Facts of life: Miss America gets dates, Kobe gets calls

Controversial as it might have been, no one was particularly shocked Kobe Bryant got the call he did to help force overtime in the Jazz's eventual Thursday-night loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

That's not a cry of conspiracy but rather one of reality.

The NBA is a star-driven league. Bryant shines. And in cases of doubt, especially when a game is on the line and cameras from a network like TNT are rolling, Kobe is more inclined than a Devin Brown to have one go his way.

No one with the Jazz was saying precisely that Friday morning, in the aftermath of Utah's stunning 105-101 Delta Center loss to the Lakers. Yet one could sense some might have been thinking along those lines.

"Miss America gets all the dates," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "You have to understand that."

To review:

The Jazz, down earlier by as many as 14, rallied to take a 92-90 lead with 4.3 seconds remaining in regulation. After a 20-second Lakers timeout, Bryant rose and hoisted a long jumper that missed. Referee Ron Olesiak ruled that Bryant had stepped on the 3-point line, making the shot a 2-pointer — and that Bryant was fouled on the play by Brown. Bryant made both ensuing free throws with 0.4 seconds left to force overtime, and L.A. won the five-minute extra period 13-9.

Video replays and still photographs clearly show Bryant extending his shooting arm after the shot to help draw the foul. Afterward, he suggested the call was quite justified — but for a different reason.

"He (Brown) kicked my legs out from under me," Bryant said. "When it's a questionable call, the refs usually won't make the call when the game's on the line, but that was an easy call."

Brown evidently did not agree, and video replays backed his contention.

"To me," he said while still in the Jazz locker room minutes after the loss, "that's a tough call to make with the game on the line like that."

Even Lakers coach Phil Jackson hedged: "We needed a lucky call at the end of the game to (win)," he said.

Luck? Incompetence? Something else?

The Jazz don't know what to call the call.

"Basketball is a game of mistakes, and, obviously, I make them," Sloan said. "And the players make them. Coaches. And the officials make them once in a while, too. . . ."