The Bump....

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Far worse than what occurred goes on in every NBA scrum for a loose ball. To, at that moment, in this playoff game, call a foul is absolutely deserving of a livid response. To then be so quick to throw out the T is a clear case of referee excitement. And I would truly say this no matter the team.

What actually irritates me is how quick people around here are to condemn with the harshest language possible the one guy who came to play tonight. Fiery determination, that wins you games, comes with righteous anger. Don't pretend to idolize Bird, Russell, Parish, et al and then condemn Rondo. You can't have it both ways. It was a miracle, and different era, that Parish wasn't suspended, that McHale stayed in the game, that saw Bird throw a ball at Lambier's head. Don't be a hypocrite and condemn Rondo just to try and be the most objective, sanctimonious guy on the blog.

this deserves many TPs! Rondo was the only guy that came to play and just lost his cool when he saw the ref rip the game away from them.

I don't care if he willed us to victory, you don't touch a ref!!! You cant pretend that isn't a rule just because someone played well!!! I was so talking the whole game about how RR was the only one trying to win, doesn't mean his actions need to be excused! The same people arguing for RR would be all up in arms if it was our competitor! This isn't because we are trying to seem like we aren't biased, some people think rules like this one especially, should be enforced no matter who it is! If they let people touch refs in anger then there would be no end because EVERYONE and their mother have wanted to hit a ref (I wanted to do more than bump the ref there, but I'm not a professional and a KEY piece of a team)!!!

Obviously the comments about Rondo playing well and with passion had nothing to do with the actual goings on on the court but with peoples reactions here on this blog and the hypocrisy therein in the chastising language of the reactions to Rondo's ejections. So, don't conflate those two strands of the argument.

Second, as I said earlier, I wouldn't think any player deserving of ejection or suspension in this scenario, no matter what team he plays for. The existence of a rule does not legitimize the rules existence. 

LOL he didn't even deserve being tossed? I can't take you serious, you need to stop! At least I have something to laugh about after a loss! Who said it legitimized the rule? You bump your boss in ANY job in anger and see if you have a job, rule or not! Like I said before, I don't want RR to miss any game for any reason but w/e punishment he gets (suspension or fine) he deserves it! He obviously didn't learn after throwing the ball at the ref and being suspended!

I believe we are equally at odds here, so, yes, perhaps I will stop. Glad I could provide some laughter at least. That said, the point I was making was the rules put in place are wrong (those being the unilateral power of the ref's and the enforcement of quick T's on the display of any emotion, as if a player in a playoff game would react nonchalantly to any poor call in any scenerio----all this with no repercussions for referees).
 
Secondly, in what way are the ref's the player's bosses? \ The ref's boss is the NBA. The player's "boss" is Doc Rivers, Danny Ainge and The Celtics organization. The player/ref relationship is not a boss/employee one in any analogous way.

Like this, they may not be the "head" but while you are playing the game they are your "boss"... just like if your boss leaves and puts someone else in charge they become your "boss". Stern isn't there to "police" the games so he puts refs in charge, while you are playing what they say goes... the only way what they say doesn't go is if you choose to ignore them and not play! Doc nor Danny is the boss (person in charge) during the game the ref is, like it or not!

[GDAbraham]

Clearly Rondo should've kept himself in check and we'll see what's what on that, but I don't blame players being THAT flabbergasted when we just recently had that game the refs tried with all their authority might to gift wrap the game with a pink bow to the Hawks. Yes, human beings are capable of error. But those calls and b.s. shenanigans down the stretch were just as much on the needless emotion of the ref as it was Rondo.

Simple, cut and dry calls to make. The refs should at least be held accountable for quality of service. Tough calls and out-of-view close calls are one thing. Human error there makes sense. Blatant incompetence or swaying in a playoff game to that extent is inexcusable regardless of the fact that the Hawks chances were good in pulling this one off. Make the players earn it and a reasonable amount of adrenaline and pressure is fine. It's not rocket science.

[greg683x]

Nevermind on the video.  Halftime of the Griz/Clip game, the just showed the play.  I was mistaken in part.  It was Josh Smith and Rondo going for the ball and it CLEARLY went off of Smith and should have been OUR ball!!!!!!!  All the guys in the studio on TNT agreed.

Davis should be suspended as well for the REST of the Playoffs!!  He was right beside the play and blatantly, on purpose, gave the ball illegitimately to the Hawks.  This guy should be banned from EVER reffing another NBA game.  I might be over-reacting, but I am HOT.

He is either utter incompetent, blind, or a cheat.  It is ONE of those three things, if not all of them.

Smitty77

that play was HUGE for two reasons.  The first one is obviously that it was a huge possession and the refs made the wrong call and gave it to the Hawks.

The 2nd, is that this play lit the fire under Rondo that led to him screaming at Davis.  I dont know if they showed this on the halftime clip but if you watch it happen during the game, you see Rondo go and try to plead his case to Mark Davis and Davis just blows him off.

Davis of course has every right to blow off a complaining player (in fact I wish officials did it more) but Davis was wrong here and Rondo knew it.  When Davis blew another crucial call right in front of Rajon, he made sure Davis heard him this time.

[get_banners]

Nevermind on the video.  Halftime of the Griz/Clip game, the just showed the play.  I was mistaken in part.  It was Josh Smith and Rondo going for the ball and it CLEARLY went off of Smith and should have been OUR ball!!!!!!!  All the guys in the studio on TNT agreed.

Davis should be suspended as well for the REST of the Playoffs!!  He was right beside the play and blatantly, on purpose, gave the ball illegitimately to the Hawks.  This guy should be banned from EVER reffing another NBA game.  I might be over-reacting, but I am HOT.

He is either utter incompetent, blind, or a cheat.  It is ONE of those three things, if not all of them.

Smitty77

at least keep him out of this series. he made enough critical blunders down the stretch to sideline him.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Nevermind on the video.  Halftime of the Griz/Clip game, the just showed the play.  I was mistaken in part.  It was Josh Smith and Rondo going for the ball and it CLEARLY went off of Smith and should have been OUR ball!!!!!!!  All the guys in the studio on TNT agreed.

Davis should be suspended as well for the REST of the Playoffs!!  He was right beside the play and blatantly, on purpose, gave the ball illegitimately to the Hawks.  This guy should be banned from EVER reffing another NBA game.  I might be over-reacting, but I am HOT.

He is either utter incompetent, blind, or a cheat.  It is ONE of those three things, if not all of them.

Smitty77

I wouldn't go as far as to taking the man's job. But if Rondo gets a suspension, something should be done to Mark Davis as well. Refs make mistakes, but two of his' essentially led to this commotion. The NBA are hypocrites (I love it when other folks spells "hypocrites" as "Hippocrates") if they suspend Rondo and let Mark Davis off the hook of what was two blown calls that shifted the game to ATL's favor.

[CelticG1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eSPtf9iUik&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Pierce punched a ref in the 2010 finals and didn't get suspended,  I think we are alright

[KGs Knee]

Rondo will probably get suspended.  I just don't see any way around it.  I'm not happy about it, and don't think he should be based on circumstantial evidence.  The NBA rarely ever considers circumstantial evidence when contact with an official is made though.

My question is, why does the NBA never do anything about referees who make blatantly terrible calls that influence games, and indirectly lead to these type of results?  Mark Daivs should not be officiating NBA games, let alone playoff games.

When will Stern ever hold these officials accountable.  Not doing anything essentially gives them carte blanche to continue making dubious calls at will.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eSPtf9iUik&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Pierce punched a ref in the 2010 finals and didn't get suspended,  I think we are alright

Not even close to being the same, that was an accident, what RR did wasn't! Hope for just a fine but RR didn't accidentally bump dude!

[get_banners]

Rondo will probably get suspended.  I just don't see any way around it.  I'm not happy about it, and don't think he should be based on circumstantial evidence.  The NBA rarely ever considers circumstantial evidence when contact with an official is made though.

My question is, why does the NBA never do anything about referees who make blatantly terrible calls that influence games, and indirectly lead to these type of results?  Mark Daivs should not be officiating NBA games, let alone playoff games.

When will Stern ever hold these officials accountable.  Not doing anything essentially gives them carte blanche to continue making dubious calls at will.

officials almost never get reprimanded. that's the big problem, and why "conspiracy" talk still runs rampant re: the nba. i understand it is a difficult game to call, but when you miss clear calls that are right in front of you (like davis did tonight, on multiple occasions, that had a major impact on the game), something needs to be done.

[blink]

I agree with this 100%.  It was a really quick T for a tense moment in a playoff game on a play that could have gone either way.  If the ref just turns to Rondo and says you need to be quiet or I am going to T you up it would have been a lot better.
A lot of the more superstar players seem like they get a lot more leeway in these types of situations.  I can understand the 2nd T more than the first. 

Poor decision by Rondo, but really bad call right before that on the ball that went off of smith.  That ball was obviously off of smith, they showed it over and over again.  But Rondo has to bite his tongue and understand his value to the team.

It was stupid for the ref to t up rondo for screaming.. It's the playoffs for crying out loud. Rondo shouldn't have bumped him though. That was clearly intentional. Anyway I still think they'll win it all..

[blink]

I could actually see it going either way.  Rondo did trip, and really no one but he knows if the trip had any impact on him making contact.  It doesn't look like the trip did it, but it is obvious he tripped, and that might be enough for Stern to just let it pass.  Especially considering the bad call after bad call right before.  I don't know how the league reviews these issues, but I hope that they look at the overall context for what happened.

It wasn't like he shoved the ref or grabbed him or anything.  I wouldn't be surprised if he is suspended but I can see just a fine happening too.  He was tossed for the bump, and hopefully that and a fine are all that come out of it.

I think after looking at it outside of the context of the live point in the game it doesn't seem as bad as it did at the time and the ref called that 1st T way too quick.

the trip and the fact that the refs say they arent going to comment on it could potentially save rondo a suspension..

it would be alot harder for stern to determine if it was intential...than say rondo looking the ref right in the eye and throwing the ball at him.

but, im fully expecting rondo to get a 1game suspension

[LB3533]

I found some things that may set precedent for us.

This happened last year = http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/news/story?id=6093863

Video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uqQpCo0d0E&feature=youtu.be


This happened in '08 = http://bleacherreport.com/articles/20537-garnett-beats-the-system-will-play-in-game-5

[jimmehx]

I found some things that may set precedent for us.

This happened last year = http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/news/story?id=6093863

Video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uqQpCo0d0E&feature=youtu.be


This happened in '08 = http://bleacherreport.com/articles/20537-garnett-beats-the-system-will-play-in-game-5

i have a feeling that garnett getting away with manhandling refs in the past years will not help rondo get off this one.

rondo intentionally and aggressively chest bumped the guy; even if it was soft. this wasnt an accident. i think a suspension is entirely warranted and rondo should take all the flak he's going to get for making such a bad decision. one game (which we will win) and everyone can move on.

grow up rondo.

[get_banners]

Wonder if the ridiculously quick T will play a factor. Davis definitely called it too quickly. Rondo definitely tripped, and Davis did turn back, so there is at least some defense that the bump wasn't intentional (whether it really was is hard to say...but to me, that's the point).

[JoT]

This happened in '08 = http://bleacherreport.com/articles/20537-garnett-beats-the-system-will-play-in-game-5

I'm sorry but that picture of KG just made me laugh. I don't even know why, but it's funny to me.
I hope he doesn't get suspended, but I can see it happening.
I do expect better playing and hopefully a win on Tuesday.