Ron Artest Ejected From Lakers Rockets Game: Too Many Bad Calls By Refs!

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Although the league continues to use Kanye West’s song, the NBA isn’t so amazing these days.

I just watched Ron Artest get booted for committing a solid foul on Pau Gasol in the fourth quarter of game four between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets. Gasol drove the lane and Artest fouled him hard, but all Artest really touched was Gasol’s arms.

Sure there was contact, but Artest wasn’t exactly going for Gasol’s neck or face. Artest was given a flagrant II and kicked out of the game. Kobe later said he thought it should be a flagrant I and that Artest shouldn’t have been booted.  

“When a guy goes up to shoot a layup, what are you supposed to do in this league today?” asked Jeff Van Gundy following the play between Gasol and Artest. I totally agree with Van Gundy. What are you supposed to do? Are you supposed to slap them in the face and get away with it like Rajon Rondo?

The NBA is becoming a joke. I’m sick of the inconsistent calls made by NBA referees. And now that the playoffs are on, it’s pretty blatant. Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics slaps Brad Miller of the Chicago Bulls in the face on his way to the basket and stays in the game never to get fined and never to be given a flagrant foul. Are you kidding me? Miller had to get like eleven stitches and his mouth bled for approximately five minutes. The ball was at the end of Miller’s outstretched arm, yet Rondo slaps him in the face, makes him bleed, and stays in the game? That call changed the series and helped the Celtics win. Rondo was never given a flagrant after the fact either.     

The NBA is becoming shady.

Although I can see the reasoning behind the Derek Fisher suspension for game four between the Rockets and the Lakers, Kobe should have never been given a flagrant after game three.

Since when can you review a three point shot in the middle of the game? I thought you could only review a shot if the clock expired. I remember watching a Sacramento Kings game this last season when Michael Finley of the San Antonio Spurs hit a three point shot long after the shot-clock had expired, but the refs didn’t review it because there was 54 seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter. That shot helped the Spurs win, but it shouldn’t have counted. It wasn’t even close!

Sure, the Kings weren’t exactly heading for the playoffs, but shouldn’t all games be called the same way with the same rules no matter what? It was obvious that Finley’s shot shouldn’t have counted, but the refs refused to review the play because it wasn’t a last second shot. Funny considering that I just saw the refs review a shot made by Artest in the middle of the quarter to see if it was a three pointer or a two. This raises the question: Are Kings fans second-class NBA fans?

The problem is that all of these inconsistent calls are making it look as if the NBA is rigged.

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