Before you all get up in arms and start shouting, "Hey, waitasec, wasn't that the operative shouting 'seven rings for Scottie Pippen' all over SoCal the last few weeks?" (which happens to be true) let's look at some hard facts, fellow children.

• Sabonis had three fouls in the first half, two of which even the announcers considered suspect. He fouled out with more than five minutes left in the game. In the last two games he's played extremely conservatively, having no fouls in the first half of Game 6. Had he not fouled out so relatively early in Game 7, Shaq would not have been able to become the offensive force he was in the 4th quarter (as Sabonis has successfully limited Shaq, evidenced by Game 6) and things would have gone considerably different.
  
• Scottie Pippen likewise fouled out at a time when his 3-point threat would have been crucial to the Blazers potential success. The play? He was standing still as a Laker made a charge for the hole. Phantom fouls were called in favor of the Lakers most of the night.
  
• While we're on the subject of fouls, how many arms falling across Blazers does it take to get a foul? The Lakers -- heavy into fould trouble in Game 6, might have been expected to play a smarter defensive game and avoid questionable contact. Nuh uh. They were all over the Blazers -- Pippen ended up on his back more than Foxy Brown. The Soul Review Board staff in attendance (including Sen Ur Inpu Ka Mut, Mr. Xavier and Mr. Asadullah) noted several plays where Shaq's legendary swinging elbows, Robert Horry's antagonism, and so on were met by blank stares from the officials.
  

The operative is not here to question the talents of the Los Angeles Lakers. Phil Jackson is probably the best coach in the entire NBA. Kobe Bryant, one-on-one, is one of the best players in the league, perhaps in the league's history. Shaquille O'Neal, Glen Rice, Ron Harper ... all incredible talents. They've worked hard this season and improved incredibly.

However, they are not a team at crunchtime. When pressed they revert to type -- Kobe as hot-headed ballhog, Shaq as blundering mass of skin, Rice as spotty half-hearted all-star, Rick Fox as pouty pretty boy running home to his "high yella" wife, to quote Tim Roth as Dutch Shultz, and so on down the line. Next year they will be, undoubtably, the best and most-coordinated team in the league. They're not at that point now. Period. Shaq and Kobe, the primary weapons of the team, are still not full believers in the Triangle Offense. Their game as a team is on the verge of what it's advertised as, and capable of beating most of the league.

So the idea of the Blazers getting beaten -- face it -- on calls and not on raw basketball ability, is the work of child-humping, inbred, faceless sons of bastards who literally have enough money to buy a version of reality more to their liking. Whoever these people are (and the makers of Damage Control are far too busy paying mortgages and being stuck in this godless capitalist society to take the time to find out who) feel they can bend over the viewing public, anally violate them with this alleged sporting event, wipe the tip off on the buttocks of the world, and not even say good night. Blast the lot of 'em.

It's important to remember that, in the larger picture and in the greater struggle against white supremacy world wide and making a better world for us all, this basketball series is meaningless. It is all a multimillion dollar distraction that serves to keep us from seeing the oppression and horror of our lives. You should know -- like wrestling of Congress -- that the decisions on winners and losers have been made before things even got started. The difference is that the actors in the ring or the Capitol know it, and the Blazers did not.

When the Pacers won in an honest game (real heart from the Knicks, though), the network had to have a Game 7 to shore up ratings (and therefore revenues) on Sunday night (weekend nights are big money for the networks). The Lakers have been built into a marketing and economic force in the league that is far too important to not have the bragging rights of a championship to itself. So, somebody (was it the league? Mayor Dick Riordan? Jerries West and Buss, who threw enough money at this team to run several small governments for decades?) paid off somebody else, and the fix was on. We just got to watch it as it happened.

Unless the Lakers are supernaturally lazy, The Pacers will be swept by the financially backed, non-rapping, barely intelligent Lakers and the coach they truly don't deserve. Don't even bother watching. A pox on them all.