And watching from a fourth planet, the basketball experts could agree that the first call was fair, the second was a travesty, and the third was no big deal. Of course, it was a big deal for Sabonis, who picked up his fifth foul on the play and went to the bench. Knocking down 18-foot shots, cutting off the MVP's moves to the hoop, Sabonis was playing like a figure out of basketball legend. But the refs had a different legend in mind, the one in which O'Neal finally earns his hype. It was Portland's fault anyway, no doubt.
Great teams take shitty calls in stride and go in for the kill.
The Blazers, unnerved on defense, stopped attacking on offense. Coach Mike Dunleavy, who'd been consistently able to find new scoring threats on his endless bench, forgot to substitute. It was a collapse of Orioles-esque proportions. Even so, the Lakers almost didn't take advantage of it. History apparently will say this game was the proof of Bryant and O'Neal's mettle, but the Big Two were oddly inert when it mattered.