Celtics draw dream ref assignments for Game 1

[Bahku]

If only they'd clean their gold-colored glasses off they'd see how incredibly anti-Celtic the officials have been all year ... why the heck would they change now?

If only you'd clean your green glasses off, you'd see how absurd this claim is.

Yup ... absolutely (wow!). So what's with the Robert Parrish avatar? (You're obviously not a Celtic fan). Anyway ... I've got this bridge I'm selling ...

[Section 87]

(You're obviously not a Celtic fan).

No only patently untrue, but a personal attack specifically prohibited by the forum's rules.

I just like to watch the game through CLEAR glasses, so I can enjoy it for the game itself, and I can't see any benefit to dwelling on officiating conspiracy theories. I agree with the consensus that the refs make a lot of mistakes. Far too many mistakes. But I haven't seen any real evidence of an anti-Celtics bias that hasn't been filtered through green glasses. Nothing that would stand out in comparison to similarly filtered opinions from the fans of every single team in the league.

Green glasses have their place. I used to love to listen to Johnny Most call the games. But I always tried to watch them on TV at the same time, so I'd know what really happened.

[crownsy]

lol thats not really a personal attack...

but, i digress, and i agree with you, i don't think it's a "bias" i agree (ulch throw up a little in my mouth  ) with lakerlanny, its a combination of refs who are to old to keep up with the action, officals who have personal interst in certain players, and that officals tend to call what they think happened, not what happened.

This screws teams that go for the block/steal (celtics and lakers) and rewards teams that play the "hope you miss, im not risking a foul" defenseses.

the better defense generaly still wins of course, but thats why you see so many calls on good defensive clubs, the refs call contact for the offensive player (espically superstars) when they don't really know what happened.

[pslakerfan]

Bavetta, Foster, Ed F. Rush

Of the three playoff games the Lakers have lost, Ed F. Rush has been "officiating" in 2 of them and Bavetta in the other.

Looks like the league is going to do everything possible to gift the Celtics Game 1, no surprise as they want it to go as many games as possible and it is clear with a neutral playing field the Celtics are overmatched against a dominant LA squad.

No excuses if you lose tomorrow, looks like LA is going to have to overcome more NBA fix attempts just like Games 4 and 5 vs San Antonio.

"like game 4 in San Antonio."

Good luck tonight.  I'm not even touching that one.

-sw

I will assume you didn't watch the game because other than the last play (bad no-call of course) the Lakers got screwed on almost every other call.  It wouldn't have been close otherwise.

[Bahku]

(You're obviously not a Celtic fan).

No only patently untrue, but a personal attack specifically prohibited by the forum's rules.

I just like to watch the game through CLEAR glasses, so I can enjoy it for the game itself, and I can't see any benefit to dwelling on officiating conspiracy theories. I agree with the consensus that the refs make a lot of mistakes. Far too many mistakes. But I haven't seen any real evidence of an anti-Celtics bias that hasn't been filtered through green glasses. Nothing that would stand out in comparison to similarly filtered opinions from the fans of every single team in the league.

Green glasses have their place. I used to love to listen to Johnny Most call the games. But I always tried to watch them on TV at the same time, so I'd know what really happened.

A personal attack?!? How the heck do you get that? I've never attacked anyone here personally or any other way, and most who know me here know that. How is assuming you're a Laker fan from your statement a personal attack? If so, then the "green-colored glasses" remark is as much so, and you calling my initial comment, (to a Laker fan, by the way, not you), "absurd" was certainly not benign by any means.

If you think the officials have been completely fair to us this year, especially in the playoffs, that's fine ... that's your opinion, but please don't tell me I'm not entitled to mine, or twist my statement to feign an "attack". Man, I was just assuming from your comment that you were a Laker fan, and I think most people would have done so in the same situation. It wasn't remotely an attack or anything close. The officiating this year has been horrendous, and that's a fact. Lakers fans using the refs to make excuses if they lose tonight is wrong, and I took exception to it.

Anyway ... sorry you took what I said as an attack ... that's way off from the intent of my post, and I think that's fairly easy to glean from how I phrased the statement. I honestly couldn't believe a Celtic fan would say that in the first place, but like I said, that's your opinion ... I just don't agree ... at all. Thought we were all on the same team here ... TP anyway, because I'm not up for arguing with C's fans today ... I've had enough discourse from the trolls. Peace.

[Chris]

OK OK, lets keep it from getting too personal here. 

Anyways, I have to agree with 87 here.  The refs have not been against the C's.  The refs are just incompetent.  Every single team in the league could make a strong argument that the refs are against them, but in reality, they are not against anyone...they just suck at their jobs (and yes, there are some competent ones, but when the NBA starts putting some of the least competent ones on some of the biggest games, it makes me even question that).

The only exception I would make to this is Bennett Salvatore.  After game 6, I can't help but wonder if he is in fact on the take...but admittedly, that is being motivated by my Celtics "fanboy" side.

[mlzybaby]

As long as we see as little of kenny mauer as possible I think we will be golden. THat guy does nothing but give crappy calls toward the celts.

[Bahku]

As long as we see as little of kenny mauer as possible I think we will be golden. THat guy does nothing but give crappy calls toward the celts.

 ... and Bennett Salvatore, and Joey Crawford, and Violet Palmer, and Eddie F. Rush, etc. I'd love for Tommy to stop by and have a chat with those who feel there's absolutely no anti-Celtic bias within the officiating ranks ... maybe some of the C's as well ... they have a bit of a different take on it. I've been watching the Celtics for over 40 years, I've seen the changes and the progression of officiating in the NBA, and it amazes me that anyone can think that the refs are completely objective all the time ... sorry, but that's not remotely the truth.

[crownsy]

As long as we see as little of kenny mauer as possible I think we will be golden. THat guy does nothing but give crappy calls toward the celts.

 ... and Bennett Salvatore, and Joey Crawford, and Violet Palmer, and Eddie F. Rush, etc. I'd love for Tommy to stop by and have a chat with those who feel there's absolutely no anti-Celtic bias within the officiating ranks ... maybe some of the C's as well ... they have a bit of a different take on it. I've been watching the Celtics for over 40 years, I've seen the changes and the progression of officiating in the NBA, and it amazes me that anyone can think that the refs are completely objective all the time ... sorry, but that's not remotely the truth.

I don't think thier objective, they give calls to stars, but i don't think there's a bias

i watch plenty of thursday night b-ball when our boys aren't on, and in every game, the officals are horrid.

the incompatance of the NBA officals is the problem, not some vast conspiracy against certain teams.

[PerkinsERA43]

i have no reason to believe that this crew hates the lakers lakers fan is probably telling the truth but i also know they hate the celtics. I dont trust this crew. This is the type of game where both teams are going to get rotten calls and both coaches and players will be complaining all night

Boston is 3-1 in the playoffs with Ed F. Rush and now he does a 5th Celtics game already in the playoffs?  Unheard of.

Boston is 2-1 in the playoffs with Bavetta and 1-1 with Foster.

Meanwhile, of the Lakers three playoff losses, two featured Ed F. Rush (and I can bet what the F stands for) including an infamous Game 4 in Utah that went into OT despite Utah having a 45-25 FT attempt advantage.

The other playoff loss saw Dick Bavetta on the court.

These officiating assignments were no accident and the statistical trend would be clearly in the Celtics favor with this crew, obviously.

alright Lanny, here it is:

The Lakers are FAVORED by the refs. I know you'd love it to be different, so you could feel like your beloved lakers "persevered" through incredible challenges, and that they managed to win against all odds, buuuuut since they played weaker competition than the celtics, were handed game 4 of the Spurs series (OH! but, but the OTHER calls! The OTHER calls!  ), and got the benefit of the doubt in pretty much every game they played, the reality is that they didn't persevere. The celtics are only team getting utterly shafted (except maybe San Antonio) in this year's playoffs. Read this article and learn, Lanny. Learn. http://celtics.bostonsportsmedia.com/have-the-officals-been-short-changing-the-celtics/

[sns0274]

This subject has been beaten to death this entire year. There are no fans that don't think that the officials are against them!!

Fact of the matter is that the officiating has been horrid, inconsistent and is responsible for completely diffusing the flow of the games. The refs now believe that they are bigger than the game and will do just about anything to prove that point.

Fact is, what is called on one end, is not called on the other, fact is that a T on one player is called much tighter than on another. Fact is, they have completely swallowed their whistles on violations such as traveling, 3 seconds and palming.

The league needs to address this issue, but refuse to fearing it will be a detriment to the league as a whole, when the fact is, they are cheapening the game and hearing cries of favoritism and rigging.

I am asking for nothing more than consistency and the cries of favoritism, rigging and superstar bias will not stop until they decide to do something about it.For you Laker fans crying bias, I would suggest you look at the free throw disparity in the Atlanta  Boston series, when you look at it, you will see why this series went 7 games.

[bandonox]

Game 4 that everyone complained about the Barry call was a ridiculously slanted game IN FAVOR of San Antonio by the officials, it was an obvious attempted fix job.

An obvious attempted fix job, but when the officials had the perfect opportunity to call an obvious foul, they swallowed their whistles...  why, exactly?  If this was an "attempted fix job", that foul on the last play of regulation would have, you know, been a decent time to call something.



At least Lakers fans are as ridiculous complaining about the refs as everyone else.  Here's a hint: most refs aren't biased towards one team or the other.  They're just incompetent.

TP for you, benevolent mod staff....

[Bahku]

As long as we see as little of kenny mauer as possible I think we will be golden. THat guy does nothing but give crappy calls toward the celts.

 ... and Bennett Salvatore, and Joey Crawford, and Violet Palmer, and Eddie F. Rush, etc. I'd love for Tommy to stop by and have a chat with those who feel there's absolutely no anti-Celtic bias within the officiating ranks ... maybe some of the C's as well ... they have a bit of a different take on it. I've been watching the Celtics for over 40 years, I've seen the changes and the progression of officiating in the NBA, and it amazes me that anyone can think that the refs are completely objective all the time ... sorry, but that's not remotely the truth.

I don't think thier objective, they give calls to stars, but i don't think there's a bias

i watch plenty of thursday night b-ball when our boys aren't on, and in every game, the officals are horrid.

the incompatance of the NBA officals is the problem, not some vast conspiracy against certain teams.

I never said there was a "vast conspiracy", I said they aren't objective all the time, they make horrendous calls, and that some of them don't like the C's and favor opposing teams ... and that's the truth. Check the amazing foul discrepencies in many of the Celtic's games this year if you think they're completely objective toward them ... it's terrible.

I'm sorry, but those who think that none of them have any agendas beyond calling a "fair" game are a bit naive' ... and to think back to some of the more egregious calls made against us this year, it's hard to think that Celtic fans would make excuses for them.

To think that they're all just "horrible" officials is a bit ridiculous ... most of these guys have been doing this job for years and years, don't you think it's a bit strange that they become bad refs all of a sudden? Doesn't it make more sense that there's something else going on here?

These guys know what they're doing, and saying they're all just "bad" now is kind of short-sighted, I feel. These veteran officials have been doing this a long time, and yet this year they all just happen to be worse than usual ... it makes no sense whatsoever. One of these guys was just recently fired because he bet on games ... do you honestly think he's the only one who's capable of leaning in favor of one team or another? I just don't buy it ... not for a second.

I think there are some very good refs, and I think some are just plain lousy, but honest. But I also think there's a few who have other motives besides objectivity and integrity, and who hate the Celtics for one reason or another, and it has affected games this year ... absolutely.

[Brickowski]

Ed F. Rush isn't anyone's "dream assignment."

Will the officials let them play or call every little thing?  The former favors the Celtics, the latter the Lakers.  That's the real question.  Bavetta is a good official, although a notch below Joey Crawford.  The other two are suspect, although (as others have noted) they are both better than Kenny Maurer, who officiates with a chip on his shoulder.

[BrickJames]

The Celtics will LOSE tonight, and STILL win the series in 6 games.

You heard it here first.