Celtic Fan or not, the officiating has been more then questionable and biased in favor of a team filled with youth.
And the Atlanta fans, on blogs and forums, are describing last night's game as one of the worst cases of pro-Celtic bias. The officials are clearly and irrefutably biased in favor of the Celtics, the team that Stern and the NBA want in the finals. This is one of the many reasons I disagree with your "Celtic Fan or not" statement. Virtually all of the anti-Celtic-bias claims are coming from Celtic fans. Claims of pro-Celtic bias are rampant right now with Atlanta fans. As long as the fans of every team see the same kinds of biased-against-their-team officiating, it looks pretty even from a disinterested objective point of view. Many Atlanta fans seem to be convinced that Bavetta was assigned to last nights game specifically to give the win to the Celtics, as part of the supposed Stern conspiracy. Stern has his plate full, with all the work it takes to organize 60 full-fledged referee-tampering conspiracies, both FOR every single team (as viewed by their opponents), and AGAINST every team (as viewed by their fans).
I saw several great flops last night, by Celtics, bringing out the anti-flopping tirades from the Atlanta fans. I didn't hear any Celtics fnas complaining, and I heard some cheers for one of Powe's better flops. Yes, the refs make bad calls. But I don't see any true evidence of bias, just supersition and homerism. Not that there's anything wrong with superstition and homerism, but it falls apart when it's presented as objective fact.
Atlanta has been taking the ball inside far more than the Celtics in this series. That's one reason to expect more fouls called against the Celtics. And not getting back on D makes the D scramble and leads to sloppier D, which can lead to fouls. The simple fact is, the fouls can be lopsided because one team fouled more than the other. I never seem to hear any complaints from C's fans when the Celtics go to the line more than the opponent.
