The "Big 3" dominate the Lakers in game 2 of the NBA Finals.

And by "Big 3", I of course mean the 3 guys that truly made a difference. They didn't come off the bench. And they didn't even suit up in greens. However, when you put up stats like 38 free throw attempts versus a lowly 10, you don't need a pretty jumper. You don't need to rebound. Just blow that whistle baby, and win!
Look, I rarely ever get technical and start throwing numbers around, because that's way too much like respectable journalism, and you know I'm not down with that. But the Lakers went to the free throw line 10 times in game 2. Ten times. Like those commandments in the Bible, but less fair. Like the David Letterman sequence, but more humorous. 10 times. The 4th lowest amount of trips to the free throw line in NBA Finals History. That's at least 250 games. 4th lowest in 250 games. This from the team that was 6th best at getting to the line during the regular season. Odd? Not if you're a Boston fan, but anyone else would look at these numbers and think something might be wrong.
Now, I know what Boston fans or "Laker Haters" (can't believe I said haters) will say. The Lakers aren't being aggressive. Well, apparently they're being TOO aggressive on one end, and I doubt they just switched their entire style of play up from game 1 to game 2. In game 1 the Lakers had 28 free throw attempts. The Celtics had 35, and that's fine. That's a well called game. But if anyone truly thinks the Lakers just stopped 'being aggressive' while the Celtics defense got better over 2 nights of sleep, you need your head examined. Not only that, but the stats show the Lakers were actually more aggressive than the Celtics. The Lakers scored more points in the paint, took more shots in the paint and from the key - yet, they weren't aggressive? Sure thing espn! Never actually look at the numbers before airing nonsense that every casual fan will use as a rebuttal on a message board before getting 'pwned' (oh god) with the truth.
I'm not going to say the NBA is fixed. I'm going to say it's staged. The Leon Powe fascination sums that much up. How ironic that the night they do a special on Leon Powe during half-time, he had the half of his life just prior to? Not only that, but he didn't even earn those points. 8 free throws in the first half and 3 of them were very questionable. Perhaps because otherwise we'd watch that halftime story and think 'hum - I guess some guy that plays for the Celtics was homeless? It'd be cool if he got playing time.'. I'm guessing 90% of basketball fans didn't know who the hell this guy was until he got 10 minutes of face time in the first half at the line.
Here's the deal; I don't care about Leon Powe. He was a boring player before I knew he was homeless, so a little pitty-party during half-time doesn't change anything. Perhaps if Stern realizes most of us watch basketball to see athletes, rather than a Disney movie, we'll finally see fair officiating and less sappy stories about guys we would have never heard of unless the NBA shoved them down our throats.
The Lakers return to the Staples Center to play 3 home games. Hopefully the officiating is as lopsided for them at home as it was for Boston, or maybe they can just hit a few shots and still beat the Celtics as they almost did even with the "Big 6" against them.