Nobody Tell Me Officiating Didn't Decide This One

[KungPoweChicken]

The officiating was absolutely atrocious tonight. The calls were very biased in crucial minutes of the game. I think the Ray Allen goaltend call is debatable. If the ball has absolutely no chance to go in, the goaltend rule is supposed to be waved off. The officials obviously did not make the call with this in mind, that is why the call is debatable. However, the two calls that most likely cost the C's any chance at winning were the Pierce charge, and Smith travel.

Everyone here knows the magnitude of the Pierce charge. But the no call on the Smith travel was ludicrous. This no call followed a crucial travel call on Garnett. Considering that travels are rarely called in the NBA, where do officials get off calling a crucial travel on the C's, then a no travel call on the Cav's? 

I almost never pass blame on the referees. However, they left me no choice tonight. This game magnified what has been a mediocre officiated 08'

[PerkinsERA43]

I disagree with you. Davis did not take bad shots. He grabbed offensive boards, and put the ball right back up. Thats not bad. He got banged every time, so he missed. No calls. Thats on the refs.

He didn't deserve calls, and his shots were terrible. 

There is nothing wrong with putting the ball right back up after an offensive board. He didn't take a single shot from anywhere outside 3 feet. A close shoit like that is never bad. You're wrong.

And you do deserve calls if someone hits your body, or your arm, or any part of you.

[Raygus]

i certainly agree with this thread, but i was watching the jazz/lakers game and on a time out they replayed the "goal tend" and said that in the rule book there is a stipulation that about the chance the shot has to go in. i checked this out and they're right, if the shot hits the glass but there's no chance of it going in (i.e. if the shot hits the side of the backboard) its not a goal tend.

i do have a hard time believing that in game the ref would have been able to discern whether ray's shot had a chance (given his position) but at the end of the day its the right call. the charge on pierce and the no call on smith's travel are absolutely insane. but the most telling stat is lebron's ft attempts. if those officials get to ref another playoff game, someone's head should roll.

[Scintan]

I disagree with you. Davis did not take bad shots. He grabbed offensive boards, and put the ball right back up. Thats not bad. He got banged every time, so he missed. No calls. Thats on the refs.

He didn't deserve calls, and his shots were terrible. 

There is nothing wrong with putting the ball right back up after an offensive board. He didn't take a single shot from anywhere outside 3 feet. A close shoit like that is never bad. You're wrong.

And you do deserve calls if someone hits your body, or your arm, or any part of you.

Davis..... can't..... jump.  Cleveland has multiple defenders who are taller than Davis and can outjump him.  Rather than use his minibus sized butt to clear space, Davis tried to outjump superior athletes.  The results were entirely predictable.

And, no, contact alone doesn't mean you 'deserve' a foul call.

[wdleehi]

This is the only game I felt all post season was lost because of how the game was called.


Everyone else covered the FT, lack of calls for Celtics shooters, offensive calls on Pierce.



How about the battles down low?  They called fouls on Celtic big men fighting for rebounds.  They didn't call them on Cav big men.  If they did, could have cut the rebounding (and 2nd chance points) down. 





Going forward, the Celtics need to play well enough offensively and on the glass (since they played well enough defensively) to take away the officials ability to steal games. 

[Bahku]

This one you can truly attribute to the officiating as having made the difference ... period. This was blatant manipulation by the refs, and that charge call should be in the "Bad Call Hall Of Fame". I used to respect Dick Bavetta, but it's becoming evident that he's lost his touch, and his repeated deferments to his assistants should be an indication.

I won't get into the Joe Forte aspect ... we all know where he stands with the Celtics, just assumed that having Dick there would even things out, but Dick can't even seem to tie his own shoes any more. Sad display of officiating bias tonight ... the C's didn't stand a chance. There really needs to be more objective accountability for these guys.

[libermaniac]

Here's another horrible call:

How bout that one where Pierce was on somewhat of a break away with Ben Wallace trailing and they called Pierce for clearing out?  Complete BS.  They took every chance they could to keep the C's from getting any kind of momentum.

[Bahku]

Here's another horrible call:

How bout that one where Pierce was on somewhat of a break away with Ben Wallace trailing and they called Pierce for clearing out?  Complete BS.  They took every chance they could to keep the C's from getting any kind of momentum.

Yup ... I agree, LM (TP) ... whenever the Celts started to get a run, and the momentum seemed to be changing in our favor, the refs would find some absurd call to make, and totally take the wind out of our sails. Really crap officiating tonight.

[angryguy77]

I disagree with you. Davis did not take bad shots. He grabbed offensive boards, and put the ball right back up. Thats not bad. He got banged every time, so he missed. No calls. Thats on the refs.

He didn't deserve calls, and his shots were terrible. 

His shots were terriblw? Common man, if he's taking terrible shots that close to the basket, then you should be calling for him to be cut. There is no way that you can take a bad shot that close unless you have your eyes closed. Stop trying to be unbiased. Anyone that has ever followed the game know we were jobbed tonight

[tanner]

The loss is equal parts self-inflicted and officiating.  The charge on Pierce was huge.  Those travelling calls on KG and Perk, while not calling the one on Joe Smith.  Those calls pretty much killed the Celtics momentum down the stretch.

[TheReaLPuba]

I disagree with you. Davis did not take bad shots. He grabbed offensive boards, and put the ball right back up. Thats not bad. He got banged every time, so he missed. No calls. Thats on the refs.

He didn't deserve calls, and his shots were terrible. 

There is nothing wrong with putting the ball right back up after an offensive board. He didn't take a single shot from anywhere outside 3 feet. A close shoit like that is never bad. You're wrong.

And you do deserve calls if someone hits your body, or your arm, or any part of you.

Davis..... can't..... jump.  Cleveland has multiple defenders who are taller than Davis and can outjump him.  Rather than use his minibus sized butt to clear space, Davis tried to outjump superior athletes.  The results were entirely predictable.

And, no, contact alone doesn't mean you 'deserve' a foul call.

Scintan,

Normally I agree with a lot of what you say but Big Baby getting Off. boards and putting them back up is better shots than him taking jumpers. He is a beefy guy and he doesn't show the ball like Perk does and sometimes he double clutches and there was obvious contact that any "star" or "all-star" or "superstar" player would have gotten....he did not.

I can remember at least 3 times he was in the paint and didn't get a call and my problem is the refs don't call it both ways.

Every time the C's guards or swingman dribble off a pick and the "big" or "picker" shows they rub the ball handler and no call.

Every time the Cavs dribbler does the same thing and either Perk or Big Baby show and make some contact they get whistled for the foul.

It's the same on the Off. boards....Big Z gets them by pushing his guys out and gets the board. Perk gets the Off. board and gets whistled for a foul for going over the back.

The calls aren't consistent and they make the C's play in a cage.

This is playoff basketball and the refs should just put the whistles away unless they see bone, meat, or blood.

Oh yeah...LeBron is bleeding from two places and they never get him out of the game.

Nice job refs.

[Roy Hobbs]

I love it.  Lebron wouldn't even call that a charge:

James said he got his hand on the ball and knocked it away from Pierce, and was expecting an out-of-bounds call with the ball going back to Boston . "But they called it a charge, so I guess that's what it was," he said wearing one of those mischievous grins he had to have learned from his 3-year-old son.

Ridiculous.

And nice point by Puba above: the officials "not noticing" Lebron bleeding all over the court was a big non-call.  When the television announcers can see it from the sidelines, I would have assumed that one of the three officials could have noticed it.

[get_banners]

the cavs huge advantage on boards, especially offensive boards, has a ton to do with the contact they were allowed to get away with. they consistently pushed off and went over the back, but no calls. we do something ever approaching that, we get called for it. and kg wasn't able to take over late because he was absolutely being mugged inside. not only was there an egregious amount of contact being allowed on him before he ever got the ball, he got hit on [dang]-near every shot he took inside, yet almost no calls. the ray allen goaltend i can see if the rule says something about the shot having a chance to go in. but that's about it. the worst part it, it wasn't exactly a lebron lovefest, either. yeah, he got some calls to go his way (the charge on pierce being the most obvious), but the refs seemed to let us play against him more often than not. its what they let cleveland's bigs get away with all game that set the tone. if the refs don't call game 7 fairly, i wonder what the fans in boston will do.

[jay_jay54]

Those are the type of calls,what raises suspicious in fans about games being fixed,or swayed by officials for one reason or another.

[fmf2]

Watch Pavolic's big momentum changing 3 in the second quarter... Pierce could not get out on it because Ben Wallace wrapped his arm around him and held him. How about the times Ray got called for playing good defense on Wally? There were two calls Wally got in the second quarter that were completely bogus.

So, I really doubt Cleveland would have made any run at all in the second quarter if not for the help of the refs.