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Best In Show Winner Declared
Objectively speaking, the referees haven't been much of a factor in this series, and that's how it's supposed to be. I'm sure some fans in Orlando will disagree -- what about Pau's goaltending? Or Kobe's elbow? Those are two isolated incidents that might have warranted a whistle, but for the most part, the Lakers have gone up 3-1 despite the referees, not because of them.
Consider: the Magic attempted 18 free throws in the fourth quarter and overtime in Game 4 before the Lakers attempted one -- and the only reason the Lakers made a single trip to the line was because Mickael Pietrus committed a flagrant foul in the final seconds.
In the first four games, the Magic have attempted 123 free throws to the Lakers' 92 -- that's nearly eight extra trips to the line a game, and yet the Magic have still lost two in overtime. If the numbers were reversed, all the conspiracy theorists would have some ammo ... but they're not. The Magic are in a 3-1 hole because they haven't played well. End of story.
Tonight's crew will be the same crew that worked Game 1: Dan Crawford, Joe DeRosa and Ken Mauer. For what it's worth, the Lakers are 8-2 in the last 10 games that Crawford and Mauer have called, but that's to be expected: the Lakers won nearly 80% of their games this year. Against the spread, the Lakers are 6-4 and 5-5 in their last 10 with Crawford and Mauer, respectively, calling the games.
If Magic fans are searching for a glimmer of hope, it's that any grand conspiracy, if one actually exists, would be in favor of prolonging the series to milk as many ticket sales and advertising dollars as possible. And historically speaking, the individual officials making up tonight's crew traditionally favor the home team.
But unfortunately for those same fans, everything we've seen in the first four games points to the Magic needing more than a little help from the refs if they're going to win -- they also need to execute down the stretch and actually hit their free throws when they get sent to the line. Even if the refs lend a hand, it's up to the Magic to actually do something with it.
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