, I did something similar for Game 3.  Of course, I could not in good conscience call it a “diary”, since I have a 4-year-old daughter that has one of those.  Instead, I decided to call it a “running commentary”…kind of a snooty term for it, but I thought “game log” sounded too informal.

Anyway, I only bring it up for one reason…mine is better.  As in, WAY better.  I am no Bill Simmons…not even close.  I am a Microsoft SharePoint consultant that just started my own business delivering geek-for-hire services, and I like to play around with MackOnSports in my spare time.  Simmons turns out one amazing piece after another, and I someday aspire to a mere fraction of his greatness…but for one week in June, I own Bill Simmons.  And it feels pretty damn good.

You be the judge:

Mack’s Game 3 Running Commentary

Simmons’ Game 4 Running Diary

OK — let’s get back to the original point.  Game 4 proved to me, without a doubt, that the fix is definitely on in the NBA and David Stern has his sleazy lawyer mitts all over everything.

Game 4 was, in the opinion of just about everyone, a “straight game.”  What that means, in the context of June 2008 for the NBA, is that the number of fouls called on and free throws attempted by each team were almost identical.  So everyone assumes that the refs were just doing their job without instructions from the league, which has been readily apparent in other games in this NBA Finals, and just about every significant game I can remember over the past decade or so.  Well, let me be the first to say it…Everyone is wrong.

Just because the game was called in such a manner that the fouls called were even between the two teams does not mean that it should have been called even, or that those calls were in keeping with what was happening on the court over the course of that game.  I counted no less than 8 non-called Celtic fouls in the first half.  But, the Lakers appeared to be running away with the game at that time, so it seemed that the refs made a conscious effort to let a little more contact go by without a whistle.

All of that kind of played into exactly what the NBA needed — a “straight game.”  Then, the Celtics decided to make a great comeback   the Lakers decided to lay down like a bunch of sissies and not only was it a straight game, so people would not talk about the refs for a night or two, it was also dramatic as hell, which put Donaghy even further from everyone’s mind.

Holy f*ck…Game 5 is on in the background, and I just saw the biggest bush league play I have ever seen in my life.  Radmanovich had a wide open three and some sackless wonder on the Celtics bench was jumping up and clapping about 3 feet behind Radmanovich, trying to distract him.  ABC is not showing the replay…I want to see who it was, so I will know who to hate.  Well, I am a Sixers fan, through and through, so whoever that nimrod is, I hope he contracts a flesh-eating bacteria from the $10 gigolo he hired last night and gives it to all his teammates and Doc Rivers during their team sexcapade on the flight back to Boston for Game 6…I feel that way about him just because he wears that disgusting green jersey.  But if I can find out who he is, then I can really hate him.

Anyway, am I the only one who thought it was just a bit curious that the one time when the NBA needed a “straight game” more than anything else, they got it…especially when the run of play should have dictated a huge discrepancy in favor of the home team?  How the hell can we do no better than this — Stern is dirty, Selig is retarded, Bettman is clueless, and Goodell has screwed up everything he has touched so far.

I would rather have 100 retarded, clueless screwups before I have to deal with another David Stern.  Can we please just get rid of him already?  Can’t the great grandson of Dr. Naismith just kill Stern in his sleep and put all of us out of our misery?

** ALL TIMES EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME

8:40 — Pau Gasol’s head is already covered in grease and he is just standing around before the game…on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad do you think his B.O. is?

8:43 — I just saw a commercial for Wipeout…could the timing be any more perfect for that abortion of a show?  What better way to forget about the economy and your crummy life than to see some overexcited loser covered in mud trying to run over the top of some big red inflatable balls and failing miserably?

8:53 — David Cook just out-greased Gasol…how is that possible?

8:56 — Jay-Z’s “Ain’t No Love (In the Heart of the City)” is playing during the Lakers intro…even better that it was just the Bobby “Blue” Bland sample and not Jay-Z’s rap.

8:57 — They followed it up with The Who…never mind…way to suck the life out of the building.

9:06 — Michele Tafoya just showed the 38-10 foul shot stats from Game 2…how fitting would it be for this to go down as “the year the officials decided the championship”…more on that later…by the way, the game is finally underway…looks like another midnight finish in the East.

9:09 — Kobe Bryant just got hacked by two separate Celtics and no call.

9:10 — Uncalled elbow by Perkins followed by a Ticky-tack foul called on Radmanovich at the other end.

9:13 — Bryant hacked again with no call…hacked again 10 seconds later and it is finally called…maybe I should start keeping track of blatant hacks on Kobe that are not called.

9:14 — Our crack announcing crew (actually, they have been outstanding) just pointed out that Rondo is guarding Kobe…MJ’s 63 may fall tonight.

9:15 — Ray Allen just committed a foul that could be considered “borderline” flagrant and/or intentional…not called.

9:20 — Rondo just took Kobe to the hole and looked for a shot instead of a kick-out…could be a long night if he thinks he can do that.

9:20 — Rondo just blatantly hacked Kobe…Official Count of Uncalled Blatant Foul Hacks on Kobe:  3

9:23 — Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!  Sorry –  they just showed a closeup of Grease-ol.

9:23 — Foul by Ray Allen on Kobe…Kobe is going for 50 points, he will be able to get his shot and/or get to the line any time he wants, and the Official Count of Uncalled Blatant Hacks on Kobe will be up to at least 10.

9:26 — Kobe just abused <<insert current defender’s name here>>.

9:27 — Radmanovich just got called for his 3rd foul…all three of the tickey-tack variety…two on Perkins and one on Posey…and the Celtics players fouled in each case went flying like European soccer players…curious.

9:33 — Kobe has Posey on him…and they failed to even get him the ball on the last trip…Kobe just came down and posted Posey up to make sure he got the ball…he is taking over every aspect of the game…and he needs to if the Lakers are going to have a chance.

9:35 — Cassel just launched a quick 3, watched his shot miss instead of getting back on defense, recovered late and made a stupid foul…he has built a long career on that kind of performance.

9:38 — End of First Quarter — L.A. 20, Boston 20 — Kobe has 11.

9:38 — The just showed the new Hulk trailer…I remember reading someone online complaining that they just made a Hulk movie…I don’t care.  The last one was in 2003, and starred Eric Bana, for crying out loud…can you even count it?  Actually, I will go on record right now and say that we should have a mandatory Hulk movie every 5 years, to take advantage of the advances in special effects…and the actor playing Bruce Banner must be at least a lateral move, if not an outright improvement, from movie to movie.  Obviously, going from Bana to Edward Norton is like going from tripe to filet mignon.

9:42 — Foul on Odom that was very cheap.  It’s Odom, and he is going to get his fouls just as surely as Kobe is going to get his points, but it was still kind of cheap. 

9:43 — Cassel has been on the floor for 5 possessions…and shot the ball 4 times…Celtics fans are ordering Jack Daniels all across the country.

9:47 — P.J. Brown just committed a stupid foul and decided to get in Jordan Farmar’s face…wow…he’s tough…although Farmar grates on me like rat poison…part of me would like to see Brown grab him by those Dumbo ears and swing him around for a bit.

9:53 — Farmar and Luke Walton have shot the ball on 3 of the last 4 Lakers possessions…can we bring Cassel back and go for the trifecta of suckitude?

9:55 — Lakers extend the lead to 9 with Kobe and 4 guys from the local YMCA.

9:58 — Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!!  Magic-Bird split screen commercial…can you please show Grease-ol again?  Well, they must know what they are doing at ABC…we went from the traveshamockery of Magic-Bird to David Cook (OK, this is a DEFINITE step in the WRONG direction), then Dustin Hoffman, then Spike Lee, then Eddie Murphy, then Floyd Mayweather, then Jack Nicholson, then Wall-E.

10:02 — it’s been a while for this…Kobe just abused <<insert defender’s name here>>

10:03 — Here is the freethrow discrepancy…L.A. has taken 18 and Boston has taken 2..let the conspiracy theorists begin…but if they do, they will be wrong…Kobe has been fouled at least 5 additional times, 3 of them blatant hack-a-Shaq fouls…and the refs have called at least 6 or 7 touch fouls on L.A. at the other end…the main difference is that Kobe has taken over and is getting <<insert Celtic defender’s name here>> out of position and getting fouled, in the act of shooting, more often than not

10:08 — Kobe just got fouled by Posey, acted like my 3-year-old when he did not get the call, and got a technical…hey, you can’t spell mamby-pamby without mamba..while not a hard foul, it was on an isolation play and there was no excuse why a professional referee would ever miss that call…Official Count of Uncalled Blatant Hacks on Kobe:  4

10:11 — Kobe just fought 3 Celtics for a rebound…there is no way the Celtics will win any of the next 3 games unless Kobe is hurt…he will not allow it.

10:14 — Don’t get me wrong, I loved Kevin Garnett (at least until he became a Celtic), and his Carolina Kid / “20, 10 and 5″ And1 commercial was one of my favorites of all time…but he is wilting under the pressure of his first NBA Finals…wilting.

10:16 — Kobe just missed 2 FTs, and has missed 5 overall…maybe we can stop the comparisons to Jordan now…do you think MJ would ever miss 5 freethrows in one half of a finals game?

10:17 — Halftime — L.A.  43, Boston 37 — Kobe has 19…the entire “Big 3″ have 16 (and Ray Allen has 12 of those)…the Lakers should be ahead by at least 20 points, but everyone other than Kobe and Sasha Vujacic (not a typo — he has been nails) have tried to give the game away…Phil Jackson is going to kill someone at halftime.  I can see hit now, the Zen Master kicking over tables and getting all red in the face…I would pay to see that halftime show.

10:20 — Speaking of halftime shows, the halftime show at the Mack household knows no equal…I just went upstairs to check on the kids…my daughter is laying in bed with my wife…and she just asked me how they can call it “America’s Funniest Videos” when most of the videos are not funny.

10:32 — Tim Donaghy is being discussed over and over.  It appears that he and his lawyer pulled an A-Rod and decided to use the spotlight of the NBA Finals to grab some attention, and the idiots at ABC have taken the bait.  What a shame.  I have already spent too much time on that sack of dung just in this paragraph.  I will return when they talk about something relevant.

10:38 — The second half is underway

10:40 — Rondo is down with an ankle problem … pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease let it be Cassel that replaces him.

10:42 — Split screen of Rondo walking to the locker room under his own power…which makes him hands-down the toughest member of the Celtics to suffer an in-game injury in these playoffs.

10:43 — Damn.  Doc Rivers has put in Eddie House to replace Rondo, instead of Sam Cassel.  Perhaps he knows how to coach after all.

10:45 — Radmanovich just fouled Perkins before he even caught the ball and the refs counted the basket.  Wow.  Maybe these dudes are just senile and can’t see anything.

10:52 — Rondo is still not back…and House does not have a single turnover…and he just hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 2 points.  Do you think Doc has enough sense to keep Rondo on the bench?

10:57 — I just saw a trailer for a movie called “Wanted”, where the pasty eunuch from Scrubs plays some kind of assassin.  How can that one miss?

11:01 — The Lakers just had the following happen on back-to-back possessions –> Trevor Ariza launched a 3, then on the next trip, Lamar Odom launched a 22-footer…and Kobe did not touch the ball on either trip.  This does not look like a Phil Jackson-coached team.  Plus, I think that most of the players on the Lakers are just plain lacking when it comes to basketball IQ…do you think Jordan’s Bulls would have had back-to-back trips in the third quarter of a Finals game, down by 4 points at home, where they did not even let Jordan touch the ball?

11:08 — Lamar Odom just got a loose-ball rebound and drove it coast-to-coast to try to finish in traffic.  I have to say it again…this does not look like a Phil Jackson-coached team.

11:09 — End of the Third Quarter — Boston 62, L.A. 60 — Kobe has 26.

11:12 — The Celtics are starting the 4th quarter with Ray Allen, Leon Powe, P.J. Brown, Eddie House and James Posey.  Maybe they do not want to win.

11:17 — Leon Powe just flopped in the lane instead of trying to play defense and the refs rewarded him with an offensive foul.  Sure, it was Lamar Odom, and he is destined to be in foul trouble in every game of this series because he is just not smart enough to do what he needs to do to stay in the game and help his team…but it was a pretty bad call just the same.

11:20 — Turn about is fair play.  Farmar just took a dive and got an offensive foul call on Paul Pierce…which was his fifth foul.

11:23 — They just showed Doc Rivers’ inspirational pep talk that took place during the commercial.  “We’ve been hanging around all night.  Let’s build on this lead.  Scores and stops.”  Now that is some amazing coaching.

11:25 — Rajon Rondo is checking back into the game at the 7:59 mark of the 4th quarter.  Let’s see what happens.  If it works out, I will give credit to Doc Rivers for making the move…but I am not worried about having to do that…not in the least.

11:27 — Kobe is fouled by Posey on the perimeter, fouled during the drive, and fouled during the shot.  Once again, nothing that looks like a hack, but three times in 5 seconds…I have to count that.  Official Count of Uncalled Blatant Hacks on Kobe Bryant:  5

11:29 — Jeff Van Gundy just suggested a Celtics backcourt of Pierce, Posey and Allen, with Allen handling the ball, to take Rondo out of the mix, who is not only young but left the game with an injury earlier.  How does he not have a head coaching job in the NBA?

11:30 — I am officially taking one of the blatant uncalled fouls away.  Kobe just did the Italian soccer player move on what looked like a very small amount of contact.  Official Count:  4

11:31 — Rondo for 2.  Since his return — 2 points, 1 foul, 0 turnovers

11:33 — Bodies flying all over the place during a run of particularly sloppy basketball.  Man, this always chaps my ass.  If you are going to call it tight in the first quarter, you call it tight for the whole game.  What is happening now is the basketball equivalent of an umpire changing the strike zone at the end of the game.  Granted, these refs probably cannot remember anything that happened in the first quarter, or the names of any of their great grandchildren, but it’s still inexcusable to change the rules in the middle of the 4th quarter.

11:36 — ABC just showed some slo-mo highlights over a song from what sounded like Three Doors Down…a song I have not heard before, but I instantly recognized all three chords that comprise the repertoire and vast musical prowess of Three Doors Down.  Why don’t they show highlights and let Van Gundy and Jackson break it down for us?  Why must we be subjected to watching good basketball while listening to crappy music?

11:38 — The Celtics are trapping Kobe on every possession.  Maybe Doc knows a thing or two…although it seems that they are perhaps giving Kobe too much attention too far away from the basket.

11:40 — Horrible ticky-tack foul call against Kobe on Pierce after about 3 moving screens by Garnett.  But that does not really matter…what matters is that Kobe started acting like a drama queen, working the crowd, and the ref started bitching at him…I mean, he was screaming at Kobe.  How is that acceptable?  He either did enough for you to call a technical, or he did not.  You use the whistle or put it in your pocket.  Since when is it OK for the guys that are supposed to control the game to start bitching at the biggest superstar in the league during the 4th quarter of a Finals game?

11:44 — Eddie House has checked back into the game.  Rondo did not hurt his team.

11:44 — Grease-ol just launched a wild shot at the end of the shot clock.  Kobe did not touch the ball during that possession.

11:45 — Garnett just abused Grease-ol.

11:45 — Vujacic just launched an early 3, even though the Lakers are ahead.  Kobe did not touch the ball during that possession, either.  I will say it once again…this does not look like a Phil Jackson-coached team.

11:46 — Vujacic just made a 3 from the corner, set up by the Celtics double-teaming Kobe 35 feet away from the basket.  Doc Rivers — coaches like you, they do grow on trees.  Meanwhile, Sasha has 20 points off the bench.

11:48 — 1:33 remaining, Lakers by 7 points.  A Phil Jackson-coached team cannot lose this game, can they?

11:50 — Kevin Garnett with a wide open dunk and only 5 seconds off the clock.  Do you need to even say that this does not look like a Phil Jackson-coached team?

11:51 — Kobe Bryant just abused <<Insert Celtic defender’s name here>>.  The Celtics are no longer trapping Kobe, and Doc does not appear ready to let someone else beat him.

11:51 — Eddie House hits a 3 from the corner.  It’s a 4-point game.

11:52 — Kobe Bryant just abused Ray Allen again.  I had to put poor Ray’s name in there because Kobe has destroyed him all night.  He just cannot guard Kobe.  So, Doc…what do you have to say about your decision to let Kobe beat you instead of making Sasha Vujacic, or anyone other than Kobe, beat you?  “Uhhhhh.  I told my guys…scores and stops.”

11:53 — Kevin Garnett just got called for an illegal screen.  I agree that it was totally illegal, but why call it now?  You can’t change the parameters of your officiating in the 4th quarter like that.

11:54 — Celtics do not foul.  Down by 6 with a bunch of time left, and they are just going to let the clock run out.  Overall, this has got to go down as one of the all-time botched coaching jobs in NBA history, right?

11:54 — Game Over.  L.A.  87, Boston 81 — Kobe had 36.

11:56 — Final thoughts:

1.  Is Doc Rivers the worst coach to ever make an NBA Finals?

2.  Is Pau Grease-ol the softest big man since Shawn Bradley?

3.  How is it possible in this universe or any other that Doc Rivers has a head coaching job in the NBA and Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy do not?

4.  How perfect would it be if the Boston fans start bitching about the freethrow discrepancy and this series goes to 7 games and becomes forever known as “The NBA Finals That Was Decided By the Refs and David Stern in a Blatant Attempt to Make As Much Money as Possible for the League and the T.V. Networks”?  As a life-long Sixers fan, that is the only outcome that is remotely acceptable to me.