Bennet Salvatore should be done!!!

[timpiker]

The NBA and their refs are crooked.

[Fan from VT]

That game was utterly and completely out of hand in the third quarter. I'm glad the celtics kept their poise and the refs got their act together a bit in the 4th.

I have to say, after years of watching players like reggie miller, kobe, billups, but especially jason kidd do the exact same move as pierce did and always get foul shots, I understand and have to concede that it was a travel. My problem, however, is that it is NEVER called that way, ESPECIALLY when Pierce's upfake-draw contact wasn't even that exaggerated. I'm sure we can all picture kidd's ridiculous full sideways jumps into players standing still. so i understand that it was technically a travel. but you can't just start enforcing that call in game 6 of the ECF, and enforcing it arbitrarily (how many times did billups draw a foul or at least a no-call on exact same plays?). I support the league in making that move a travel, but they need to announce it as a point of emphasis prior to pre-season, so everyone is forewarned and on the same page. Consistency is the only important thing among NBA refs, and Salvotatore was single-handedly degrading the game into arbitrariness.

[Birdbrain]

I'll concur maybe a travel, although it's never called that way but, an offensive foul?  Are you kidding me?  Just to piggyback on previous posters Paul keeping his cool was admirable to say the least.  I would gotten a  triple technical for what I did when Bennett made that call.

[RebusRankin]

Bennet should have been fired this morning. I am waiting for an apology from the NBA.

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

KG's 4th foul and the one on Pierce's 3 were just ridiculous.  When have you EVER seen that call on Pierce be a foul??

Dust in the wind now...BUT MAN!

Dust in the wind indeed

Go C's!

Beat L.A.!

[The MadLad]

agreed! and so should bavetta. it seems to be that the older refs are really pushing the "hidden agenda" of the league.

the calls that have been made or not made in these playoffs are horrible. both for and against the celts. but im all done. im tapping out. i have to complain about the officials because i love the sport and they (and david stern) are ruining it. sometimes i need to vent and get this off my chest, so i would give my 2cents.
but im all done. complaining about the refs is like banging my head against a wall. i have come to accept that this league is what it is. corrupt, inconsistent, and run by business men who act more like pimps to our beloved sport than unbiased regulators of this league.

[mlzybaby]

I wanted to start a thread the other day bashing Kenny Mauer. I think everytime he officiates he has it in for the celtics. I think he is by far worse than Salvatore.

[BrickJames]

Bennet should have been fired this morning. I am waiting for an apology from the NBA.

Exactly.

I don't know about "fired" - there's a lot that goes into building an NBA-quality referee - Rasheed Wallace wants to tell you all about it at every opportunity.  He won't be fired, and I'm not sure he should be.  (Why single him out?  Because he made a bad call against the Celtics?)

Mike Wilbon called that botched offensive foul/4 point play "the worst call I've ever seen" - he might be right.  The league sent the precedent the other day of making post-game commentary on the officiating of crucial plays.  Had we lost the game, I would expect an apology.

Either way, that play changing the game.  It energized the players and Pierce stayed true.  Yeah, hitting the shot helped, but for Pierce to retain his focus (like in his commercial) and lead the team to close out the game was amazing.

Great game, great entertainment.  God bless and good night.

Celtics in 6.

[BballTim]

  Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but there was a play before the Pierce incident where Detroit took a shot and Rondo was getting ready to go for the rebound when he just about went flying off the court after getting bumped/shoved from behind. I knew we were in trouble (ref wise) when that wasn't called.

[CoachBo]

agreed! and so should bavetta. it seems to be that the older refs are really pushing the "hidden agenda" of the league.

the calls that have been made or not made in these playoffs are horrible. both for and against the celts. but im all done. im tapping out. i have to complain about the officials because i love the sport and they (and david stern) are ruining it. sometimes i need to vent and get this off my chest, so i would give my 2cents.
but im all done. complaining about the refs is like banging my head against a wall. i have come to accept that this league is what it is. corrupt, inconsistent, and run by business men who act more like pimps to our beloved sport than unbiased regulators of this league.

TP. It's fruitless because the league doesn't care about the hideous quality of its officiating.

With that said, there is no acceptable reason for Salvatore to officiate a game in the Finals. He's unfit to work any Finals game.

And I agree about Kenny Mauer, too. He's right there with Salvatore as a hot dog who tries to take over a game.

[Redz]

Bennet should have been fired this morning. I am waiting for an apology from the NBA.

Exactly.

I don't know about "fired" - there's a lot that goes into building an NBA-quality referee - Rasheed Wallace wants to tell you all about it at every opportunity.  He won't be fired, and I'm not sure he should be.  (Why single him out?  Because he made a bad call against the Celtics?)

Mike Wilbon called that botched offensive foul/4 point play "the worst call I've ever seen" - he might be right.  The league sent the precedent the other day of making post-game commentary on the officiating of crucial plays.  Had we lost the game, I would expect an apology.

Either way, that play changing the game.  It energized the players and Pierce stayed true. Yeah, hitting the shot helped, but for Pierce to retain his focus (like in his commercial) and lead the team to close out the game was amazing.

Great game, great entertainment.  God bless and good night.

Celtics in 6.

Yup.  TP Brick.  This was Pierce's finest hour.  You can point to Game 7 vs. Cleveland as his finest hour and I wouldn't argue with you, but that was a pro-active ting.  He was shooting the lights out.

Last night he kept his cool all game and led by example.  He was in complete control, and his poise calmed the team down when they were in a position to fall apart.

ohh...and Salvatore's call was the worst ever.  When have you EVER seen that called?  Billups creates more contact on 2/3rds of the shots he takes.  Just ridiculous.

[RebusRankin]

Envision this commercial:

Sprewell getting a to versus Miami when he never called one while falling out of bounds, Bibby's nose getting broken by Kobe and Bibby getting the foul, Wade's questionable fts at the end of game five and finally Paul's offensive foul last night. It closes with a picture if Bennett and the caption: Where credibility doesn't happen.

[ReadyFor17]

I'm not sure there's a hidden agenda amongst NBA officials so much as the fact that their bad habits have been reinforced for too long - giving in to the home crowd, being too quick with the T, not knowing when to swallow the whistle, etc...it has only been recently that there has been at least some accountability. Last season's Joey Crawford/Duncan incident is the only time I can recall an official actually getting punished and every now and then the NBA will step forward and say a call was wrong, but for years the NBA has had their back no matter what and if someone complains they get fined.

The problem probably isn't gambling, it's just bad officiating.  Really bad officiating. I'd like to see a completely fresh set of officials in the NBA. Mauer, Salvatore, Rush, Bavetta...these guys have been pulling this crap for too long and the league needs new blood. The NBA can't keep making these guys think they're infallible because that's when they start doing stuff like betting on games. If the level of officiating every game is so poor, who will notice if a ref is influencing a bunch of games here and there?

Oh well, can't wait until the NBA rolls out it's game 3 crew in LA of Salvatore, Palmer and Mauer.

[kevingamble34]

That was the single worst call ever.  That whole third quarter was atrocious.

What cracks me up is how after a phantom offensive foul call (where it was a possible 4-point play), where you've basically been bailed out by the refs, the PA guy says "DEE-Troit Basketball"

So what they're saying is that constantly getting bailed out by the refs making monumentally horrible and one-sided calls is "Dee-troit Basketball?"  When I watch the games sometimes my answer is yes.

I am soooo glad we beat the Pistons.  They totally play the referee game all the time (they shoot open jumpshots well, but that is the only kudos I have for them). 

Pistons mantra: foul 100% of the time, make the refs call %50 of them.  Whine, flop, clutch and grab and force the other team to retaliate to your fouling.  Complain ceaselessly and publicly to the refs in the media even though your team gets every call (Sheed) instead of shutting up and playing like a man (Pierce, Celts).  The Pistons are the worst kind of hacks -- whiny hacks.  I am so glad we beat them playing real hones-to-goodness basketball, not that lawyer-ball they play!

The NBA needs to completely re-think how they call the games.  So many off-the-ball fouls that should be no-calls... so many 50/50 calls with blocking/charging... when the refs try to call every little thing it ruins the flow of the game.  If it doesn't really affect the play, let it go, refs.  And enough with the star treatment.  Lebron gets so many calls, and he flops so much!  When the refs are one-sided it is terrible for the game, but when the refs allow all that flopping and cave in to it, it is just sad.

Heard they were going to fine floppers next year!  Finally.  Andy Verajao, Rip Hamilton, Manu Ginobli, and King James, please get your checkbooks ready!

[fairweatherfan]

Bennet should have been fired this morning. I am waiting for an apology from the NBA.

Exactly.

I don't know about "fired" - there's a lot that goes into building an NBA-quality referee - Rasheed Wallace wants to tell you all about it at every opportunity.  He won't be fired, and I'm not sure he should be.  (Why single him out?  Because he made a bad call against the Celtics?)

Mike Wilbon called that botched offensive foul/4 point play "the worst call I've ever seen" - he might be right.  The league sent the precedent the other day of making post-game commentary on the officiating of crucial plays.  Had we lost the game, I would expect an apology.

Either way, that play changing the game.  It energized the players and Pierce stayed true. Yeah, hitting the shot helped, but for Pierce to retain his focus (like in his commercial) and lead the team to close out the game was amazing.

Great game, great entertainment.  God bless and good night.

Celtics in 6.

Yup.  TP Brick.  This was Pierce's finest hour.  You can point to Game 7 vs. Cleveland as his finest hour and I wouldn't argue with you, but that was a pro-active ting.  He was shooting the lights out.

Last night he kept his cool all game and led by example.  He was in complete control, and his poise calmed the team down when they were in a position to fall apart.

ohh...and Salvatore's call was the worst ever.  When have you EVER seen that called?  Billups creates more contact on 2/3rds of the shots he takes.  Just ridiculous.

The only thing that MIGHT have partly made up for that call is if they called the same thing on Billups when he leaned into Posey for his 3-pt play with 2:30 left in the 4th.  If they called it the other way, it's still a ridiculous call with little to no justification in the rulebook, and one that's never called, but at least they would have called it both ways.  Of course, he didn't - I'm still pretty angry over that call, I rarely feel like a game is being stolen (often feel like refs are impeding our chances, but never stealing it), but I really felt that way for a few bleak minutes last night.  Thank god the boys stepped up, in many ways that Pierce call was a turning point psychologically for the team, they seemed to step their intensity up immediately afterward.