You documented like 10 plays out of an entire 7 game series and that somehow proves everything was good?
I bet you think Bibby fouling Kobe's elbow with his nose was a great call too
"Delaney: I see Mike Bibby defending Kobe Bryant, and I see his arm wrapped around his waist, and to me it’s a hold. I’m processing in my mind to start to call that foul, and if I call it, it’s an away-from-the-play foul, because it’s like a foul off the ball. If a foul takes place prior to the ball being released during an inbound pass, it’s deemed to be an away-from-the-play foul, which would mean one shot and possession. So anybody on the floor could shoot the free throw for the Lakers, and then the Lakers would retain possession at the point of interruption.
Bernhardt: You could almost have a blocking call before what looks like an elbow to the face.
Delaney: While I’m processing that, then Kobe is trying to break free, comes up, the ball is inbounded and then a foul is taken. And it becomes [clear] to me that somehow Mike got hit in the face, and obviously it was when Kobe was pulling his arms up. All that in microseconds.
Bernhardt: It was really just [Kobe] trying to step through there after the defensive player stepped up into him. That was a tough play. Period. You look at it and one side, you have one opinion. Another side, you have another opinion.
Delaney: I’ve seen elbows thrown; to me that was not a thrown elbow. But if I had my perfect game, if I could sit down, break down the play, and have that perfect ballgame, I would’ve called the away-from-the-play foul, which means the Lakers would’ve shot one and retained possession, and called a technical on Kobe. Sacramento shoots one technical foul, L.A. does the same, and they inbound the ball from the same spot."
Excerpt from The "All the King's Men" article!on Grantland. Great read.
There you have it. Bibby would not have been fouled had he not held Kobe. If everything was called in real time, Lakers would have gotten a free throw AND possession.
