Los Angeles Lakers (1-1) vs. Houston Rockets (1-1) NBA Playoffs Game 3: This series has turned into one of the most entertaining, blood-pumping, old school, 80s style series in recent memory. With bodies flying everywhere and no one backing down from the challenge, this is what basketball is all about! It’s competition at its purest form. But then we have the guys with the whistles, who seem to call one play a certain way and seconds later a similar action is arbitrated completely different. This is the kind of stuff that needs to stop in the NBA. 
In baseball, if an umpire is known for having a liberal strike zone or whatnot, he has to remain consistent with his calls. That’s the reason why many of the stadiums today have Tech-Quest machines, an instrument that is used to grade the umpires’ performances and consistencies in calling balls and strikes.
But things cannot continue the way they have been, especially when you have two teams so desperate and hungry, that they are willing to fight to the death. This is the case in the second round series between the Los Angeles Lakers [-1] and the Houston Rockets [+1].
Thus, Lakers point guard Derek Fisher has been suspended for tonight’s game after intentionally running through a pick that Luis Scola was trying to set with 13.2 seconds remaining in the 3rd period of game 2.
Fisher received a “Flagrant Foul Penalty Two” which meant an automatic ejection from the game. After the game, the play in question came under review by the league and the suspension was handed down. The OVER/UNDER for tonight’s Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets NBA Playoffs Game 3 has been set at a combined total of 194 points .
Kobe Bryant, who was also involved in a controversial play where he got tangled with Ron Artest under the basket while fighting for position. Bryant was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty One for elbowing Artest in the chest area with 6:57 remaining in the 4th period. However, to the dismay of Rockets fans, Kobe will not be suspended for Game 3.
"I think it's good for us,'' Bryant said. "It elevates our play, it makes the game extremely emotional and kind of raises it to a fever pitch, which brings out the best in a lot of players.''
Nevertheless, the ever-imposing Artest wasn’t too happy with the league’s decision to allow Bryant to play in Game 3. "If that was me throwing the elbow at Kobe, first of all, I would've hurt Kobe way more than he hurt me,” Artest said. "I probably would've knocked him out with the same force he used against me. That's why I'm not going to throw an elbow at somebody's head. It's dangerous. That goes to show me, that if Kobe hits me with an elbow, I can just get hit.”
But despite the apparent bad-blood, even a guy like Artest understands the situation, and what’s at stake. "They don't want that to happen again,” Artest said of last year’s NBA Finals. "Last year, that was the word on the street, that they got punked by the Celtics. This year, they came out tough, so I kind of respect them.”
