As RBell was reaching around KB
seems to be when he actually met the elbow.

At that time Kobe’s arm is parallel,
blocking out but not thrown.

After Kobe’s arm starts to rise
is when he reacts so it looks like
the two actions are related.

I actually met Donald Sterling once at the first Clippers home game at Staples Center, I was never prouder to be wearing my Lakers hat.

http://rapidshare.de/files/19564858/Phantom_Elbow_Game_5.wmv.html

Watch the last replay reeeeal closely.

I’m not sure that there really is an aswer, basically it is pick your poison, but the lakers do need to decide on a strategy, and stick to it until the coach tells them to change it. Either force Nash to jump shoot (he has a ridiculously sweet stroke) or have him penetrate (he is ridiculously good at getting to the rim, or once the defense collapses dishing to the perimeter). Given his recent back pains I am actually leaning towards making him exert more energy, but I am far from an expert on the matter.

This game is a must win for the Lakers. I’m not sure this young team can go in an win a Game 7 on the road. We knew that the Suns were going to come back with their best shot and the Lakers took it – we just have to hope that we still aren’t thinking about the cut on our eye now and are looking at giving Nash and company the knockout blow.

Something I wanted to comment on that Kurt didn’t cover.

Nash basically owned our bigs that game. Out of about 6 times Nash switched and got Kwame or Cook, I saw Cook play him well once (far off the ball, enough room to back up and trap him and force the ball out of his hands.) Kwame just got beat a few times by Nash badly playing way too close to him. If it’s up to me, I want Nash taking those jumpers rather than a guarenteed layup. That’s the biggest thing I saw from last game that really was different on our defensive end. We shut that down and rebound better and it’s a much closer ballgame.

When I heard about what Bell did I didn’t think too much of it until I actually saw it. It’s part of the reason I’m telling you guys to ignore John R. Anyone who looks at that – as the girl who was over when I was re-watching it – wondered if you were allowed to “tackle” in basketball now. Pretty astute observation. That was just ridiculous and doesn’t belong in the game. Basketball is still a contact sport – with people like Manu flinging their bodies everywhere and people moving so fast, people are bound to bang. I don’t remember someone trying to do that to Karl Malone though, and you knew every game you were getting the forearm shimmey from him.

hey, i’ve even been embarrassed by a laker fix or two in the past… in either 2001 or 2002 at home against the kings in the playoffs, the calls were ridiculous.

this, not so much.

Perhaps Raja Bell needs to get his eyes checked for mistaking Kobe’s head for the ball, maybe if he’s worried about taking elbows he can leave physical defense to the big boys like Bruce Bowen, like my dad always said, if the kitchen is hot you should go away, my dad never really had a good grasp on the intracacies of the english language…

If your goal is to goad and annoy, mission accomplished, apparently. If you instead wish to provide passionate but reasonable opposing views, and possibly actually be taken seriously, you do yourself (not to mention us) a disservice; your credibility is utterly destroyed by your comments about the Bell foul:

“Bell reached for the ball HARD, and Kobe decided to try to drive through him anyway creating a violent collision.”

Take off, for one second, you Kobe-hating-tinted glasses and watch the play. Put on whatever corrective eyewear you might normally wear. Kobe was a step past Bell when Bell threw out his arm and wrapped it around Kobe’s neck. Watch the play. There is never, at any time, a play for the ball. I’m all for dissenting views, but come on.