Blatantly Rigged officiating last night

[vinnie]

The reffing in the NBA is the worst officiating in all professional sports, but the conspiracy theories are ridiculous. I can think of at least two blocking calls on Orlando that could have as easily been charging calls on the Celts, as well as a time when Baby clearly travelled on a drive into the lane, but instead they called a foul on the Magic and he want to the line. Again, the reffing stinks, but there is no conspiracy.

[fairweatherfan]

It's almost like professional oddsmakers will often make lines that are really close to the eventual margin of the game. 

If you think oddsmakers can accurately predict the final scores you are clueless.  The spread moves based on how many people are betting on a given side; the same as in horse racing; if you keep betting the favorite their odds change.  It is not set in stone; by your logic the spread wouldn't move because an expert already knows how many points team A should beat team by B. LOL.

Yes I am aware that lines can move over time; I'm also aware that they are initially set before bets are made and rarely move far from where they start. 

But FYI I agree with you; professional bookmakers setting lines that sometimes are very close to actual margins is just crazy talk.  Obviously the more logical interpretation is that NBA referees are involved in a massive conspiracy to keep the Celtics from covering the spread for some reason.

But there's more to it than that; I notice your examples of blatant fixing also rely on players missing FTs and making unnecessary fouls; from this, we can see that the conspiracy runs a lot deeper.  It's not just the refs manipulating the spread, but the players too.  In fact, based on that Spurs game, Ray Allen is clearly betting against the Celtics, and shaving points to get there.    We're through the looking glass here, people.

[Finkelskyhook]

I bought Donaghy's book.  Just reading the first few chapters is absolutely astounding.  

The ease in which he makes it sound to not only predict outcomes....But achieve the spreads.  Amazing

[greenpride32]

There is no conspricacy against the C's or any particular team it's just based on how the money rides.  Open your eyes the whole league is a sham.  It's really sad to see it is this way.

I posted this in another thread but I was at the game last night.  At the stadium they always show great angles of bad calls on the jumbotron; you don't get to see these views at home.  There were about 3 or 4 fouls called on the C's where there was no contact at all.  I mean when there is even minor contact you can always debate whether it's a foul or not.  But when a guy goes into the lane, has to adjust his shot because of D and takes a bad shot and falls off to the side and there is absolutely no contact and a foul is called that's pretty poor officiating. Same thing happened in the CLE playoff series last year.

[Birdbrain]

The reffing in the NBA is the worst officiating in all professional sports, but the conspiracy theories are ridiculous. I can think of at least two blocking calls on Orlando that could have as easily been charging calls on the Celts, as well as a time when Baby clearly travelled on a drive into the lane, but instead they called a foul on the Magic and he want to the line. Again, the reffing stinks, but there is no conspiracy.

The foul caused BBD to travel but, I agree no conspiracy just horrible officiating except for Danny Crawford and Leon Wood who are horrible by accident ironically when calling C's games....

[nba is the worst]

C's benefitted as well with Howard picking up 3 fouls with little/no contact, and KG's moving picks were consistent throughout, but he was only called once.

Fortunately, the Magic were playing very little defense, and Dwight's 72% ft line performance was wasted.

[BballTim]

C's benefitted as well with Howard picking up 3 fouls with little/no contact, and KG's moving picks were consistent throughout, but he was only called once.

  KG's picks were no worse than Howard's and Dwight spends a boatload of time in the lane on both ends of the floor.

[Q_FBE]

Don't know if I call it blatantly rigged because Orlando was able to knock in all those 3 pointers. The Vegas oddsmakers were spot on though.

[Jeff]

The reffing in the NBA is the worst officiating in all professional sports, but the conspiracy theories are ridiculous. I can think of at least two blocking calls on Orlando that could have as easily been charging calls on the Celts, as well as a time when Baby clearly travelled on a drive into the lane, but instead they called a foul on the Magic and he want to the line. Again, the reffing stinks, but there is no conspiracy.

don't remember the exact plays mentioned but I agree with the premise of this post

though I'll add that reffing in the NBA is probably the hardest and most subjective of all the sports (by design - faulty or not)

[FLCeltsFan]

What's really funny is that if you read the Comments from the Other Side today, you will see that the Orlando fans felt that the game was totally fixed in favor of the Celtics

I'm guessing there's some sort of rule that says Boston defenders can make as much contact as they want once the offensive player gets into the paint.

This game is played in Boston, and for games played in Boston, the officials use a different rulebook

At least twice in this game Ray Allen has pushed Dwight off the block while doing his whirley-dirvish routine on offense I’m talking both hands into his chest, forcing him backwards. And Dwight has to move because you know they’ll ring him up if he doesn’t

3 or 4 consecutive calls in a row for the Magic vs Boston We may never see this again..

So this is what it feels like to be officiated fairly.

The things that Kevin Garnett gets away with blow my mind.

Dwight would have been thrown out by now if he pulled what KG does.

I hate KG .. He's constantly taunting and still hasn't got a Technical?? If Dwight breathes to heavy he gets ejected

So Refs have went from call fouls on ORL to call fouls on BOS to call everything a foul.

I'm so sick of these moving screens by garnett, every single basket they made since the timeout was a result of a moving screen by garnett.

CALL THAT CRAP REFS You can't tell me that D12 wasn't hacked on the other end!!!

It's as if the Refs are scared to call 2 fouls in a row against the Celtics... Howard was hacked at least 3 times

Oh my frickin God, HOW THE HELL IS THAT NOT A FOUL ON DWIGHT C'mon man .. Does David Stern really want Boston to win this game THAT BAD???

The refs are in all honesty giving them the game right now

Boston fans still complaining about the freethrow disparity.
YOu would think they would get used to the fact that their team COMMITS A LOT OF FOULS. If it happens every other game, they should notice the trend.

And those are just a few of the comments from Magic fans about last night's game.  It seems that the refs let a lot go on both sides.   I saw calls missed both ways.  Howard did seem to get the benefit of some ticky tack calls.  If the refs were trying to fix it so the Celtics lost, they let that foul that Pierce drew by leaning into the defender go.  Or they call a foul on KG for reaching in on that steal.   

I think they let a lot go on both sides.  I saw a lot of KG complaining to the ref as well as Howard complaining after a call.  They could have T'd up the Celtics a few times if they really wanted to get them. 

[kozlodoev]

Given that Pierce obviously travelled on the last-minute three-point play, I wouldn't be complaining about the officiating.

The crew sucked royally, but it wasn't any more biased than normal.

[snowball]

it wasn't only about Dwight getting his FT's.
there were many calls I saw where KG, Ray and even Shaq
did NOT foul the Orlando player.. but it was called.
Totally incidental contact was being called. I saw one
call against Nate where he actually hit Ray not the Orlando
player. It was a joke. KG couldn't even touch a jersey.
if his long arms brushed against the back of someone it
was called a foul. He literally did not know what to do.
Doc obviously was besides himself.

The fact is that fixing an NBA game for the gambling line
and/or for the victor is not against the law.
Fixing NBA is totally legal. The entertainment provided
is the sole responsibility and asset of the Commissioner.
PERIOD !

not to mention multiple travels by Bass and Howard that were not called BUT they called traveling on KG with no hesitation. The moving picks called against the celtics were horrendous, and Howard threw up a few airballs which caused the refs to call a foul on the closest celtics to him even though their was no contact. Some of KG's fouls were with the soul purpose to get him out of the game, as he was not even involved in the play for some of them and they still gave the foul to KG. Pierce, Shaq, KG, and Davis got hit often going to the basket without foul calls, and Hedo had a blatant offensive foul late on Pierce that was not called.

I was at the game and had the feeling all night that the celtics could easily have blown out the magic if it wasn't for the officiating.

absolutely.. thank you for noting what i did not include.
100% true and now I remember all that you said also.
The fact that you were there in person makes it even more
noteworthy, and your final statement is 100% on spot !

[Jeff]

also, there's nothing "continuous" about Paul's lean in, get fouled, and huck it up there continuation - but who am I to complain?

[kozlodoev]

also, there's nothing "continuous" about Paul's lean in, get fouled, and huck it up there continuation - but who am I to complain?

Not to mention that he changed pivot foots about three times in the process after picking up his dribble

[jpd985]

I don't think it was rigged, it was just so bad that it seemed that way. For a while it looked like a FT shooting contest.