Nobody Tell Me Officiating Didn't Decide This One

[wdleehi]

Davis was definitely fouled out there. 


And he was definitely over matched out there. 

[the TRUTH]

i'm usually pretty "old school" when it comes to sports. however, i'm so sick of the "don't blame the loss on the officials, because we did X, Y and Z wrong" argument. no team in the history of basketball has ever played perfectly. there's always a few shots you could have made, a few dumb turnovers you shouldn't have made, a few missed defensive rotations, etc. sure, we didnt play perfectly. doc didnt coach the perfect game. but how could the cavs have scored in the first half without the help of the refs? seriously? the second quarter was a complete joke, and then the last few minutes of the game just served as the icing on the cake.

one analogy i like to use comes from my high school football days. we were totally dominating this team, we were easily the better team, and we were playing our hearts out. thing is, we kept messing up here and there, and the other team somehow stuck around. so we were up 17-13 with 20 seconds left, they had the ball. they were out of timeouts, and had 4th and 12 at our 25. their QB threw a pass that was OBVIOUSLY tipped straight up in the air by one of our players. as the rule enables you to do, one of our players then knocked down the closest receiver, and the ball hit the ground. GAME OVER, right? we thought so, and started celebrating. but no, the refs called pass interference, showing just how incompetent they were. two plays later, they threw a game-winning td pass.

so...while there were probably at least 20 plays throughout the game that we screwed up royally and we could certainly fault ourselves for that, the fact is we still DESERVED to win the game. the refs lost it for us, plain and simple.

i've played and coached at the college and pro level, and almost all coaches will universally refuse to allow their teams to blame a loss on the refs. this isn't because the refs can't actually lose a game for a team. it's because the coach knows the players have no control over the officiating, and doesn't want their players to focus on anything other than executing. because, ideally, if you play close to a perfect game, it doesn't matter how bad the refs are. that being said, i don't understand how anyone who's ever played a team sport can honestly say the refs can never lose a game for you.

to win last night's game, we would have had to have been about 20-25 points better than the cavs. instead, we were about 15 points better, and we lost. thank you david stern!

and as for the no-call on the goaltending on ray's shot...if the ball hits the side of the backboard, and then comes back toward the sideline (away from the rim), then yes, it has no chance of going in, and it's not goaltending. ray's shot wasn't going to go in, but it was still headed towards the rim. there's no way that's not goaltending.

another thing...lebron's the biggest whiner in the entire nba, and even HE laughed at the charge called on pierce. and did you see joe smith laughing when he was at the FT line? i wonder why...he knew how lucky he was!

think about it this way...throw out the WWF style officiating in the 2nd quarter. say the refs make 3 correct calls in the final minute. ray gets a 3 point play, pierce gets two free throws, and the cavs lose two points (on joe smith's travel). assuming pierce hits his FT's, that's 5 points right there.

let's blow the doors off these pansies tomorrow!

[CoachBo]

It goes without saying the Celtics played poorly, poorly enough to lose. When your second-year point guard has to give way to Eddie House to make the offense actually go, it's a bad night on that end. Despite the hyperbolic Rondo love threads that appear on this site periodically, the guy is wildly inconsistent and we're going to have nights like this when Rondo plays terribly, as he did last night.

But ... the calls in the last two minutes were beyond horrible. The Pierce charge was ridiculous, the goaltend marginal but a probable miss and the Smith travel obvious.

There's no question whatsoever that the zebras did more to blunt our comeback than Cleveland.

[powefan]

Ummm....  yes the call was bad, but even if Paul gets the call, he's shooting two free throws, down 5 with under a minute to go.  It's still likely that we're going to lose.  People seem to think that if Paul gets the call, the C's have the advantage and would have won.  That call probably didn't even matter.  Why were the C's down 5 with 49 seconds left?

Ray didn't deserve a goaltending call--shooting it off the side of the backboard (even if technically it should have been one)

Not all the calls go against the C's.  I remember earlier in the game KG with a clear offensive foul--lowering his shoulder into his defender who was clearly set and the call was a block-- just an example of how the stars get star calls-- it has happened forever.

Please stop the whining and just win baby!

[NoraG1]

Ummm....  yes the call was bad, but even if Paul gets the call, he's shooting two free throws, down 5 with under a minute to go.  It's still likely that we're going to lose.  People seem to think that if Paul gets the call, the C's have the advantage and would have won.  That call probably didn't even matter.  Why were the C's down 5 with 49 seconds left?

Ray didn't deserve a goaltending call--shooting it off the side of the backboard (even if technically it should have been one)

Not all the calls go against the C's.  I remember earlier in the game KG with a clear offensive foul--lowering his shoulder into his defender who was clearly set and the call was a block-- just an example of how the stars get star calls-- it has happened forever.

Please stop the whining and just win baby!

1 call that was for the C's but there were alot more calls that went the Cavs way at a crucial time. Another one is blatant Joe Smith travel that was not called right after they made sure to call KG for a travel. The refs do not deserve a pass for crappy officiating. Celtics were not perfect but neither were the Cavs.

[MMacOH]

I would have to watch the replay but I am pretty sure Joe Smith was hit by Rondo on his way down with the ball.  The Celtics were trying to foul immediately and the refs knew and blew the whistle.

I will be the first to admit that the charge on Pierce was a block, but were the Celtics in the bonus then?  I don't think they were (but I could be wrong so don't crucify if I am) which means it was just Celtics ball, no free throws. 

Lets say there were free throws.  Well, then the Ray Allen foul (which wasn't even a foul, Wally didn't touch him) doesn't happen, the Joe Smith play doesn't happen, etc, etc.  Who knows how the game turns out?

I hate how the NBA is officiated, there is always a bias towards the home team (especiialy near the end of games), but the Celtics get that advantage tomorrow.

They will be much more focused tomorrow and will be playing in fornt of their home crowd.  Go cheer them on and help them get a win

[Roy Hobbs]

Lets say there were free throws.  Well, then the Ray Allen foul (which wasn't even a foul, Wally didn't touch him)

Whoa there...  Ray got hacked by Wally.  He was all over his arms, as they showed on the replay.

However, the no call on the goaltend may have been the correct call.  I believe the ball has to have a chance of going in, regardless of whether or not it hit the backboard.  Ray's shot didn't have a prayer.

[MMacOH]

Lets say there were free throws.  Well, then the Ray Allen foul (which wasn't even a foul, Wally didn't touch him)

Whoa there...  Ray got hacked by Wally.  He was all over his arms, as they showed on the replay.

However, the no call on the goaltend may have been the correct call.  I believe the ball has to have a chance of going in, regardless of whether or not it hit the backboard.  Ray's shot didn't have a prayer.

I'll have to take your word for it.  The eplay angle I saw looked like Wally just went right past him, but I only saw one angle. 

I agree on the goaltend/block. 

Looking forward to tomorrow

[CoachBo]

Don't think anyone's saying the Celtics didn't play poorly. The point is that the Bavetta crew was bad - most of the night.

And frankly, with the Tim Donaghy situation less than a year old and with precedent in other sports, it is the height of naivete to give officials a free pass.

Jump back a couple of years to the most glaring example in recent history: Pac 10 football officials literally stole a game for Oregon from Oklahoma.

When officials deserve the benefit of this kind of doubt, they'll get it. The point is that NBA officials don't - for a variety of reasons.

[jay_jay54]

Ummm....  yes the call was bad, but even if Paul gets the call, he's shooting two free throws, down 5 with under a minute to go.  It's still likely that we're going to lose.  People seem to think that if Paul gets the call, the C's have the advantage and would have won.  That call probably didn't even matter.  Why were the C's down 5 with 49 seconds left?

Ray didn't deserve a goaltending call--shooting it off the side of the backboard (even if technically it should have been one)

Not all the calls go against the C's.  I remember earlier in the game KG with a clear offensive foul--lowering his shoulder into his defender who was clearly set and the call was a block-- just an example of how the stars get star calls-- it has happened forever.

Please stop the whining and just win baby!

1 call that was for the C's but there were alot more calls that went the Cavs way at a crucial time. Another one is blatant Joe Smith travel that was not called right after they made sure to call KG for a travel. The refs do not deserve a pass for crappy officiating. Celtics were not perfect but neither were the Cavs.

Nora you are right...was thinking thats what i saw also.Joe Smith took a couple steps w/the ball before Rondo fouled him,but the ref.let J.Smith slide by.I never brought it up,because i thought maybe no one else on here saw it that way,but glad you saw it too.

[PerkinsERA43]

i'm usually pretty "old school" when it comes to sports. however, i'm so sick of the "don't blame the loss on the officials, because we did X, Y and Z wrong" argument. no team in the history of basketball has ever played perfectly. there's always a few shots you could have made, a few dumb turnovers you shouldn't have made, a few missed defensive rotations, etc. sure, we didnt play perfectly. doc didnt coach the perfect game. but how could the cavs have scored in the first half without the help of the refs? seriously? the second quarter was a complete joke, and then the last few minutes of the game just served as the icing on the cake.

one analogy i like to use comes from my high school football days. we were totally dominating this team, we were easily the better team, and we were playing our hearts out. thing is, we kept messing up here and there, and the other team somehow stuck around. so we were up 17-13 with 20 seconds left, they had the ball. they were out of timeouts, and had 4th and 12 at our 25. their QB threw a pass that was OBVIOUSLY tipped straight up in the air by one of our players. as the rule enables you to do, one of our players then knocked down the closest receiver, and the ball hit the ground. GAME OVER, right? we thought so, and started celebrating. but no, the refs called pass interference, showing just how incompetent they were. two plays later, they threw a game-winning td pass.

so...while there were probably at least 20 plays throughout the game that we screwed up royally and we could certainly fault ourselves for that, the fact is we still DESERVED to win the game. the refs lost it for us, plain and simple.

i've played and coached at the college and pro level, and almost all coaches will universally refuse to allow their teams to blame a loss on the refs. this isn't because the refs can't actually lose a game for a team. it's because the coach knows the players have no control over the officiating, and doesn't want their players to focus on anything other than executing. because, ideally, if you play close to a perfect game, it doesn't matter how bad the refs are. that being said, i don't understand how anyone who's ever played a team sport can honestly say the refs can never lose a game for you.

to win last night's game, we would have had to have been about 20-25 points better than the cavs. instead, we were about 15 points better, and we lost. thank you david stern!

and as for the no-call on the goaltending on ray's shot...if the ball hits the side of the backboard, and then comes back toward the sideline (away from the rim), then yes, it has no chance of going in, and it's not goaltending. ray's shot wasn't going to go in, but it was still headed towards the rim. there's no way that's not goaltending.

another thing...lebron's the biggest whiner in the entire nba, and even HE laughed at the charge called on pierce. and did you see joe smith laughing when he was at the FT line? i wonder why...he knew how lucky he was!

think about it this way...throw out the WWF style officiating in the 2nd quarter. say the refs make 3 correct calls in the final minute. ray gets a 3 point play, pierce gets two free throws, and the cavs lose two points (on joe smith's travel). assuming pierce hits his FT's, that's 5 points right there.

let's blow the doors off these pansies tomorrow!

I think your football analogy is a good one. TP for you, I'm sick of that overly-levelheaded argument.

[connerhenry43]

i also think we get the short end of the stick with the officials because of doc. he is too concerned with being Mr. Nice Guy; even gormas says he leaves every discussion with officials with a smile. he needs to be more pro-active. maybe i am biased, but i think a coach with a stronger backbone would not let his team get doinked all night long in a huge playoff game.

[kevingamble34]

I was shocked at how poor the officiating was.  The end of the game calls were horrible, but I think there was a stretch in the first half that was even worse.  In the middle of the second quarter, when we had Eddie and Big Baby in and working on a 6-8 point lead the refs put Wally on the line for like 6 mystery foul shots at a point in the game when we were getting stops.  KG was on fire at that point, we were obviously out-playing them but it was almost like the refs thought "the Celtics can't possibly make a clean play on defense" while letting the Cavs get away with practically everything.  It was out and out atrocious, complete with weak-willed make-up calls for the one botched call that went against Cleveland, but not one make-up call for the C's.  C's had their bad stretch after the refs completely stole the flow of the game, but that game should have been tied at the half, not C's down nine.  The Cavs only made 3 or 4 field goals in a stretch where they made up like 18 points, most with dubious calls.

How can David Stern, as a lawyer, not see the inherent conflict of interest the league has with Lebron?  The 'Global Icon' is their biggest meal ticket, does the most commercials, and is basically who they have decided to push hardest as the next MJ... even though he hasn't really earned 'next MJ' status aside from a couple of great games vs. Detroit last year. The refs give Lebron every single call and you can't breathe on him without a whistle.  Pierce has to get hacked "with no regard for human life" for him to get to the line, it seems. MJ got practically every call (way too many) in his heyday, but he earned that privilege, big time.  Lebron is still just a super talent with horrible form on his jumpshot who's looked pretty average this series, and downright mediocre against the Spurs last year.  Add to all this Lebron's soccer-style whiny flopping, his puzzling media darling status, and it's no wonder when every call goes for him some of us think: "Conspiracy!" (along with just plain old awful refs as usual).

[WedmanIsMyHero]

The Celtics have no one to blame but themselves for their terrible offense on the road, for Doc's manic rotations, for the disappearance of the all star formerly known as Ray Allen, etc.

Yeah the officials were terrible, but the regular season Celtics would have made their own luck.

I was shocked at how poor the officiating was.  The end of the game calls were horrible, but I think there was a stretch in the first half that was even worse.  In the middle of the second quarter, when we had Eddie and Big Baby in and working on a 6-8 point lead the refs put Wally on the line for like 6 mystery foul shots at a point in the game when we were getting stops.  KG was on fire at that point, we were obviously out-playing them but it was almost like the refs thought "the Celtics can't possibly make a clean play on defense" while letting the Cavs get away with practically everything.  It was out and out atrocious, complete with weak-willed make-up calls for the one botched call that went against Cleveland, but not one make-up call for the C's.  C's had their bad stretch after the refs completely stole the flow of the game, but that game should have been tied at the half, not C's down nine.  The Cavs only made 3 or 4 field goals in a stretch where they made up like 18 points, most with dubious calls.

How can David Stern, as a lawyer, not see the inherent conflict of interest the league has with Lebron?  The 'Global Icon' is their biggest meal ticket, does the most commercials, and is basically who they have decided to push hardest as the next MJ... even though he hasn't really earned 'next MJ' status aside from a couple of great games vs. Detroit last year. The refs give Lebron every single call and you can't breathe on him without a whistle.  Pierce has to get hacked "with no regard for human life" for him to get to the line, it seems. MJ got practically every call (way too many) in his heyday, but he earned that privilege, big time.  Lebron is still just a super talent with horrible form on his jumpshot who's looked pretty average this series, and downright mediocre against the Spurs last year.  Add to all this Lebron's soccer-style whiny flopping, his puzzling media darling status, and it's no wonder when every call goes for him some of us think: "Conspiracy!" (along with just plain old awful refs as usual).

[RockinRyA]

the c's have 2 crush the cavs to win this game

dont put the refs in the position 2 take over this one