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Comments
Pierce shoulda shot that
Pierce shoulda shot that three at the end, Rondo taking the last shot of the game is not the way to go out. Other than that, I give all teams a 5 year grace period after a championship so this one would've just been a bonus. Hopefully the whole squad comes back next year and beats LA.
I would like to thank the NBA
I would like to thank the NBA officials for giving away the game in penalty shots to the Lakers in the 4th quarter while continually ignoring the countless fouls which should have been called against the Lakers' defense.
It's a shame
that the commissioner didn't want the Celtics to win. Ho hum.
This must be regarded as a remarkable playoff run
After a 50-32 regular season, they knocked off King James & his Cavs and took the Lakers to the final seconds.
I'm sure they're bumming now, but this was a tremendous, memorable playoff run, with Doc Rivers doing a better coaching job than during the championship season.
My bookie is miserable, and so am I
Worst bet I ever won.
Before and after at the Pru
Matthew snapped photos of the building in its green and normal colors.
Man Up
It wasn't the officials last night, and it wasn't David Stern. It was poor rebounding, poor shooting from some, and even though the Lakers tried to give us the game (how many free throws did they miss?) there just wasn't enough gas left in the tank. Rondo almost stole the game from them at the end, hitting a three and coming this close (I'm holding my thumb and forefinger an inch apart) from getting the ball back down two with 11 seconds remaining.
I would rather they had won, of course, but I refuse to go all sour grapes about it.
My Post-Mortem (shorter than this comment, I think)
Suldog
Over-analyzed
It's as simple as this: The Red Sox won.
Indeed.
Indeed.
I'm not sour, and obviously I
I'm not sour, and obviously I have a biased perspective, but the way the fourth quarter was called was disappointing. Most of the game they let them play (as they should) and the game had a flow (albeit a sluggish one) and then the 4th turned into the purple free throw parade. Would've much preferred if LA beat us without seemingly going to the line every time a Celtic breathed on a Laker.
As I said in my first comment above, Celtics are still in their 5 year grace period with me but as a basketball fan that 4th quarter was disappointing. The Celtics have won more championships in the last 3 years than I ever expected them to 4 years ago so it's all good but that wasn't a a great ending for basketball fans. For the Lakers to have 20 more free throws, especially considering the physical defense both sides were playing, simply isn't legitimate. I'm not saying the NBA had it rigged or anything like that, but perhaps the stigma of the Celtics being more physical affected the refs.
I'd love to see the NBA implement a replay system similar to college football. Have a ref in the arena watching a big HD screen that can initiate replays at anytime. The truth is that that pro basketball is simply too fast and too physical for anyone to accurately call a game from the trenches in real-time. I don't think anyone can say the refs called a 100% accurate game last night or any night and until they accept that the game is too fast and the players too big for calls to be made accurately in real-time from the floor, the NBA will continue to have a negative stigma associated with its officiating.
It's not like only Bostonians complain about officiating, nearly every NBA fan complains about it and for valid reasons.
True
There are definite problems with NBA officiating, and I think the biggest one is the refusal of some (most?) refs to call fouls on those regarded as superstars. There is a definite hierarchy involved in the NBA and calls will be biased according to that hierarchy. It's something like this:
Superstar (Kobe)
Name Star [casual fan probably knows them, but they don't sell tickets like the superstars] (Garnett, Gasau, Pierce, Artest)
Established Veteran Starters Who Don't Complain Too Much (Allen, Fisher, Odom)
Established Veteran Starters Who Complain Vociferously (Perkins)
Veteran Bench Player Who Doesn't Complain A Lot (Finley)
Possible Future Superstar (Rondo, Bynum)
Veteran Bench Player Who Bitches About Everything (Wallace)
And so on, with other categories wedged between.
The Celtics, unfortunately, do not have a player regarded as a Superstar. They have more than their share of guys who complain. If you're a Celtics fan, you have to know that the calls are going to go against you more often than not in a series such as this. The way it should be or not, that's the way it is.
I often scream about the officiating - just ask MY WIFE, who is usually sitting next to me in the balcony at TD Garden when I do so - but I truly had little problem with the officiating last night. Aside from the hierarchy mentioned, the C's brought much of the trouble upon themselves. My opinions, yours may vary, and so long as you're a Celtics fan I still like you :-)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
I don't think the refs were that bad last night.
And remember, the Lakers have more guys that went to the hoop hard either off rebounds or from outside. There were only about 1 or 2 calls I thought the refs could have let go. Overall the refs were not a factor in this game.
And remember what the refs did to Kobe in game 2. That was the Celtics chance right there. Game 3 killed em.