Nobody Tell Me Officiating Didn't Decide This One

[PerkinsERA43]

The C's may have played like crap, but so did the Cavs. The charge on Pierce? I actually started laughing. Normally I'm filled with rage when a bad call is made, but that call... I was just amazed and incredulous. It was a block, no question. The C's should have put the Cavs away mid second quarter, but they didn't capitalize. That being said, the refs cost us our 2nd chance at victory.

[banner17]

don'y forget about the Non Goaltending call on Ray Allen's shot. if it hits the backboard it counts. plain and simple. or at leaste I thought.

seemed like everytime C's made a run, the Refs would end it.

[fairweatherfan]

Posted here again, cause screw it, it seems relevant:

Just watched the Pierce "charge" again on frame-by-frame on my TiVo - LeBron's feet not set (that was obvious live though), Pierce's right arm is on LeBron but does not extend at all - body-to-body contact and LeBron and Pierce throw themselves apart.  If Pierce's arm had come out I could understand the call, but this was ridiculous.

Ray Allen's layup attempt - as the announcers rightly called, off the board and by the rules a goaltend - not called.

Smith's inbounds catch in frame-by-frame - Smith catches the ball, lands with both feet (2 steps, or 1 if you consider it a jump stop, which it wasn't), then immediately pivots his right foot (3 steps, or 2) and then shifts his left foot forward, finally dribbling after planting his left (4 steps, or 3).

All in the last minute of a key game.

This is atrocious - I think we knew in the first quarter we'd have to beat this team by 15 to beat them by 2, and we just didn't get it done...but still, horrible to watch in slow motion.

The NBA needs to acknowledge that it is having an officiating crisis - calls are too inconsistent, and while I don't think they're always biased for or against a given team across seasons, they are ALWAYS biased against SOME team within a given game.  Evenly called games are a small minority, especially in the last few seasons, and the league needs to address this, as it is crippling their credibility as a professional sports league.  The NFL has had problems with questionable calls in recent years (ie the Patriots holding the Colts receivers in the AFC title game a few years back), but has made public efforts to clean it up.

David Stern unfortunately has a lawyer's mentality - he would much rather people not talk about the problem than actually fix it.  This is why the NBA is struggling to be taken seriously, and it seems to only be getting worse.

[35Reggie]

Don't forget the zero calls they got going to the basket in the first half, the flurry of calls they did get at the beginning of the third quarter so the stat sheet looked better, the travel they missed on Joe Smith on the inbounds play, and the goaltending on Ray Allen's layup. I don't think I've ever seen a game that was officiated so poorly.

[mahonedog88]

Was anyone watching ESPN when that charge was called on Pierce?

I'm interested to hear what the national guys had to say about it, plus the non-call on Joe Smith traveling

[Roy Hobbs]

I almost never blame the officiating, because it generally evens out, but man...  tonight was terrible.  The refs cost us any shot we had in that game. 

[CLeht11]

How does Joe Forte actually fall asleep tonight after basically deciding that game?  He single handedly destroyed the Celtics chance at winning that game with that awful call.  Even though nothing can change, David Stern should really look into that because Forte OBVIOUSLY is not clear about the rules of Charging vs. Blocking.

The Joe Smith travel was just ridiculous too.  Nothing you can really say about that.  The refs wanted a Game 7.

I think the C's can just channel this energy and take it straight into Game 7 and end it though.  Those calls will not be made in the Garden and LeBron will be sent home packing.  Keep in mind, Perk and Big Baby were both in major foul trouble too, so that didn't help much. 

[RockinRyA]

i watched the game with my friend whos a very avid spurs fan and we both jumped when we heard the whistle and thought "alright a foul!".. but then the call was charge and he said oh come on

yeah i agree, every c run theres usually a call or most often non call to stop the momentum

we were watching espn and at first they said it was 50-50 but when they watched the replay they said it was definitely a block.. even the ray goaltend

[PerkinsERA43]

Posted here again, cause screw it, it seems relevant:

Just watched the Pierce "charge" again on frame-by-frame on my TiVo - LeBron's feet not set (that was obvious live though), Pierce's right arm is on LeBron but does not extend at all - body-to-body contact and LeBron and Pierce throw themselves apart.  If Pierce's arm had come out I could understand the call, but this was ridiculous.

Ray Allen's layup attempt - as the announcers rightly called, off the board and by the rules a goaltend - not called.

Smith's inbounds catch in frame-by-frame - Smith catches the ball, lands with both feet (2 steps, or 1 if you consider it a jump stop, which it wasn't), then immediately pivots his right foot (3 steps, or 2) and then shifts his left foot forward, finally dribbling after planting his left (4 steps, or 3).

All in the last minute of a key game.

This is atrocious - I think we knew in the first quarter we'd have to beat this team by 15 to beat them by 2, and we just didn't get it done...but still, horrible to watch in slow motion.

The NBA needs to acknowledge that it is having an officiating crisis - calls are too inconsistent, and while I don't think they're always biased for or against a given team across seasons, they are ALWAYS biased against SOME team within a given game.  Evenly called games are a small minority, especially in the last few seasons, and the league needs to address this, as it is crippling their credibility as a professional sports league.  The NFL has had problems with questionable calls in recent years (ie the Patriots holding the Colts receivers in the AFC title game a few years back), but has made public efforts to clean it up.

David Stern unfortunately has a lawyer's mentality - he would much rather people not talk about the problem than actually fix it.  This is why the NBA is struggling to be taken seriously, and it seems to only be getting worse.

Those were the most significant and obvious missed calls, certainly. I also thought when Varejao got his and 1 to put CLE up 7 was ridiculous. He turned in KG, who was standing still with his hands up. He banged into him with his mop of a head, and initiated 100% of the contact. I just don't see how that can be a dfensive foul. Maybe its not an offensive, but its at least a no call.

[angryguy77]

Was anyone watching ESPN when that charge was called on Pierce?

I'm interested to hear what the national guys had to say about it, plus the non-call on Joe Smith traveling

they  said it was a 50/50 call. are you kidding me.

[RockinRyA]

they said it was 50/50 at first but when they replayed it the girl said it should be a block

[NoraG1]

Was anyone watching ESPN when that charge was called on Pierce?

I'm interested to hear what the national guys had to say about it, plus the non-call on Joe Smith traveling

they  said it was a 50/50 call. are you kidding me.

I'm not surprised they have a Kobe/Lebron bias and can't bring themselves to think their teams could do much wrong.

[BigDanz2000]

The ESPN announcers also said that Lebron had his hand going in for a steal with his feet not set, still moving, and that it was definately a charge after they had looked at the Replay.

[angryguy77]

they said it was 50/50 at first but when they replayed it the girl said it should be a block

Your right. I missed that

[PerkinsERA43]

they said it was 50/50 at first but when they replayed it the girl said it should be a block

Your right. I missed that

Aren't those two statements mutually exclusive? They can't have said both?