Today's Official Report for Finals Game 5 6/13

[FLCeltsFan]

Today's referees are:

Joey Crawford
Overall Home Team W/L 41/33
Playoff Home Team Win % 75%
Fouls called per game 49.3
Foul % Called on Home Team 47.3
Road Team Techs/game 1.1
Home Team Techs/game 1.3
Crawford has been officiating games since 1977 and has officiated more play-off games (266+) and NBA Finals Games (38+) than any other active referee. Crawford officiated 3 of the Celtics games so far in the playoffs with mixed results. Game 5 of the Cleveland series was very well officiated and the Celtics won it. However, his second game was game 5 of the Orlando series, which was one of the worst officiated games of the playoffs. Watch game 5 again and you will see a host of missed and blown calls that give Orlando the edge. He also called game 1 of the Finals, which was too tightly called but was called in LA's favor with almost every Celtics player in early foul trouble. Flip a coin as to which we will see today. There is no shortage of controversy surrounding Joey Crawford, the biggest of which was a suspension for tossing Tim Duncan for laughing on the bench and then challenging him to a fight. He is known for his quickness to call technical fouls but also doesn't tend to be influenced by the home crowd as much as many other refs seem to be. In the 2008 Playoffs, Crawford was chosen to officiate Game 4 of the Western Conference final between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers. In the closing seconds of the game, there was a no-call where the Spurs' Brent Barry was unquestionably fouled by Derek Fisher. Crawford was the closest official to the call, and the NBA later apologized for the lack of a call. Crawford was also one of the refs who was involved in the income tax evasion convictions and was suspended at that time as well. And in the Suns 2010 first round against the Blazers, Crawford made what was possibly the worst foul call of all time when he called Marcus Camby for a foul and put Steve Nash on the line. Camby was nowhere near Nash, but that didn't stop Craawford from calling the foul on him. He is very quick to call techs on players and that could be a problem for Sheed and Perk who are both one tech away from a suspension. With bad calls sure to come, let's hope they can control their emotions.

Mike Callahan
Home Team W/L 51/26
Home Team win % in Playoffs 50%
Calls 52.6 fouls per game
% of fouls called on Home Team 49.4%
Calls .6 Techs/g on Road team
Calls .9 Techs/g on Home team
Callahan has officiated over 940+ regular season games, 65+ play-off games and 5 NBA Finals games. There were a lot of complaints about Callahan's calls in the Spurs/Mavs series. Callahan is one of 4 refs to come out of Cardinal O'Hara High School in Pennsylvania. The other 3 are today's crew chief Joey Crawford, Ed Malloy and Tim Donaghy. His other appearances in the Celtics' postseason were a win over Cleveland in game 4 the game 6 win over Orlando and game 2 of the finals in which the Lakers ended up with a 41=26 free throw advantage. The advantage was really a lot bigger than the 15 that it ended up because it was 39-19 before the Lakers started fouling intentionally at the end. Game 2 was also called very tight and toward the Lakers. Hopefully they take a clue from the game 4 officials and let them play in this game.

Derrick Stafford
Overall Home Team W/L 46/29
Playoff Home Team Win % 50%
Fouls called per game 52.6
Foul % Called on Home Team 49.4%
Road Team Techs/game 0.1
Home Team Techs/game 1.3
Stafford is currently in his 19th season as an NBA referee. He has officiated 1,000+ regular season games and 60+ play-off games. He worked for the US Postal Service for 10 years, which may explain his quick trigger when it comes to technical fouls. Yet another official that is known to be quick to call technical fouls. Stafford called Game 5 in the Miami series, which the Celtics won, game 4 in the Orlando series, which the Celtics lost and game 1 of the Finals, which the Celtics also lost.

[lovely_20]

*Rolls her eyes* Why, oh why do we have to have Crawford officiating again? The other two are actually kinda okay (though one might be a little trigger-happy on the techs, so Sheed and Perk will have to watch themselves).  How did we get Crawford again in the same Finals?  Even so, I expect a big game from at least two of the Big 3, plus Rondo.  The bench will play superbly, like in game 4 (though I don't think Doc will rely on them late in the 4Q).  I still think we will win it, we have the momentum from gm4 and the two days rest.  TP to FLCF for the heads-up. 

[Drucci]

Stafford and Callahan are OK but Crawford... oh, boy. I think there is 95% chance Perk or/and Sheed get a T called on them in this one, even they try to be careful. Hopefully it won't happen.

[FallGuy]

Stafford and Callahan are OK but Crawford... oh, boy. I think there is 95% chance Perk or/and Sheed get a T called on them in this one, even they try to be careful. Hopefully it won't happen.

They both better be on best behavior.

Under NO circumstances can we lose a big going into game 6.

[FLCeltsFan]

*Rolls her eyes* Why, oh why do we have to have Crawford officiating again? The other two are actually kinda okay (though one might be a little trigger-happy on the techs, so Sheed and Perk will have to watch themselves).  How did we get Crawford again in the same Finals?  Even so, I expect a big game from at least two of the Big 3, plus Rondo.  The bench will play superbly, like in game 4 (though I don't think Doc will rely on them late in the 4Q).  I still think we will win it, we have the momentum from gm4 and the two days rest.  TP to FLCF for the heads-up. 

There are only 12 refs in the pool of those picked for the Finals. We got new refs for each of the first 4 games and now, for games 5, 6, and if necessary, game 7 they will be recycling the refs that we already have had. 

[Bent]

Yep, that means we get the Bill Kennedy/Bennett Salvatore crew in Game Seven.

[Kuberski33]

Yep, that means we get the Bill Kennedy/Bennett Salvatore crew in Game Seven.

Best to avoid a Game 7, I'd say.

[lovely_20]

*Rolls her eyes* Why, oh why do we have to have Crawford officiating again? The other two are actually kinda okay (though one might be a little trigger-happy on the techs, so Sheed and Perk will have to watch themselves).  How did we get Crawford again in the same Finals?  Even so, I expect a big game from at least two of the Big 3, plus Rondo.  The bench will play superbly, like in game 4 (though I don't think Doc will rely on them late in the 4Q).  I still think we will win it, we have the momentum from gm4 and the two days rest.  TP to FLCF for the heads-up. 

There are only 12 refs in the pool of those picked for the Finals. We got new refs for each of the first 4 games and now, for games 5, 6, and if necessary, game 7 they will be recycling the refs that we already have had. 

Greeaaat...

[christuffa]

OMG, Crawford? Someone should walk up to him and take him out at the start of the game! Pierce might just happen to throw another celebratory fist pump and knock him out 

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Tp there, you guys amaze me with the stats you find...! Good job...!