At the end of the 4th game of the increasingly-compelling Lakers/Nuggets series, Pau Gasol hit Danilo Gallinari with a hard screen (shoulder to the throat). Gallo went down. There was no whistle, play continued, and the Lakers made a 3-pointer to take an 89-86 lead. Was Gallinari flopping, or was it a foul on Gasol? Let’s hear from non-Laker, non-Nuggets fans (and wait for the aerial replay at 2:00):

Analyst Steve Kerr instantly tossed out the “Euros flop” argument, which later, Gallinari took issue with while speaking to an Italian blogger:

“[The referees] would certainly have called that type of pick on our big guys. It was a crystal clear foul but, as everybody knows, they call fewer fouls for you when you play against the Lakers.”

Gallinari went on to address TNT commentator Steve Kerr, who argued on-air that the play was a Euro-style flop, with “I guess Kerr hasn’t played basketball for too long.”

The Nuggets went on to win game five in LA to extend the series. Game six is tonight in Denver. For fun, I looked at the foul tally in the series:

Game 5: Denver 19, LA 20 (Nuggets win)
Game 4: Denver 19, LA 13 (Lakers win)
Game 3: Denver 25, LA 19 (Nuggets win)
Game 2: Denver 23, LA 20 (Lakers win)
Game 1: Denver 18, LA 22 (Lakers win)

I also went and looked at the leading foulers in the NBA this season. The highest Laker on the list? Reserve Matt Barnes (83rd). Denver had three in the top 83 (Harrington, McGee, Faried). So the refs will call lots of fouls on the Nuggets tonight, right? The NBA needs to get that Kobe/Durant series started ASAP, like Sunday afternoon.