Dwight suspension?

[wdleehi]

Why wasn't this play reviewed by the officiating crew? Or does the flagrant foul video review not apply in the playoffs?!

I remember this from another game.


Only Flagrant 2 are reviewable.  Official will call those if they want a replay, and then, after the replay, reduce it to a Flagrant 1.

[the_Bird]

I'm calling it a flagrant 1 1/2.

I was happy to see Pierce and the C's maintain their composure; Dwight was frustrated, but they kept their cool and didn't do anything stupid.  I'm wondering, though, if the refs might have called it a Flagrant 2 had Pierce reacted differently. 

And yes, I've been watching the C's long enough to know that if it was Perk laying that foul on Vince Carter, Perk would have been ejected immediately.  His reputation is such that he absolutely gets held to a different standard.  We've seen Perk get tossed before for very similar plays. 

[nickagneta]

I thought it clearly a flagrant 2 as he didn't make a move whatsoever at the ball and compounded it by throwing him to the ground.

That said, the league will not suspend him for it. They will stick with the flagrant 1 call and let it pass.

[BballTim]

The Ref's called the game very fairly in our favor tonight. If you look at the game and forget how many fouls each team had at the end you will see that the Magic had more Key plays influenced by the ref's than the Celtics had.

  If the refs call fouls on Perk that they don't call on Howard they can influence a game for 10 minutes with one blow of the whistle. How many key plays happened with Perk on the bench and Dwight in the game?

[Brendan]

Won't be suspended IMO. Shouldn't be suspended over that foul. Suspension should be fighting etc. A flagrant foul is a stiff penalty in a tight game in and of itself. (It should have been four fouls and the ball, with Pietrus committing an epic hack himself.)

[FLCeltsFan]

After thinking about it.  Remember Rafer Alston's little smack to the back of Eddie House's head?  He was suspended for THAT!  If they are to be consistent,  they have to review it and suspend.  We all know how consistent the league is though.   And yes, if Perk had done that, he would have been tossed immediately and suspended the next game. KG did way less than that for his suspension. 

[reggie35]

Won't be suspended IMO. Shouldn't be suspended over that foul. Suspension should be fighting etc. A flagrant foul is a stiff penalty in a tight game in and of itself. (It should have been four fouls and the ball, with Pietrus committing an epic hack himself.)

Suspension shouldn't just be for fighting. I wouldn't call what KG did to Richardson fighting, but it was an act of aggression.

They won't suspend Howard because they'll say he was making a basketball play. We all know what he was really doing. If you watch the replay, he doesn't even dare look at Pierce. This is probably his way of justifying throwing a punch at a guy.

Howard is a dirty player. All smiles, but then throws cheap shots.

[Roy Hobbs]

After thinking about it.  Remember Rafer Alston's little smack to the back of Eddie House's head?  He was suspended for THAT!  If they are to be consistent,  they have to review it and suspend.  We all know how consistent the league is though.   And yes, if Perk had done that, he would have been tossed immediately and suspended the next game. KG did way less than that for his suspension. 

I think the difference is that Alston's (and this year, KG's) plays were done outside of play, while Howard's foul was a basketball play.  It's more equivalent to Rondo's blow to Brad Miller's head last year (which was full-blown swing, and wasn't a play on the ball), which didn't warrant a suspension (or strangely, even a flagrant foul.)

[dooyork]

That was a straight up, textbook definition of a flagrant one. That is why they have the option to call a flagrant one or a flagrant two. A hard playoff foul that goes as a flagrant one. As a basketball fan I'll be upset if they review it and suspend Howard. I don't want to be an NBA fan where that foul gets you suspended.

As I said in the game thread, you can't compare that to KG on Q-Rich. The league looks at basketball plays and non-basketball plays differently. KG's elbow was in a scrum. They view an elbow as equal to a punch. He didn't get a flagrant or anything, he got T'd up and tossed. Totally different and different situations. If anything the Howard play is closer to Rondo/Brad Miller, a play on which a flagrant wasn't even assessed.

Paul Pierce in his postgame press conference said himself it was a hard playoff foul, no one deserved to be ejected for that. I'll take his opinion as the man who got hit as holding some weight.

I think you changed my mind with this post!  I was thinking that Howard deserved a suspension but would certainly not get one because the league doesn't want to make it even easier for the Cs to go up 3-0.  But you're right, it was a basketball play instead of a scrum.  I think it looked worse than it was because PP got fouled hard twice on the same play.  If you ignore Pietrus's hit and just look at what Howard did, it's a flagrant one, but no suspension.

[Brendan]

Won't be suspended IMO. Shouldn't be suspended over that foul. Suspension should be fighting etc. A flagrant foul is a stiff penalty in a tight game in and of itself. (It should have been four fouls and the ball, with Pietrus committing an epic hack himself.)

Suspension shouldn't just be for fighting. I wouldn't call what KG did to Richardson fighting, but it was an act of aggression.

They won't suspend Howard because they'll say he was making a basketball play. We all know what he was really doing. If you watch the replay, he doesn't even dare look at Pierce. This is probably his way of justifying throwing a punch at a guy.

Howard is a dirty player. All smiles, but then throws cheap shots.

I'd call those things fighting, throwing bows in a scrum = fighting.

Going after someone with intent to injure during the game fighting.

Dwight's foul was getting frustrated and losing control, but I don't think you can know that it was fighting - its not like a clothesline.

[ibby]

I actually liked the play, because it caused the refs to tighten up the game.  Without that foul the Celtics may have lost a very rough game, and lost a few players (I'm looking at you Perkins) to suspensions from later flagrants or fights.

On another note, this is the first game that I've seen where the officiating seemed to be skewed in the Celtics favor.

[fairweatherfan]

On another note, this is the first game that I've seen where the officiating seemed to be skewed in the Celtics favor.

I agree overall - we had some bad calls go our way.  Baby in particular got 2 charges on Orlando guys where he slid under them after they jumped.  The Nelson (?) play was close, but the Redick one was pretty blatant.  Howard also got his 4th on Pierce when he got all ball. 

I think the obvious lesson is that David Stern is actively forcing a Celtics-Lakers Finals so he can get better ratings 

[angryguy77]

On another note, this is the first game that I've seen where the officiating seemed to be skewed in the Celtics favor.

I agree overall - we had some bad calls go our way.  Baby in particular got 2 charges on Orlando guys where he slid under them after they jumped.  The Nelson (?) play was close, but the Redick one was pretty blatant.  Howard also got his 4th on Pierce when he got all ball. 

I think the obvious lesson is that David Stern is actively forcing a Celtics-Lakers Finals so he can get better ratings 

Yes we did get some calls to go our way. But I don't think these were horrible calls, except for the 4th on DW. He was jobbed on that one I will admit. But we had some bogus calls go against us as well. I think the non 3 second calls on Howard kind of even things out. He should pitch a tent and make smores with the amount of time he's allowed to sit in the paint.


The Magic also had more FT than we did. I don't believe the refs caused the Magic to lose. This is a far cry from the first 3 games against the Cavs.

[nickagneta]

On another note, this is the first game that I've seen where the officiating seemed to be skewed in the Celtics favor.

I agree overall - we had some bad calls go our way.  Baby in particular got 2 charges on Orlando guys where he slid under them after they jumped.  The Nelson (?) play was close, but the Redick one was pretty blatant.  Howard also got his 4th on Pierce when he got all ball. 

I think the obvious lesson is that David Stern is actively forcing a Celtics-Lakers Finals so he can get better ratings 

Yes we did get some calls to go our way. But I don't think these were horrible calls, except for the 4th on DW. He was jobbed on that one I will admit. But we had some bogus calls go against us as well. I think the non 3 second calls on Howard kind of even things out. He should pitch a tent and make smores with the amount of time he's allowed to sit in the paint.


The Magic also had more FT than we did. I don't believe the refs caused the Magic to lose. This is a far cry from the first 3 games against the Cavs.

And let's not forget the blatant moving picks he sets on his high post pick and rolls. They are some of the most obvious moving pick violations done in the game and they barely get called.

[incoherent]

From Pierce:

"It was a good foul, man," said Pierce. "A playoff foul. It didn't warrant an ejection. When you get to the hole in the playoffs, you have to expect hard fouls. It's going both ways. You look up, we got 29 personal fouls, they got 25. So you have to expect it to be physical. That's about it. Keep taking your lumps and keep your composure and keep moving on. It's that type of game."