Watch and decide for yourself.
Bill Simmons: "The Lakers are not going away. They're going to get in and it's just a question to me of who falls out... I was more bullish after I watched the game two Fridays ago after I saw the Lakers shot three times as many free throws as Portland. And I was like 'ah, okay, I forgot about this variable. The Lakers get every call variable.'"
Zach Lowe: "You know what was fun about that game? I didn't watch that game, it wasn't one of the games I picked for that night. So I was reading the blog recaps and even the Blazers blog was of course going crazy about the refs. The Lakers blogs were even saying 'oh yea the refs, it did seem like we were getting every call.' NBA.com's video recap, you know those three minute clips they have? The refs not mentioned. Free throws not mentioned. It was just 'oh look at these exciting highlights.'"
Here's a moment from that game. Notice LaMarcus Aldridge has perfect post position on Meta World Peace.
Foul on Aldridge.
Here's Kobe Bryant smacking rookie guard Damien Lillard on top of the head as he's taking a three.
