Official Report
Monty McCutchen
Monty McCutchen has officiated 1,310 regular season, 124 playoff, and 12 Finals games. He worked the 2007 NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas and was a member of the crews that officiated the 1996 and 1997 Mexico Challenges, as well as the 1998 Schick Rookie Game. Prior to joining the NBA, McCutchen spent four seasons in the CBA, where he worked the All
Star game his second year and the playoffs all four years. He also officiated the CBA Finals the last three years he was with the league. McCutchen missed the 1998-99 season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
He is a former elementary and middle school teacher and is fondly remembered by his students as a really nice guy. In searching for information on him, I found a Cavs' blog that blamed a loss to the Celtics on the officiating of Monty McCutchen. That was the game where Mike Brown was ejected and the Cavs made a furious comeback but fell short. In game 2 of the WCF, McCutchen flipped out on someone and yelled "I'm running this game not you!" as Serge Ibaka went to the line for free throws. Other than that, there's not a lot of controversy about him.
The Celtics are 4-6 in their last 10 games with McCutchen on the court. Most of his games with the Celtics have been well officiated but there have been a few head scratching calls as well. He was the lead ref in one of the worst officiated games I've watched in a long time. In the LA Lakers vs Golden State Warriors a couple years back, the Lakers shot 50 free throws to 16 for the Warriors in a 2 point LA win. It was a key game for the Lakers playoff hopes and the referees literally gave them the game.
One play in particular stands out to me. In the final minutes with the game tied, Stephen Curry was called for an offensive foul on Dwight Howard, when it was clearly a foul on Howard. The worst part is that they put Steve Blake, a very good free throw shooter, on the line instead of Dwight, even though Blake wasn't involved in the play. It truly was a travesty and the announcers at the time were completely disgusted with it. It just proves that when they have an agenda, they will go to extreme lengths to accomplish it. Hopefully he doesn't feel that he owes one to the Warriors for that game. So, I guess the bottom line is that McCutchen can be very good, but he also can be very bad. The Warriors are 2-0 this season and 8-2 in their last 10 games with McCutchen. He calls an average of 40.4 fouls per game with 50% called on the home team. His home W/L record this season is 13-3.
Kane Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald has officiated 380 games and two Playoff games in his six seasons as an NBA official. Fitzgerald started refereeing at the age of 18 at the high school level in New Jersey. Prior to the NBA, he had professional experience in the NBA D-League for four years and the WNBA for two years. He also refereed NCAA Division I basketball in the Ohio Valley, Atlantic Sun and Big South Conferences for two years.
You may remember Fitzgerald from 4 seasons ago when he gave KG a very quick pair of technicals (from about 30 feet away) and tossed him in the 2nd quarter of the Celtics 104-101 win over the Knicks (in which Amare scored 30). In another outing that season with the Celtics, the loss to the Bobcats in Charlotte, he tossed Stephen Jackson after 2 quick questionable T's. His quickness in giving technicals dates back to his days in the D-league where he was close to the top in calling technical fouls there as well. Players need to behave themselves when he is calling the game.
You may also recall him for calling the Nets game that resulted in the brawl. Fitzgerald gave Doc a T for yelling instructions to Rondo. They let the Nets get away with pushing and shoving and hard fouls the entire first half. The Nets shot 17 free throws to 5 for the Celtics in the first half and 3 of those free throws were on technicals. They did better in the second half after the brawl, but the refs' failure to call the game evenly in the first half led to frustrations and the fight. This is Fitzgerald's second game this season calling the Celtics game. He officiated the Celtics first road game at Indiana which was called pretty much evenly. He also called the Celtics' win over the Bucks and the refs let them play in that game and it was well officiated. The Celtics are 1-1 this season and 4-6 in their last 10 games with Fitzgerald while the Warriors are 7-3 in their last 10. Fitzgerald calls an average of 41.5 fouls per game with 47.5% called on the home team. His home W/L record this season is 12-5.
Aaron Smith
Smith is listed as a non-staff official, whatever that means and is new to the NBA this season, so there isn't much information on him. As with most new refs, there is always the possibility that they can be swayed by the home fans or sometimes they go overboard in the opposite direction to prove that they aren't influenced by the fans. He spent 2 years calling games in the WNBA before this season. He called the Celtics' preseason game vs the Sixers. He also called the Celtics' win over the Bucks with Fitzgerald. In both games they let both teams play and called the games evenly. The Celtica are 2-0 over Smith's career. He has not officiated a Warriors game yet. Smith calls an average of 39.7 fouls per game with 44.5% called on the home team. His home W/L record this season is 4-2.
Topic: Warriors (23-0) at Celtics (13-9) Game # 23 12/11/15 (Read 70190 times)