The boxscore and the video are up!!

Recap:

The Nets and Lakers, who split the season series 1-1, played an exciting championship game that went down to the wire. In the first half, each team was led by their superstar guards Isaiah Davenport of the Nets and Ahmed Elfayoumi of the Lakers. The Nets had a 9 point advantage in the first half, but settled for a 6 point halftime lead. The Lakers chipped away in the second half and actually took a 5 point lead with just a few minutes remaining. The Nets made a final push, but a few controversial calls went the other way.

Down 5, Danny Khalifa hit a corner shot that went off the glass (41:44 in the video). After the Lakers disputed that it went out of bounds, a questionable review of the play resulted in waiving off the basket due to the ball possibly hitting the beam or side of the backboard. Then down 3 with only 3.5 seconds left in the game, the Nets' Haroon Tahir stood at the line for 2 shots. He would have to make the first and miss the second for a chance at a rebound plus putback. He did make the first, but a fantom lane violation was called on the shooter (52:55 in the video). Again, the shot was waived off. After an intentionally missed second shot, Raj Jaswal fought for the offensive rebound but could only salvage a two pointer, leaving just 0.9 left on the clock. The Lakers inbounded and time expired. Final score: Lakers 60, Nets 59.

My thoughts:

Refereeing goes both ways, but as the cameraman, I can say the Nets got the short end of the stick late in the game. Two shots they made should have counted, but unfortunately, to predict what would exactly happen if the correct calls were in fact made would be impossible. Both teams played in the most exciting (yet controversial) game in MB history.

MVP:

Isaiah Davenport with 28 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists in a losing effort.

Congrats to both teams on a spectacular season, and congrats to the Lakers for winning it all!

the evidence is undisputable but the outcome is irreversible ..... or is it?

props to me for catching this all on tape though

Edited by user Tuesday, April 7, 2009 2:25:33 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Job well done to the Nets for a wonderful season and great run. I think of all teams this season they really pushed us the hardest, and the game could easily have gone either way.

Now, as to the refs issue above - I believe they gave calls (bad & good) both ways, and by no means gave the Lakers more calls (we were actually +1 on the foul calls), and funny enough, our team thought the officials were completely leaning towards the Nets.

And as per the "undisputable" freeze frame above, it is actually quite clear to me watching the video that the ball did hit the top of the backboard (as the pic shows), right after it hit the ceiling rafters - the ball changes trajectory twice, and so the right call was made - props to the refs for catching it.


Sami

ok i wanted to post this way earlier in the season but knew it would be better if i didnt. but now since the season is over i have to get this off my chest. these are by far the worst refs in the history of refs. baller mentioned this already but let me tell you what really happened. Edriss shot the ball from 3 feet behind the arch. naturally it hit the rafters and rattled around there for few seconds. we all stopped palying, it came down and mujtaba caught it and layed it up for fun. the refs gave him the point. i thought it was a joke. i looked at the ref, and said " ref that is out of bounds you know" he said " i didnt see it " his eyed were bloodshot red and he couldnt even look straight into my eyes. thats when i knew there was no point in arguing because i knew that ref was high. iam not joking. all throughout the season their were questionable calls, but thats not the issue because refs are human and are going to make bad calls . the issue is that there were too many calls that were to obvious and the refs blew it.

as for as the final game. great game. sad that refs blew it. i personally thought the ball didnt hit the ceiling. but thats not the issue. the issue is the refs gave the point and after lakers complaining they over turned their call. that should NEVER happen. that is very unprofessional. you cant let the players influence calls let alone in the championship game in the final minutes. its not the lakers fault, congrats to them.they had a great all around team and a great season. its the refs fault for screwing the nets. and congrats to the nets for keeping there cool because if that happened in spurs lakers game, for sure i would of been kicked and banned from MB for my actions. mad props to you nets.

Faraz

I was staring at it.... May allah strike me with lightning if I was lying. It hit the stupid beam/rafter whatever you want to call it.

I see now that it did hit the beam. It hit the beam, then the backboard, then it went in. I still don't understand the lane violation for the life of me though.

lol AR I'm just kidding... and expressing how it really did happen. People survive from lightning strikes :)

AR whens the trophy ceremony ?

sounds good... are you guys gna post up the teams and rosters ?? I'd like to take a gander :)

i agree with ahmed that pretty much sums it up