There were hundreds of replies below, most of them Lakers fans celebrating, though Knicks fans were also mocking them.
One Knicks fan replied, "You won one game and you're this excited? I thought you'd won the championship." Another Knicks fan replied, "Two to one, Knicks lead. Your Lakers are still chasing from behind. Don't run too fast, or you might fall." Yet another Knicks fan replied, "You won Game 3 because the refs' whistles favored you. At Staples Center, your home court, the refs called twenty-three fouls on the Knicks and only fifteen on the Lakers. You shot twenty-eight free throws while we shot sixteen. With a gap like that, you still have the nerve to talk?"
Lakers fans immediately fired back. "When you were in New York, weren't the refs favoring you too? In Game 1, the Knicks shot thirty free throws and the Lakers shot twenty-two. In Game 2, the Knicks shot twenty-six and the Lakers shot twenty. You say nothing when you benefit, but the moment we get one advantage, you jump out? Hypocrites."
Knicks fans replied, "Advantage? Li Fei made a buzzer-beating game-winner in Game 2. That was skill, not the refs. Your Lakers' near game-winner was made by Kobe, and that was skill too. The refs didn't help anyone. You lost, so you lost. Stop making excuses."
At a bar in Los Angeles, Lakers fans were still celebrating.
Dozens of fans in purple jerseys gathered around the television, replaying the Game 3 highlights over and over.
Kobe's fadeaway jumper, O'Neal's thunderous dunks, Rice's three-pointers—every clip triggered another round of cheers.
A bald, burly man stood atop a table with a beer glass raised, shouting at everyone, "Brothers, did you see that? This is the real Lakers team! Not that soft team from the first two