My take on Rondo's reaction

[jbsprinter1]

So I've been reading some of the comments on CelticsBlog and watching TV to see how sports analysts view the incident and it seems like a 50-50 split. Some feel Rondo didn't mean to do it, and some feel he did.

After watching it over and over again, I'm convinced that he could have avoided the ref. He may have tripped a bit, but he didn't have to keep moving forward. However, I don't think he meant to bump the ref - I think he meant to keep going and plead his case a bit more and probably had a bit of an "oh no" moment when he realized he made physical contact with the ref.

As a result, he'll likely receive a one-game suspension because the league will want to stick to its rulebook and set a precedent. I'm hoping he gets off with a fine, but I don't think that will happen.

The bigger issue here, however, is Marc Davis. That man should never be allowed to ref a Celtics game again. In a previous Celtics-Hawks game this season, he nearly gave the game to the Hawks with 3-4 consecutive awful calls against the Celtics. Yesterday, it seemed like whenever a call could have gone either way (e.g. the out-of-bounds call against Rondo) he immediately gave the ball to the Hawks. It's like he made up his mind before the game to give every 50-50 ball to the Hawks.

Rondo deserved his 2nd technical, but what about the first? Put yourself in his position. There's a ref that clearly has it out for the Celtics for whatever reason, and Rondo's not stupid. He recognized this just as well as we did, and when you fight for your life to get back in the game and the ref gives two 50-50 balls to the Hawks in the final couple minutes (without an ounce of hesitation), you deserve a bit of time to plead your case. I think that's something the league should take into consideration, but I'm not hopeful because Stern adores his refs.

I'm not blaming the loss on the refs - it's our fault that we were in such a desperate position at the end of the game. But keep Marc Davis as far away from us as possible.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

NBA officiating is easily the worst of the four major sports leagues in America, and despite anything Stern says to the contrary, I'm not convinced that the NBA does much to punish refs when they make major screw-ups. Some calls are gonna be missed, sure, that's just human nature, but why aren't refs disciplined for calling technical fouls that are later rescinded, or for missing a clear violation (Gasol's up-and-down near the end of 2010's Game 7), or for seemingly going after one team over the other (such as Davis with the Cs)?