Did you guys see Shaq's flop against Divac? I just thought it was funny, with all the sh*t he talks about guys flopping on him. Oh well. Kobe is clutch...that three at the end.
I was watching with an LA fan and I immediately called the flop and the LA fan didn't believe it till we saw the reverse angle camera. It looked fake from both sides to me, but then again, the camera on the primary shot was about 50 yards away.
Shaq was giving back what he gets. It was a good flop: throwing himself in one direction; yelling as if he'd just been shot in the leg. I got a laugh out of it.
Now he's accusing the Kings of "cheating", I guess he's talking about the officiating and food poisoning. Excuses, excuses!
I find it highly amusing that the Lakers thought they weren't getting enough calls in game 2. They're usually outrageously favored, then that game they were only a little favored, and they complain? You know the Lakers weren't talking about the game in general... they were talking about 3 fouls on Shaq in the 2nd, and 4 in the 3rd. But for all his complaining, Shaq should have fouled out in the 3rd quarter... and every game. They NEVER call him for over-the-back or using the off arm. I know you have to let big guys use their weight, but the stuff he gets away with is ridiculous. Do the refs let near-300-pounders or over like Diop, Curry, and Traylor do the things Shaq does? Hell, no. They're not All-Stars. And they're not popular. Screw them I guess.
You guys need to consider that Shaq intiates contact as much as most star players in the league. Nothing less, nothing more. So, what this means is that because he's so large, anytime contact is made, someone will fly off him. IMO, the refs do a get job of "evening out" the calls. Shaq gets away with over the back. But, Shaq also gets called for "touch" fouls that end up with his man flying because Shaq is 350 lbs. To put it in perspective, Allen Iverson initiates the most contact in the NBA, yet he doesn't find himself in foul trouble. I will say that Kobe got a few calls his way in Game 2. Namely on clean strips/blocks. However, Shaq got jobbed.
This is true, but there's a difference between when Iverson initiates contact and when Shaq does. With Iverson, most of the contact he initiates is into people running after him or trying to block his shot. It's true enough that he gets enough of the all-star 'you breathed on me, I'm a superstar, it's a foul' rule, but at least he's up in the air, and the other guy is usually right up with him (or behind him). The kinds of things Shaq does are against totally stationary opponents most of the time. He blatantly pushes people away with his off arm when they're just standing there, and jumps over guys and shoves them to get rebounds. I am NOT saying that every one of Vlade's flops should be called... he fakes most of them, and those should be no-calls. But that doesn't mean Shaq should be allowed to get away with murder, and he does.
