I don't know how many of my readers actually stayed up last night for Game 4 of the West Finals, but the Lakers took a 3-1 lead in the series. They have to win one of the next three games, including two at home in order to advance to the finals. The reason I'm blogging about this is because if you watched the end, you saw a bunch of blown calls at the end. I'm criticize referees a lot as a fan and firmly believe the refs are the biggest reason why home teams are nearly invincible this season in the playoffs, but I've never seen that many blown calls right at the end.

Now, if you read my blog, you know that I'm a Lamar Odom fan and cheering for whoever he's playing for. I even had to cheer for the Clippers for four years. And yes, I think the final play of the game probably should have been a foul and sent Brent Barry to the line, but Barry did one of the worst jobs in NBA history at selling the foul. He also traveled before the contact so maybe that's why they didn't give him the call. Here's the clip of his feet moving all over just in case you don't believe me.

But the game should have never reached that point. First, Odom came up with an incredible block on a Tony Parker layup with about 30 seconds left and the refs called goaltending. You can see very clearly in this clip that the block was clean and Odom got it before it hit the backboard. You can also see the ball going to a Lakers player so the Spurs would have had to foul.

Then, with around six seconds left, Derek Fisher's shot HIT THE RIM (can't find a clip, but if you see the play, it's pretty obvious it hit the rim), bounced off Robert Horry's leg and out of bounce. The result should have been a reset of the 24-second shot clock and the Spurs again forced to foul. Instead, the refs missed it (although they had a full timout to review it), which left the Lakers two seconds on the shot clock and Kobe was forced to throw up an impossible fallaway instead of getting fouled and icing the game at the line. Three huge blown calls in the last 30 seconds. The Lakers get a chance to finish them off Thursday night at home.

In other news, a Goodwin & Co. auction ends tomorrow night. I don't have the energy to mention too much, but it has one of the coolest wire photos I've ever seen. The photo features Shoeless Joe Jackson holding up two trophies and it's currently up to $1,650.