Celtics draw dream ref assignments for Game 1

[LakerLanny]

I predicted the officiating would be biased before the game once I saw who was assigned.

I was right.

Ed F. Rush blew his whistle TWICE in the entire game for the Lakers.  That's twice with a two.

Unreal, his first whistle for the Lakers came with 5 minutes left in the first half.  He called one for us in the 2nd half and that was it. Nothing else, nada, zip.

Don't even get me started on Bavetta and all the questionable touch fouls he called after the refs brought the Celtics back into the game by putting the Lakers out of fouls with 9 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

The only thing worse than Ed F. Rush (like I said, Lakers now 0-3 when he "officiates" and 12-1 with ANYONE else) was listening to Mike Breen homer so hard for the Celtics during the game.  It was like listening to Dougie Collins all over again, everything is "The Celtics need to do this" and "you can't let Fisher do that" never was it "The Lakers need to stop the Celtics from doing this" or anything else pertaining to the Lakers.

The East Coast bias is sickening. That game was a joke, I am putting the league on notice that we aren't standing for any more of that biased crap in Game 2.

[Bahku]

As predicted, Ed F. Rush was so biased it wasn't even funny.

Lakers now 0-3 in the playoffs when he "officiates" and 12-1 with anyone else.

Bavetta giving the Celtics every touch foul didn't help either.

Lakers now 1-2 with Bavetta in the playoffs and 11-2 with anyone else.

Lakers don't need a bunch of calls in their favor, just call the game evenly and let the players decide it.  Rush only blew his whistle TWICE in the entire game in favor of the Lakers, that is past ridiculous....it is clearly biased.

I won't even mention the 4 times the ball went out of bounds off Celtics but was incorrectly ruled to be off LA.  Oh wait, I just did.

So now the league has gifted your team one game with corrupt officiating, will that be the case for the whole series?  I wouldn't doubt it at this point.

Wow, I didn't mind you making the post beforehand, it was just your opinion, but this is the biggest crybaby response I've ever seen. I thought some posters were being too harsh on you saying you were "making excuses" for the loss before the game was even played, but I guess they were right.

As you can see, we can point out a number of situations where bad calls went against us too (the ones mentioned, plus Perk picking up his 4th foul and twisting his ankle when Derek Fisher fell into his legs following a missed free throw - that was a preposterous call). Bad calls happen a lot in NBA games, and they benefit both teams roughly equally. The commentators noted a couple of times on each side that a bad call was made, but it wasn't like every tough call went against the Lakers. It was even, and if you can't see that your team lost the game legitimately, I don't really know what to say to you. I heard a lot of Spurs fans after Game 4 saying "yeah, it was a bad call on the Barry play, but those things happen and we didn't deserve the win anyway." When Spurs fans can be more accountable than you, it's time to man up.

I respect Phil Jackson a lot as a coach but nobody in basketball complains more about officiating before, during and after games, and he didn't make any sort of deal about officiating. This post is a joke, an absolute joke. The Celtics outplayed the Lakers, plain and simple. Kobe missed a lot of shots, as did the other Lakers down the stretch (even though they were on fire in the first half). Your team lost it, they weren't robbed. These are going to be good, closely contested battles. I truly believe the better team will prevail on each given night. Last night it was the Celtics (in a game where, honestly, both teams looked a bit rusty and uncomfortable). If you can't accept that, go whine to other Laker fans. 

Yup ... I've seen this excuse over and over today, and it's a pretty sad way of covering their butts, especially when one considers that the officials made at least as many bad calls in the direction of the Celts.

Listen, the refs have been particularly bad this year, but they've been bad all around ... for evey team, and the mere fact that Laker fans take the time to come here and use them as an excuse is evidence enough for me that they're extremely worried after last night that maybe the C's are as good defensively as we've been saying.

So let them complain about the refs, and we'll complain about the refs, and the games will go on and be decided by the intensity of each team. Let them go down griping about the officials ... most people who are relatively intelligent and objective know what a weak, transparent excuse it is, and that the Lakers just plain got beat ... by a team that wasn't playing all that great themselves.

The truly sad thing is that they feel motivated to come here and show how pathetic they are by making such excuses, and that they should be blaming the lackluster play of their team. Even though we didn't play all that well, our defense still shut the Lakers down, and frustrated both Gasol and Bryant into making lame excuses after the game also.

Why wouldn't their fans gripe about ridiculous third-party reasons for their defeat? It's what their team does by example! So let them focus on their absurd complaints and excuses, and we'll keep focusing on the prize. Go Celtics!

[Roy Hobbs]

The only thing worse than Ed F. Rush (like I said, Lakers now 0-3 when he "officiates" and 12-1 with ANYONE else) was listening to Mike Breen homer so hard for the Celtics during the game.  It was like listening to Dougie Collins all over again, everything is "The Celtics need to do this" and "you can't let Fisher do that" never was it "The Lakers need to stop the Celtics from doing this" or anything else pertaining to the Lakers.

The East Coast bias is sickening.

Wow.  Just, wow.

So now the *media* favors the Celtics over the Lakers?

[wdleehi]

The only thing worse than Ed F. Rush (like I said, Lakers now 0-3 when he "officiates" and 12-1 with ANYONE else) was listening to Mike Breen homer so hard for the Celtics during the game.  It was like listening to Dougie Collins all over again, everything is "The Celtics need to do this" and "you can't let Fisher do that" never was it "The Lakers need to stop the Celtics from doing this" or anything else pertaining to the Lakers.

The East Coast bias is sickening.

Wow.  Just, wow.

So now the *media* favors the Celtics over the Lakers?

Of course.



Didn't you all those Pierce is the new jordon articles on ESPN.  This could be start of a new dynasty. 


And all day today, Kobe faked a bad game. 

[Chris]

The only thing worse than Ed F. Rush (like I said, Lakers now 0-3 when he "officiates" and 12-1 with ANYONE else) was listening to Mike Breen homer so hard for the Celtics during the game.  It was like listening to Dougie Collins all over again, everything is "The Celtics need to do this" and "you can't let Fisher do that" never was it "The Lakers need to stop the Celtics from doing this" or anything else pertaining to the Lakers.

The East Coast bias is sickening.

Wow.  Just, wow.

So now the *media* favors the Celtics over the Lakers?

Of course.



Didn't you all those Pierce is the new jordon articles on ESPN.  This could be start of a new dynasty. 


And all day today, Kobe faked a bad game. 

Clearly everyone picked the Lakers to win, just as a "reverse jinx"

[Donoghus]

The East Coast bias is sickening. That game was a joke, I am putting the league on notice that we aren't standing for any more of that biased crap in Game 2.

Really?  How are you going to do that?

Funny, been watching tons of media coverage as well as reading about the game today, and I'm not really finding much outrage regarding the officiating.

Find something else to harp on because the officiating is NOT the reason the Lakers lost last night.

[Brickowski]

I thought the officiating was decent-- not great, but decent.

[Redz]

East Coast RULES!  Yeh, BABY!  Refs love us! And Biggy's way better too.

[Bahku]

I see the Laker fans are in the first stages of grief: denial. Pretty pathetic.

[Donoghus]

East Coast RULES!  Yeh, BABY!  Refs love us! And Biggy's way better too.

Oh boy, Redz.  Don't open up that can of worms.   

[Mr October]

the officiating was OK. A couple botched calls, but OK overall. The Lakers lost because they were forced to just shoot jump shots, and didn't hustle to loose balls and rebounds. I think Fisher was the only Laker to ever hit the floor trying to get a loose ball.

[LakerLanny]

How in the world can the league justify assigning Ed F. Rush to 5 of the Celtics 21 playoff games?

He is essentially your own personal fixer ref on call to fix games for your team.  Bottom line is you are 4-1 with him there and 9-7 with anyone else in the playoffs.

And the Lakers are now 0-3 with him and 12-1 with anyone else.

But that is just "coincidence" and it was "random assignments" that had him in Boston for the critical Game 1 right?

The league had to get you that game to keep up viewing interest.  The crowd was so quiet at the end of the first half it seemed like mass suicide was on their minds as the Lakers played a subpar first half and still led by 5.  It was like "Oh no, we are way overmatched"

Stern must have put in a call because your squad got EVERY touch foul in the 2nd half.  And your personal lackey ref blew his whistle TWICE in the game for the Lakers, only on calls so obvious that he was essentially forced to.

Can you honestly refute any of my points? Why does Ed F. Rush get assigned to so many Boston playoff games and why can't you win consistently when he doesn't?

[Roy Hobbs]

The league had to get you that game to keep up viewing interest.  The crowd was so quiet at the end of the first half it seemed like mass suicide was on their minds as the Lakers played a subpar first half and still led by 5.  It was like "Oh no, we are way overmatched"

Ok, Lanny, comments like this come pretty close to the baiting / trolling line.  Fair warning.

[Redz]

East Coast RULES!  Yeh, BABY!  Refs love us! And Biggy's way better too.

Oh boy, Redz.  Don't open up that can of worms.   

Sorry, I just think the whole "East Coast bias" thing is laughable.  At least everything ended up ok for the rappers debating the merits of their coasts Us tough East Coast Bloggahs can hold our own.

[Bahku]

How in the world can the league justify assigning Ed F. Rush to 5 of the Celtics 21 playoff games?

He is essentially your own personal fixer ref on call to fix games for your team.  Bottom line is you are 4-1 with him there and 9-7 with anyone else in the playoffs.

And the Lakers are now 0-3 with him and 12-1 with anyone else.

But that is just "coincidence" and it was "random assignments" that had him in Boston for the critical Game 1 right?

The league had to get you that game to keep up viewing interest.  The crowd was so quiet at the end of the first half it seemed like mass suicide was on their minds as the Lakers played a subpar first half and still led by 5.  It was like "Oh no, we are way overmatched"

Stern must have put in a call because your squad got EVERY touch foul in the 2nd half.  And your personal lackey ref blew his whistle TWICE in the game for the Lakers, only on calls so obvious that he was essentially forced to.

Can you honestly refute any of my points? Why does Ed F. Rush get assigned to so many Boston playoff games and why can't you win consistently when he doesn't?

Respectfully,

Bahku