I'm done

[PosImpos]

You know who didn't lose tonight because of the officiating?  The Boston Celtics.

Read his post: you're not wanted here because you're one of those nuts who thinks the refs have nothing to do with a game. What he pointed out:

1. touch fouls and rape
2. momentum breaking, really absurd calls

are absolute facts of this series. How you can not see that is absolutely beyond me, and they have extreme extenuating effects.

Did I say the refs were good tonight?  No.  I was seriously sick of all the whistles in this game.

But you can't blame the refs for the loss.  The Celtics lost tonight because the Lakers were better.  Simple as that. 

Btw, I don't appreciate the unfounded ad hominem.  Dial it down.

 The refs gave the lakers:

- additional possessions
- additional rebounds
- additional shots
- allowed laker players to stay on the floor and remain aggressive
- took freethrows and possession away from the celtics
- took our players out of rhythm, out of the game, or forced them to be less aggressive

Yet that didn't really have anything to do with it, huh? In a game  with 2-6 points of separation (after we stopped playing like crap and got our act together in the 2nd half) all those things the refs did for the lakers didn't have anything to do with it? The Lakers, played ok, and made some shots, and we had some lapses, but we played terrific D the last 18 minutes of the game, you can't expect a team to be perfect for such a a long stretch. The Lakers weren't perfect, either. They were less perfect than we were, in fact. They just got the benefit of the refs. That covered up their mistakes. Gave them enough to win. They would have lost if this game wasn't called horribly.

And the "ad hominem" was justified. You were super snarky in your first post. Just because I used a pronoun and you didn't doesn't make our posts any different.

Again you're reading too much into what I say.

The refs had an impact on this game, but it went both ways.  They were bad, but they weren't the difference.  The Celtics were clearly the worse team tonight.  Half the starting lineup was M.I.A.    Blaming the refs for the loss is silly.

There's a huge difference between pointing out that the Celtics didn't lose because of the officiating and calling somebody a nut and saying they aren't wanted.

So cut it out.  I understand being frustrated with the loss, but don't thrust that onto the refs and don't thrust it onto me. 

[FallGuy]

This is to no one in particular:

It's simple.

If following the NBA is making you miserable, then walk away.

Please.

The game is not perfect, nobody is thrilled with the referees and everybody hates John Hollinger but beyond all that...

If you really, TRULY believe it's fixed you'd have to be a masochist to keep watching.

So don't.

There are a billion other soul-nurturing ways you can spend your time.

Go do that instead.

[tenn_smoothie]

i'm just sick over this loss - i finally had to turn off the game with 4:00 left in the 4th and i just watched the score and clock on the espn live scoreboard - it was too agonizing to watch.

and you knew bryant would get every call he wanted when he made the statement after game 2 that he would not be in foul trouble in game 3 - just brazenly stating, "hey, i know the refs are gonna back off the foul calls on me cause they know the league wants me in the game."

just sickening.

[twinbree]

TP. Great post. The officiating is killing basketball for me. I'm so past the whys of it - competence or corruption. I just want it to end.  have so little interest in what's going on around the league now. The only thing keeping me is my love for the Cs and as bad as it gets I don't think I can't not watch them. I can only continue to hope change is coming somehow soon.

[tgreanier]

This is to no one in particular:

It's simple.

If following the NBA is making you miserable, then walk away.

Please.

The game is not perfect, nobody is thrilled with the referees and everybody hates John Hollinger but beyond all that...

If you really, TRULY believe it's fixed you'd have to be a masochist to keep watching.

So don't.

There are a billion other soul-nurturing ways you can spend your time.

Go do that instead.

As I pretty clearly stated, I am walking away.

[angryguy77]

This is to no one in particular:

It's simple.

If following the NBA is making you miserable, then walk away.

Please.

The game is not perfect, nobody is thrilled with the referees and everybody hates John Hollinger but beyond all that...

If you really, TRULY believe it's fixed you'd have to be a masochist to keep watching.

So don't.

There are a billion other soul-nurturing ways you can spend your time.

Go do that instead.

1) see first post.

2) Reading first post will tell you that I'm not 100% convinced of it being rigged. However if we are allowed to play d like we have for the whole playoffs prior to these 3 games, you will be fooling yourself for thinking this is legit. We will see in the next 2 games.

[FallGuy]

This is to no one in particular:

It's simple.

If following the NBA is making you miserable, then walk away.

Please.

The game is not perfect, nobody is thrilled with the referees and everybody hates John Hollinger but beyond all that...

If you really, TRULY believe it's fixed you'd have to be a masochist to keep watching.

So don't.

There are a billion other soul-nurturing ways you can spend your time.

Go do that instead.

As I pretty clearly stated, I am walking away.

Yeah, I didn't want to dig at you personally. I respect your choice. I even understand it.

[LB3533]

Yea, the problem I have with the officiating was the numerous late blown whistles.

I just don't like the "waiting to see if a shot goes in or not" and then blowing the whistle.

That changes momentum and flow of the game for both sides, but mostly for the home team who has crowd reaction.

Missed calls happen, but don't make calls when "you want to" make the calls when they actually occur.

The refs are not supposed to be making stuff up a long the way.

They are supposed to be enforcing the rules as they happen.

[PosImpos]

This is to no one in particular:

It's simple.

If following the NBA is making you miserable, then walk away.

Please.

The game is not perfect, nobody is thrilled with the referees and everybody hates John Hollinger but beyond all that...

If you really, TRULY believe it's fixed you'd have to be a masochist to keep watching.

So don't.

There are a billion other soul-nurturing ways you can spend your time.

Go do that instead.

1) see first post.

2) Reading first post will tell you that I'm not 100% convinced of it being rigged. However if we are allowed to play d like we have for the whole playoffs prior to these 3 games, you will be fooling yourself for thinking this is legit. We will see in the next 2 games.

Can we agree on the following:

1) The refs are calling the games tight, which doesn't allow either team to play especially physical defense.

2) The reffing hasn't been clearly skewed towards one team or the other.  There have been bad calls on both sides, and neither team has been able to get away with playing especially tough.

3) The Celtics are having trouble in large part because of their inability to play as tough as they did earlier in the post-season.  The Lakers have been able to overcome it because they're a great offensive team.

In other words, the way the games are being called has made things difficult for the Celtics.  It's not a conspiracy to screw up the Celtics, but it's hurt them more than the Lakers because of the kind of team they are.

It sucks, but it's not fixed.

[FreeGreen]

Easiest Change to make the league SEEM less rigged.

Announce who will be officiating all 7 games of the series BEFORE the series starts.  That way there is less of an appearance of impropriety when you assign Bill Kennedy to a key game.

Why does who is officiating each game need to be such a [dang] secret?

[dooyork]

The officiating effects how each team is allowed to play, but it's determined partly by how the teams set the tone.  The old Detroit Pistons used to hack and grab on every single play, starting at the opening tip, and they got away with it because it just became normal, and they would have to do something especially brutal to get a whistle.  If a team defends without fouling, the game is called against them much tighter.  Whichever team sets the tone early with more aggressiveness, in other words, is going to be better off through the course of the game, while the team that is timid early will get beaten down by the refs and not allowed an inch.  It's sort of ironic, but it's the way it is: the more aggressive team gets away with more.  Doc recognized this after the foul trouble in game 1.  He was asked if the C's needed to be more cautious, and he said that on the contrary the problem was that they were not aggressive enough.  You can never control what another person is going to do, and I hate that the refs have this much influence on a game, but the more aggressive team will get the calls, and will win.  It's not a conspiracy, and David Stern has nothing to do with it, neither do the freemasons or the bilderberg group.  The Celtics would have won if they put their foot on these freaks necks and smashed them.  Early on they had some aggression, but it evaporated pretty quickly, and for the rest of the game they were jogging back on defense, letting Odom and Gasol elbow and slap away freely, and standing around on offense.  The refs were horrible tonight, but the Celtics could have set the tone early and didn't.

[angryguy77]

This is to no one in particular:

It's simple.

If following the NBA is making you miserable, then walk away.

Please.

The game is not perfect, nobody is thrilled with the referees and everybody hates John Hollinger but beyond all that...

If you really, TRULY believe it's fixed you'd have to be a masochist to keep watching.

So don't.

There are a billion other soul-nurturing ways you can spend your time.

Go do that instead.

1) see first post.

2) Reading first post will tell you that I'm not 100% convinced of it being rigged. However if we are allowed to play d like we have for the whole playoffs prior to these 3 games, you will be fooling yourself for thinking this is legit. We will see in the next 2 games.

Can we agree on the following:

1) The refs are calling the games tight, which doesn't allow either team to play especially physical defense.

2) The reffing hasn't been clearly skewed towards one team or the other.  There have been bad calls on both sides, and neither team has been able to get away with playing especially tough.

3) The Celtics are having trouble in large part because of their inability to play as tough as they did earlier in the post-season.  The Lakers have been able to overcome it because they're a great offensive team.

In other words, the way the games are being called has made things difficult for the Celtics.  It's not a conspiracy to screw up the Celtics, but it's hurt them more than the Lakers because of the kind of team they are. It sucks, but it's not fixed.

Right, I'm not saying the league is out to hose boston.  I'm suspecting that they are calling these games tight because they know LA cannot match boston's defensive intensity which means this series would be over much quicker. We know that if Boston is allowed to play physical d they will win most of the time. But in this series, the league has departed from the norm and is calling a series very tight. I cannot figure out as to why this is all of a sudden the case.

 Why were we allowed to play physical in 08 and not now? Why is it different from the earlier rounds? Ever since I can remember, physical play has always been allowed for the most part in the playoffs. Now there is a departure from that. I'm telling you if we are allowed to play physical d in the next two game, I can only conclude that this is by design.

The biggest problem that most fans have is the inablity of the league to have consistant officiating. Now for some reason there has been 3 consecutive games where it has been called similar. How does the league get it's act together and do this when for years it could not do so? I've never seen this before in a playoff series-never.

I do believe that teams can play through bad officiated games. But I do not believe they can do it for a whole series.

[dooyork]

Easiest Change to make the league SEEM less rigged.

Announce who will be officiating all 7 games of the series BEFORE the series starts.  That way there is less of an appearance of impropriety when you assign Bill Kennedy to a key game.

Why does who is officiating each game need to be such a [dang] secret?

That's a good point, I would like to see that change.

[Tai]

I have to agree with Polsmpos here. I'm done hearing about the refs. Ray gave us NOTHING offensively, except two FTs.

Everytime the C's had a chance to make a run or just take the lead period, they screwed it up, somehow some way. They didn't deserve to win.

Give it a rest. The refs have never been perfect, but we won't win anymore games playing the sloppy ball we did. At all. Maybe it is a Game 3 thing, since we're 1-2 at home in Game 3s. Who knows.

And I'll say it again before someone brings him up: Tim Donaghy can stuff it and go live in a cave. I don't buy his crack, and neither should anyone else.

[angryguy77]

The officiating effects how each team is allowed to play, but it's determined partly by how the teams set the tone.  The old Detroit Pistons used to hack and grab on every single play, starting at the opening tip, and they got away with it because it just became normal, and they would have to do something especially brutal to get a whistle.  If a team defends without fouling, the game is called against them much tighter.  Whichever team sets the tone early with more aggressiveness, in other words, is going to be better off through the course of the game, while the team that is timid early will get beaten down by the refs and not allowed an inch.  It's sort of ironic, but it's the way it is: the more aggressive team gets away with more.  Doc recognized this after the foul trouble in game 1.  He was asked if the C's needed to be more cautious, and he said that on the contrary the problem was that they were not aggressive enough.  You can never control what another person is going to do, and I hate that the refs have this much influence on a game, but the more aggressive team will get the calls, and will win.  It's not a conspiracy, and David Stern has nothing to do with it, neither do the freemasons or the bilderberg group.  The Celtics would have won if they put their foot on these freaks necks and smashed them.  Early on they had some aggression, but it evaporated pretty quickly, and for the rest of the game they were jogging back on defense, letting Odom and Gasol elbow and slap away freely, and standing around on offense.  The refs were horrible tonight, but the Celtics could have set the tone early and didn't.

Boston was aggressive during the whole game. But once Perk went out with his second (bs) foul, it changed. The set the tone early and had key players taken out...again... which allowed la back into it.