WOW, The big Fix in game one.

[PierceMVP08]

Umm, not to be a downer or anything.  I watched every minute of that game, and i thought the celtics really played poorly down the stretch.  They settled for long jumpers, left Lebron WIDE open on that killer three, Perk just let Shaq do watever he wanted down the stretch.  I really didnt' feel at all that the refs cost the celts.  In fact, i expected to come on here and see a thread that talked about the celtics getting a fair shake tonight.... oh well.

[freshinthehouse]

There used to a time when NBA fans where some of the most knowledgeable, objective fans out there.  But these last few years people have decided to stop actually understanding the game and just blame everything on the refs.  It's sad.  When I think of people that continually blame things on officiating, I think of some knucklehead at his kid's basketball game.  He has no idea how the game works, and to make up for it he hollers at the refs after every call, hoping that will make it appear that he has a sniff about whats going on.  I also think it's a part of our society.  When things don't go your team's way, it's not your team's fault.   It's those darn refs!  Yeah, that's the ticket!  Who needs personal responsibility?  I can just blame all my problems on others!

[ACF]

This is exactly how I feel. People on here are saying that we are making excuses and that the C's lost this game themselves because they choked, or that they sucked in this game. But people fail to see that, going to the post, and rebounding, and stealing that Rondo usually does, is harder when the refs pile on fouls on the whole starting lineup. How did almost everyone who played end up having at least two or more fouls? With them being in foul trouble?

I was at work and missed the game. I had to get the game recorded on my DVR. And I was frustrated to see that Mo and LBJ were able to go to the post so easily. I know our D is not that bad. But then I saw that the people who were allowing the Cavs to score so easily in the paint, were the ones in foul trouble. You can't effectively defend, when you are put in foul trouble, and know that touching LBJ will insue a foul call..

So to those who say the C's just outright sucked, you got it wrong. They were bounded by the foul trouble they were put in so early by the refs. And every decision they made, they had to do it with the foul trouble on their minds... And with that, they couldn't be as effective, and actually get shots in, and go to the paint more often...

My thoughts exactly, TP. Now that I've settled down a bit, yeah, we probably kind of choked but still, I hate it when the refs get to play a huge part in this. You were spot on with the Rondo thing. The zebras should just let the darn players play, don't nurse the Cavs, for crying out loud.

That being said, I've now got it all out of my system. Monday will be the biggest test for the Big Three (or Four, as it were). We lose, it's all over. The era, the window, this team as we know it. Please don't let the refs give us more reasons to complain.

[Bahku]

I think some of us are getting sold short here ... if you read my posts, (and the majority of others who are critical of the officiating here), you'll find that I state very clearly that the refs did NOT cost the Celtics this game, and that despite the inbalance, they lost because of the lack of continuing pressure in the second half, the sloppy passes and careless turnovers, the lack of bench contributions, missed lay-ups, etc..

Having said that, people see a post like mine where I'm critical of the officiating, and all they see is that ... nothing else, (or else that's all that matters to them). Please give us at least some credit for our knowledge of the game and being able to tell the difference between fair officiating and the opposite, (despite our inferred paralyzing biases).

But I don't understand how anyone can think the refs are always blameless, or somehow above reproach, when they watch someone like LeBron in the game tonight, who handles the ball more than anyone, scores more points than anyone, and is in the center of the action more than anyone, coming away with only one foul or less every game!

And this "Well, it's just an excuse" stuff is absurd ... of course it's an excuse! Any reason why a team loses a game is an "excuse" ... poor shooting, sloppy passes, bad communication, bad coaching, whatever ... all these reasons are "excuses" for why a team may lose, but for some reason it's not "allowed" to use officials as an excuse! Why not?!?

They're human, they're fallable, they make mistakes, they mess up, and, (God forbid I speak it out loud), they're also intentionally biased at times! Why shouldn't we or any team use them as an "excuse" if they're partly to blame? What's this animosity toward using the word "excuse" when applying blame? That's what the word is for. Get past it.

Officials are not above reproach, nor are they beyond suspicion or blame ... but some people, who will accept almost any other fallability as an "excuse" for a team losing a game, just can not mention the word when referencing NBA officials. I don't know what has created this phenomena, but there is this non-sensical "hands-off" policy when criticizing refs, and that's part of the reason why the level of their credibility has been dropping of late ... it needs to change, IMVHO.  

[dlpin]

Let me get something off my chest:

We are not playing. We don't know anyone who is playing. We don't talk to anyone who is playing.

Can we stop with the "we shouldn't make excuses, we should take responsibility, we should look at ourselves, we should overcome bad calls, etc. etc?"

Players shouldn't dwell on the officiating, but it's not like what we say here affects them.

We are fans. We don't need "toughen up" pep talks. We should be able to criticize refs. Whether or not there is a fix might be a questionable argument, and we will never know the truth. But in a game where the refs were instrumental in setting the outcome, what did you expect? Personally, I don't think there is a "fix," but I do think that the refs are instructed to let certain types of play go on to make the game more exciting.

Want an example of how at key points today the refs altered the outcome of the game?

3rd quarter, the Rondo offensive foul on Williams. That was clearly a bad call. Because of it, Rondo had to sit with 4 fouls 3 minutes later when he picked up another one. At that point it was 73-68 celtics. Had it been called correctly, it would mean that Williams would have picked up his 4th foul 3 minutes later and likely sat for a bit. This was after Mo WIlliams hot streak, but in the time Rondo sat Williams hit one jumper and 2 other jumpers of his led to offensive rebounds and points.

How about the sequence at the end of the 4th, where, with the celtics trailing by three, they didn't call an obvious bump by Lebron on Pierce and then let an Oneal basket where there was an obvious offensive goaltending count? 4 point swing right there.

And this without getting into the tick tack fouls on Rondo, Perkins and Tony Allen on offensive rebound plays.

Did the team have several problems down the stretch? Sure. But it is absolutely undeniable that if certain key calls were called correctly we'd win this game.

And before anyone accuses me of homerism, I have no problem admitting that last year against the bulls we had several questionable calls go our way.

[liam]

Let me get something off my chest:

We are not playing. We don't know anyone who is playing. We don't talk to anyone who is playing.

Can we stop with the "we shouldn't make excuses, we should take responsibility, we should look at ourselves, we should overcome bad calls, etc. etc?"

Players shouldn't dwell on the officiating, but it's not like what we say here affects them.

We are fans. We don't need "toughen up" pep talks. We should be able to criticize refs. Whether or not there is a fix might be a questionable argument, and we will never know the truth. But in a game where the refs were instrumental in setting the outcome, what did you expect? Personally, I don't think there is a "fix," but I do think that the refs are instructed to let certain types of play go on to make the game more exciting.

Want an example of how at key points today the refs altered the outcome of the game?

3rd quarter, the Rondo offensive foul on Williams. That was clearly a bad call. Because of it, Rondo had to sit with 4 fouls 3 minutes later when he picked up another one. At that point it was 73-68 celtics. Had it been called correctly, it would mean that Williams would have picked up his 4th foul 3 minutes later and likely sat for a bit. This was after Mo WIlliams hot streak, but in the time Rondo sat Williams hit one jumper and 2 other jumpers of his led to offensive rebounds and points.

How about the sequence at the end of the 4th, where, with the celtics trailing by three, they didn't call an obvious bump by Lebron on Pierce and then let an Oneal basket where there was an obvious offensive goaltending count? 4 point swing right there.

And this without getting into the tick tack fouls on Rondo, Perkins and Tony Allen on offensive rebound plays.

Did the team have several problems down the stretch? Sure. But it is absolutely undeniable that if certain key calls were called correctly we'd win this game.

And before anyone accuses me of homerism, I have no problem admitting that last year against the bulls we had several questionable calls go our way.

Good breakdown of bad calls.
TP

[dark_lord]

is any1 really surprised by this?  i think most people, even the celtics players anticipated that the cavs/lbj would get more favorable calls for them.

that being said, i think the officiating did stink, but i put the blame on the loss on the celts, not the refs.  cavs made adjustments at halftime and we didnt.  in the first half we were taking it to the hoop and were aggressive offensively.  second half we settled for jumpers.

like i said, i put the blame on the players for the loss.  but for anyone to claim that the poor officiating didnt have any impact at all is not being as objective as they claim.

[Brendan]

I think the big problem with the officiating is they called it inconsistent - things that were fouls in Q3 were play ons in Q4. The game was called really tight IMO for Q1-Q3.

The C's got in a lot of foul trouble cause of that - but the real problem was they stopped attacking in Q3 and CLE started.

[wdleehi]

Celtics stopped attacking.  

Probably because when the Cavs did foul, they put purpose behind it.




The only Celtic that did that was Wallace when (dumb play) had a turnover after a rebound and Lebron went right to the hoop.  Wallace put him on his rear.  It was the only 'playoff' foul for the night from the Celtics.  Therefor, the Cavs had no second thoughts about attacking.


Last night was the night to do the "playoff fouls" early.  Lebron was over protective of his shoulder.  



As for the officials, my issue was that unless it was a "playoff foul", they let the Cavs be more physical on defense more often.  A lot of slapping at the ball.  


Now, I like it when they let them play, but not when only one team is allowed to play.  



With that said, if the officials allow physical defense both ways, I like the Celtics chances.  I think Pierce is not going to be that cold for the whole series.  Just keep pounding the paint.  

[pearljammer10]

The thing is, you see this in every game. There are always bad calls in every game. The refs didnt loose the Celtics an 11 point lead. The Celtics did because they stopped giving the ball to Rondo and letting him command the game. Rondo did not have ONE field goal attempt in the 4th quarter. After being the main scoring option and they guy that was giving us the lead, we all of a sudden feel the need to play Pierce vs 5 basketball? They went away from Garnett in the post, which in the second quarter led us to SEVEN straight field goals. I feel like the Celtics intentionally threw this game because for three quarters they used a working game plan of Rondo driving and KG posting, they got an 11 point lead, but then when they needed to close out the game they stopped going to that?! You cant argue with the fact that they lost this games themselves.

Sure Rondo's offensive call was a bad call, but so was the call on Jamison when KG flopped backwards after they were fighting downlow. Thats simply a no call let the guys play. And who knows what would have happened with that Rondo charge, a three point play, maybe, but maybe instead of Williams getting hot LeBron would have gotten just as hot. This loss is 100% on the Celtics because their lack of effort and lack of sticking with the game plan lost it for them.

[jdpapa3]

As usual, the blame lies in the middle of the spectrum. And if the Cavs lost and the refs favored us, there'd be a few guys on their board saying "you can't blame the refs. Our first half was just so poor that we shouldn't have been down 18 points."

[indeedproceed]

Did the team have several problems down the stretch? Sure. But it is absolutely undeniable that if certain key calls were called correctly we'd win this game.

That kind of comment seems like a cop out to me. It is not undeniable we would've won. I don't even know if it is likely. If one call goes this way then another goes that way and ifs and maybes are infinite. I'm not even arguing that there were some bad calls, but lamenting how this call went this way and that call went that way is just as silly as me pretending that my "buck up team, stiff upper lips now" posts mean anything.

I know what did happen. The Celtics started settling for shots in the second half, their play slowed down despite the tempo from the cavs speeding up, and the shooting wasn't the greatest. The Celtics let this one get away, but luckily its only game one of possible 7.

[angryguy77]

Boston clearly didn't do themsleves any favors in the 4th qtr, but I don't think anyone can say that had the game been called evenly(or close to) they would have won. Yes they took a few too many j's, but when they did go to the rim, they were not getting the call. The sad this is I had severl beverages in me and I could see what was being missed-on both sides. How the refs couldn't is a mystery to me.

Refs will miss calls and they will make mistakes. But complaining about this particular game is a legit. However the refs can't steal the series, so it's on Boston to play through the garbage calls and win 4 games.

I just wonder if Kings fans were telling other fans during the 2002 playoffs that the team just needed to play better and don't blame refs?

[indeedproceed]

Boston clearly didn't do themsleves any favors in the 4th qtr, but I don't think anyone can say that had the game been called evenly(or close to) they would have won. Yes they took a few too many j's, but when they did go to the rim, they were not getting the call.

Refs will miss calls and they will make mistakes. But complaining about this particular game is a legit.

I just wonder if Kings fans were telling other fans during the 2002 playoffs that the team just needed to play better and don't blame refs?

What else could they say? Blame the refs and cry and moan all summer? Blaming the refs is like running on a treadmill....lots of moving around but you never get anywhere.

[angryguy77]

Boston clearly didn't do themsleves any favors in the 4th qtr, but I don't think anyone can say that had the game been called evenly(or close to) they would have won. Yes they took a few too many j's, but when they did go to the rim, they were not getting the call.

Refs will miss calls and they will make mistakes. But complaining about this particular game is a legit.

I just wonder if Kings fans were telling other fans during the 2002 playoffs that the team just needed to play better and don't blame refs?

What else could they say? Blame the refs and cry and moan all summer? Blaming the refs is like running on a treadmill....lots of moving around but you never get anywhere.

I'm talking about the first few hours after the game. I agree that you can't sit on it because there is another game for us to redeem ourselves. Don't mistake what I am saying, had Boston played better they would have won. They are capable of playing better and playing through bogus calls. It's just maddening when you see your team forced to play though lousy calls by the 3 bozo's on the court.