Salvatore the Assassin

[Greeny]

Wow nice post.
Numbers dont lie...

[reggie35]

They aren't great.

They don't win or lose games for the Celtics. Never have, never will.

This ongoing discussion in this year's playoffs is nothing more than fan whining, particularly in game one - where the loss was absolutely attributable to the Celtics' refusal to stick with a game plan.

This place is being turned into Real GM by people who simply refuse to face the truth: this team has been wildly inconsistent all year, and it continues to be wildly inconsistent. It won't change until the roster changes. Blame around here seems to land everywhere - referees, fans, even Doc - except where it belongs: on the backs of the players who can't or won't execute consistently like champions.

Forget about the Celtics for a second and let's just focus on Lebron. We all know he is a great player and we were told so from the moment he came into the league. Fine. Do you sincerely believe that he only commits on average a foul a game? Or that his three step moves are actually two step moves?

The league absolutely instructs officials to protect the star players and from year to year, it's the league who decides who those players are. Shaq plays much the same way he used to but he gets called for way more offensive fouls now than when he was on the Lakers.

If the league is capable of doing that, then it's not such a big stretch to believe that the league picks ref assignments to suit its interest which is to maximize revenue.

[vinnie]

With the score 10-8 Cleveland, Pierce got HAMMERED going to the hoop--NO CALL by Salvatore (he was right there and SHOULD have called an OBVIOUS foul)--Cavs rebound the "miss"--and it leads to that Flagrant foul by Perk...LeBron makes BOTH free throws,they get the ball and score again...14-8 Cavs---when it should have been tied----Seems the C's kinda gave up right there.

If the C's are that weak that they gave up there, then they don't deserve to win this series. Down 14-8 and they gave up because of a bad call or two? Don't buy it for a second.

[Eddie20]

Give me Dick Bavetta!!!

The following an excerpt from Donaghy's book:

Studying under Dick Bavetta for 13 years was like pursuing a graduate degree in advanced game manipulation. He knew how to marshal the tempo and tone of a game better than any referee in the league, by far. He also knew how to take subtle — and not so subtle — cues from the NBA front office and extend a playoff series or, worse yet, change the complexion of that series.
The 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings presents a stunning example of game and series manipulation at its ugliest. As the teams prepared for Game 6 at the Staples Center, Sacramento had a 3–2 lead in the series. The referees assigned to work Game 6 were Dick Bavetta, Bob Delaney, and Ted Bernhardt. As soon as the referees for the game were chosen, the rest of us knew immediately that there would be a Game 7. A prolonged series was good for the league, good for the networks, and good for the game. Oh, and one more thing: it was great for the big-market, star-studded Los Angeles Lakers.
In the pregame meeting prior to Game 6, the league office sent down word that certain calls — calls that would have benefitted the Lakers — were being missed by the referees. This was the type of not-so-subtle information that I and other referees were left to interpret. After receiving the dispatch, Bavetta openly talked about the fact that the league wanted a Game 7.
"If we give the benefit of the calls to the team that's down in the series, nobody's going to complain. The series will be even at three apiece, and then the better team can win Game 7," Bavetta stated.

[LooseCannon]

For the conspiracy theorists out there, do you believe that the league wants this series to go to seven games, so that if the Celtics lose game 5, they will get some help from the refs in game 6?

[Thruthelookingglass]

For the conspiracy theorists out there, do you believe that the league wants this series to go to seven games, so that if the Celtics lose game 5, they will get some help from the refs in game 6?

No most conspiracy theorists believe that the League wants a Kobe-LeBron final.  To them the Celtics are a bump on the road to that particular holy grail.

[FallGuy]

For the conspiracy theorists out there, do you believe that the league wants this series to go to seven games, so that if the Celtics lose game 5, they will get some help from the refs in game 6?

I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all but I do find the theories amusing.

If the league was really "fixing" this series, it would have been in their interest for Boston to win today.

And since Boston won today, it only makes sense.

Today's game was fixed in favor of Boston.

 

[reggie35]

For the conspiracy theorists out there, do you believe that the league wants this series to go to seven games, so that if the Celtics lose game 5, they will get some help from the refs in game 6?

I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all but I do find the theories amusing.

If the league was really "fixing" this series, it would have been in their interest for Boston to win today.

And since Boston won today, it only makes sense.

Today's game was fixed in favor of Boston.

 

Well, the league did send Joe DaRosa, a top 5 homer ref and Mike Callahan, a cav hater. Lo and behold the FT's were roughly even today and the C's win. I'm not saying the games are out and out fixed, but I'm saying the league manipulates ref assignments to tip the scales one way or the other.

[connerhenry43]

i thought the refs did all they could to help clev today, especially in the first half.

the line we were fed in games 1-3 were that the cavs were more aggressive taking it to the hole, thus the FT advantage in their favor. then today, we are way more aggressive and the FTS are essentially even (taking into account we shot a good deal in the last 2 minutes), and half our team was in foul trouble in the first half.

[FallGuy]

i thought the refs did all they could to help clev today, especially in the first half.

the line we were fed in games 1-3 were that the cavs were more aggressive taking it to the hole, thus the FT advantage in their favor. then today, we are way more aggressive and the FTS are essentially even (taking into account we shot a good deal in the last 2 minutes), and half our team was in foul trouble in the first half.

Why fix the game for the Cavs? It doesn't make any sense.