It affects the tempo and how the players play on the floor. Are you going to chase down the ball and beat James to it, if you're Evan Turner, or are you basically going to let him get it and dunk it off your head, because you know e'll just push you out of the way, and they'll call a foul on you, and he'll get an +1 if you even try to make the play?
It wouldn't surprise me, if I went back and looked at the games the celtics played at the end of the season, if there was some funny stuff there too - Celtics are a big TV market. And I'm a Celtics fan, but come on.