THAT WAS NOT A BLOCK!!!!

I have an all-NBA post! I caught the last half hour or so of the Bucks-Lakers game last night after the Badger game got way, way out of hand (within the first 5 minutes). The Bucks game summed up one of the reasons I can't fully get on board with the NBA.

Let me recap. About a minute left in OT. Bucks lead 106-102. Kobe drives the lane, lowers his shoulder, and absolutely destroys the chest of 7 foot Andrew Bogut, sending him flying backwards about 10 feet. Kobe then lands, and throws up some scoop shot that goes in. The whistle blows immediately, but there is no signal from any of the refs. Then, the referee that was standing at half court, the one who had the worst possible view of the attack, after 20 seconds where the refs just stared at each other, signals a block. This was a horrendous, inexcusable call. The call led Bucks color analyst Jon McGlocklin to have a coronary on the air, and scream "THAT WAS NOT A BLOCK!!!". I mean, he FREAKED OUT. It was awesome.

So Kobe gets the call, and the bucket, and makes a free throw to cut it to one. The Bucks fail to score and Kobe comes down and drills a fall away at the buzzer, which I would have bet my entire life savings (like $30) on. So predictable.

The situation is exactly why I hate the NBA. The stars of the league get every chance to get every call. Had that been Derek Fisher barrelling through the lane, it was a charge. Had it been Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, it is a charge. Had it been LeBron, it was a block. You cannot take the NBA seriously, because the NBA wants the stars to win. The officiating is crooked. I was turned off by the NBA in 2001 when the Bucks got hosed in the Eastern Conference Finals. And it continues to happen.

Aside from my NBA hating, the Bucks should have won that game. If Michael Redd wasn't dead and hit either of the two wide open threes he missed in OT, the Bucks win. If Bogut makes a free throw at the end of regulation, the Bucks win. If Ersan doesn't miss two free throws in OT, the Bucks win.

NBA = No Black Guys Association?

Right now I am watching Game 5 of the Lakers/Jazz series and these are the players that are on the court to start the fourth quarter:

Jazz
F Matt Harpring
F Andrei Kirilenko
C Mehmet Okur
G Deron Williams
G Kyle Korver

Lakers
F Luke Walton
F Vladimir Radmanovic
C Pau Gasol
G Jordan Farmar
G Sasha Vujacic

That's 8 white guys and 2 black guys that look like white guys. I haven't really paid a lot of attention to the NBA this season, except for some random playoff games, but this seems weird. Maybe Jack Morris was right when he predicted during his cameo on the Twins' broadcast that all of the "hip hop thugs" (Morris' words not mine), would go away and the NBA would cycle back to the days white dudes, short shorts and underhand free throws.