You never had a chance in game 4

[flosspick]

     For the record: I am a Lakers fan that pretty much despises your team. But I will not come on this blog and say anything derogatory about the Celtics.

     First and foremost is the following fact, there are only 4 combinations possible for the finals.

lakers v celtics
suns v celtics
lakers v orlando
suns v orlando

     Who do you think the NBA wants in the finals?  I knew they would be prolonging the conference finals by ensuring that no series sweeps, as the finals aren't scheduled to start until sometime around 10 June.  A couple of extra games will ensure a lot more time and money will flow into ABC, ESPN and TNT. 2 series sweeps and a long delay between games is bad for business.

     The one tool teams have no control over are the ref's and their bogus calls. I watched the OT last night, and I saw a player for the magic run under the basket, jump into your center while lobbing a sure to miss shot somewhere close to the rim. Even the announcers said it was a bogus call, but it was still a foul on the celtics. And in the Sunday night game in Phoenix, the lakers had 22 more fouls called on them than the the suns did. I don't think that is a coincidence.

     You could'nt win game 4 because you were playing 5 vs 8, and 3 of those 8 had whistles. I predict that the Magic win game 5 in Orlando (with ref assistance just like in game 4) and you win game 6 in front of a very loud home crowd and you get to play the lakers for the championship. It should be a good series, but I hope you don't mind if I say that I hope the Lakers win.

     Paul

     P.S. I intended no disrespect for the Celtics, if anything I wrote offended you please accept my sincere apology in advance

[LB3533]

I highly doubt the NBA is rigging which two teams will be in the Finals.

So extending the Conference Finals don't really mean squat.

Both the Lakers and the Celtics failed to close out their opponents.

A betting NBA fan will say the NBA wanted a Lakers/Cavs Finals for the all important Kobe VS Lebron matchup.

Those betting fans won't get that conspiracy.

[Birdbrain]

I appreciate the sentiment and there were a few awful calls (BBD being called for a foul on a clear block) but, they had a good shot of winning playing their C game.  So I'm not overly concerned and looking forward to playing LA in the finals.

There is some validity for Boston to extend the series to limit any rust.  Not that they tried to lose just that it could benefit them in the long run.

And no the NBA would want the C's vs Lakers no one really cares about LJ.  It's just that ESPN hasn't realized it.

[Edgar]

Other team fans are always welcome for civilized chat.

Its great to discuss diffferent point of wiews

[Reggie's Ghost]

End of the day players have to get stops and make shots when it counts, no matter what the refs are doing.  We didn't, let's hope we can keep our focus in Game 5...

[blackbird]

I can't accept that the games are rigged.

If you can believe that they are, how can you follow the games? Why bother getting emotionally involved in the outcome?

Because of that emotional involvement, I suppose it's natural to look for blame when the team loses, but the fatalism you've expressed in your post goes against everything I love about sports in general and basketball in particular.

[Roy Hobbs]

Honestly, I thought that the bad calls evened out.  There were some pretty bogus calls made against Orlando, too, and if anything, the officiating was in our favor early on.

However, in the second half -- especially in the fourth quarter and OT -- things definitely were going Orlando's way.

[Bahku]

The NBA or it's partners and officials are certainly not "rigging" games as such, as it would be illegal and pretty much spell the unravelling of the entire league. However, to think that they don't have a vested interest or preference as to the outcome of certain games and series, would be naive to say the least.

The amount of revenue lost from the extra games not played when a team sweeps a series is staggering, and while the league does not have the right or power to determine the outcome of such, there is without a doubt some instances where the officials will do what they can, (within the realm of close scrutiny), to lean a game or series in a preferred direction that is beneficial to them and their organization.

Great post and discussion topic, Flosspick, and despite being one of the "enemy", you'll find you're always welcome here while remaining as respectful as you have been in this post. However, despite my propensity for doling out Tommy Points, (as many here will attest to), I just can't seem to bring myself to do it in this instance ... maybe after we crush the Lakers in the Finals, I'll remember this thread and come back with a TP then. Hope you'll understand.

By the way, can you get your team to change the nauseating colors of their uniforms? It wreaks havoc with my cat's digestive health ... he likes to watch the bouncing ball, but every time the Lakers are playing, I end up with a pasty hairball staining my carpet, (can't really blame him). Thanks in advance!

[reggie35]

I can't accept that the games are rigged.

If you can believe that they are, how can you follow the games? Why bother getting emotionally involved in the outcome?

Because of that emotional involvement, I suppose it's natural to look for blame when the team loses, but the fatalism you've expressed in your post goes against everything I love about sports in general and basketball in particular.

I don't believe the games are rigged but, of all professional sports, the NBA does seem the most suspicious when it comes to officiating. Star players are called differently than role players. Plays are called differently at different points in the game. Ref assignment is not random. Disciplining of players is arbitrary. Finally, there are statistics that show definite biases in terms of NBA officiating. One particularly strong bias is favoritism towards a team facing elimination.

The NBA could do a lot to fix these issues and it does nothing. Time and time again, we've seen how money corrupts, why would a sports business be different? Until the NBA cleans up its act, you'll always have to wonder whether what you are watching is theater or not.

[PosImpos]

The Celtics played like crap. Rondo in particularly was much worse than his usual greatness.  They deserved to lose, and the Magic deserved to win.

As others have pointed out, the fact that the Celtics played as badly as they could while still trying and the Magic played their best game since the second round and it was still a very close game makes me feel fairly okay with the way things are going.

But the Celtics can't afford to pull this crap against the Lakers, especially not at home. 

[Edgar]

     For the record: I am a Celtics fan that pretty much despises your team.
But i will not say any derogatory towards them.

[jdpapa3]

Honestly, I thought that the bad calls evened out.  There were some pretty bogus calls made against Orlando, too, and if anything, the officiating was in our favor early on.

However, in the second half -- especially in the fourth quarter and OT -- things definitely were going Orlando's way.

Yep. And for the record, I'd much rather be the team getting the late calls than getting the early calls. There was a time where the Magic looked like they couldn't score and the ref put them on the board with that Glen Davis foul.

[Tai]

With all due respect, I find it laughable (no, not necessarily offensive) that you signed up here just to spew out a conspiracy theory.

And since you brought up your Lakers, if you're gonna complain about the FT disparity in Game 3, then explain to me how the Suns had 32-22 FT attempt advantage in Game 1 at Staples. That couldn't have been a coincidence either, right?

Also, just a tip: don't expect any less calls for the Suns if the Lakers allow Amare to get to the paint whenever he pleases.

[Eja117]

I agree with T Donaghy that refs have affected games for bad reasons, but this time around if they're doing it they aren't doing a good job of it.

Also it's a little hard to affect a game where one team beats the other by 30 points

[Orlando4thewin]

Oh boy. I felt this topic was worthy of my joining this forum. Good to talk to all you Celtic fans. But my issue is with this Lakers fan. You really think the NBA has an outcome decided but wants to rig games for further profit? Do you REALLY believe this? For all you people who called "foul' on the Big Baby Davis "foul" on Jameer Nelson last night...let me put it to you like this. Would it have been a foul if PAUL PIERCE initiated contact with Dwight Howard's body...and not Jameer Nelson initiating contact against Big Baby? Yes, of course it would have. How many AND1 layups did Paul Pierce get last night? I'm not saying he didn't get fouled on the plays...but what I'm saying is he was fouled by BODY contact...he wasn't hit on the arm on any of those layups except ONE. Body contact in the NBA is considered a foul, even when the offensive player initiates it. Trust me, I hate the rule when other teams do it to us, just like I love it when Orlando players draw the foul. NBA rules are NBA rules. Stop whining about supposed "rigging" of a game on a "bogus" foul like the one on Davis, when the foul wasn't on his clean block...it was on the body contact initiated before Davis even had a chance to block the shot. The NBA is not rigged. If it is why do you watch?