After the initial foul calls, did Yu Fei still have any expectations for the referees?
Caught up in a sense of complacency, Artest was caught off guard by Yu Fei's back-to-the-basket, turn-around drive.
Yu Fei easily broke past him, charged under the basket, and forcefully squeezed past Big Z's help defense to score with a layup.
Yu Fei turned to Bavita, pointing to his own arm, wanting to know why the whistle hadn't blown.
Bavita met his gaze with cold indifference.
Then, the audience at the venue erupted in angry boos.
To Bavita, the audience's boos were nothing new, but that didn't mean the pressure didn't exist.
Indeed, they had missed an obvious foul.
It seemed like the referees, who behaved as if they couldn't be bothered by hot water, called a foul on Artest for an off-ball screen just when the Lakers were about to start their offense.
Artest showed an unprecedented level of bewilderment, a look of surprise on his face that seemed to say, "Aren't we on the same side?"