The official Heat-Celtics Eastern Conference semifinal thread

[Brady_to_Moss]

 

[bigcountry75]

The officiating is truly suspect.

I mean why should we even finish this game....LeJoke and DFag can jump into the defenders and get any call they want but the Celtics get killed in the paint and no call....Stern is in on this and in maybe 5 years it will come out that this series was fixed...

 

[ausbacker]

I mean why should we even finish this game....LeJoke and DFag can jump into the defenders and get any call they want but the Celtics get killed in the paint and no call....Stern is in on this and in maybe 5 years it will come out that this series was fixed...

The Celtics haven't been good enough when it counted. That can't be argued against. Missed shots and bad turnovers. All of that aside the officiating has been truly diabolical and as I've made mention ruined the enjoyment of watching this series.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

I hope the NBA lockout the entire season so i don't have to see refs giving away games again

 

[BradyManny]

When the NBA assigns known Donaghy accomplice, Scott Foster, you have to wonder. Why would David Stern assign that man to the game? Naturally, only if Stern benefits, for the appearance of impropriety is outweighed by the benefit of having - as Donaghy called it - one of Stern's "go to guys".

Donaghy made questionable call play after play all game. That 4th quarter was a joke. The Celts should have been up 15, but Wade and Lebron were bailed out the entire quarter.

It was only a matter of time before the Celtics lost the lead.

Now, the Celts blew game 4 on their own, but they deserved to win this game. They completely outplayed the Heat. Wow.

 

[bigcountry75]

The facts are that the Celtics didn't play good in the 4th Quarters....BUT...The refs were stepping in being momentum killers.....When the Celtics are up by 5-10 points in the 4th and Lejoke/DFag can just go to the hoop and jump INTO the defenders (albeit an offensive foul or no call) and they get the defensive foul EVERY ******* TIME....Those are the facts and if Kontra can't even see that then he is in denial that the refs ran this series or blind.....

 

[BradyManny]

The Celtics haven't been good enough when it counted. That can't be argued against. Missed shots and bad turnovers. All of that aside the officiating has been truly diabolical and as I've made mention ruined the enjoyment of watching this series.

Game 4 the Celtics weren't good enough when it counted, but tonite? Play after play, Pierce, West and Green are hacked going to the hoop. On the other end, Lebron and Wade go to the line just for guys being in their way of the basket.

It was a joke. I know the Heat reeled off a bunch of 3's at the end, but the game should've been over well before that. This was - all in all - top 5 worst officiating jobs in the NBA. Each play, both on the ball and off the ball, saw jut some of the worst officiating I've seen.

This league is a mess.

 

[BradyManny]

The facts are that the Celtics didn't play good in the 4th Quarters....BUT...The refs were stepping in being momentum killers.....When the Celtics are up by 5-10 points in the 4th and Lejoke/DFag can just go to the hoop and jump INTO the defenders (albeit an offensive foul or no call) and they get the defensive foul EVERY ******* TIME....Those are the facts and if Kontra can't even see that then he is in denial that the refs ran this series or blind.....

The only game I thought the refs decided were 1 and 5.

If the Celts won tonite's game, I really think they would've won the series. They outplayed the Heat for 95% of the last 3 games. The refereeing turned the fourth quarter, not the play of either team.

The announcers kept harping on the fact that the C's settled for jumpshots. That's b/c when they went to the hoop, they were getting hacked by a Heat player without a foul being called.

 

[Webby]

How do the Celtics manage to lose the game when they were winning the whole entire game

 

[ausbacker]

Game 4 the Celtics weren't good enough when it counted, but tonite? Play after play, Pierce, West and Green are hacked going to the hoop. On the other end, Lebron and Wade go to the line just for guys being in their way of the basket.

It was a joke. I know the Heat reeled off a bunch of 3's at the end, but the game should've been over well before that. This was - all in all - top 5 worst officiating jobs in the NBA. Each play, both on the ball and off the ball, saw jut some of the worst officiating I've seen.

This league is a mess.

I agree with you in that the officiating was so completely one sided that I thought I was watching game 7 of the NBA Finals last year save for Miami replacing LA.

All of that aside, the Celtics simply aren't good enough to compete with a younger, athletic and championship caliber team when it mattered (even in spite of the officiating).

It's time for a reconstruction of the Celtics. Like LA this team needs to be overhauled and rebuilt. Ainge has the bollocks for it but will he do it knowing that the Knicks will get better, the Bulls are a solid outfit, the Heat are a center away from being totally dominant, the Thunder and Grizzlies are on the rise etc and the elderly teams are fading away.

I take my hat off to the Celtics for fighting through to the last whistle but it's time.

Congrats Kontra.

 

[BradyManny]

I agree with you in that the officiating was so completely one sided that I thought I was watching game 7 of the NBA Finals last year save for Miami replacing LA.

All of that aside, the Celtics simply aren't good enough to compete with a younger, athletic and championship caliber team when it mattered (even in spite of the officiating).

It's time for a reconstruction of the Celtics. Like LA this team needs to be overhauled and rebuilt. Ainge has the bollocks for it but will he do it knowing that the Knicks will get better, the Bulls are a solid outfit, the Heat are a center away from being totally dominant, the Thunder and Grizzlies are on the rise etc and the elderly teams are fading away.

I take my hat off to the Celtics for fighting through to the last whistle but it's time.

Congrats Kontra.

I read nothing out of the Celtics ability to play in the 4th quarter from tonite. They couldn't buy a call, so they couldn't bother going to the hoop. Pierce accrued a bunch of BS calls which took him out of the game. It really just wasn't a fair fight.

Congrats to Kontra, but I wouldn't be shocked to see the Bulls put up a fight. After controlling the game for the 3rd straight game, I am less impressed with this Heat team than I was a week ago. But then again, the Bulls have not done much to impress in their playoffs thus far.

 

[IcyPatriot]

suck my azz Ainge .... friggin dope.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

How do the Celtics manage to lose the game when they were winning the whole entire game

by not being able to touch lebron

 

[ausbacker]

I read nothing out of the Celtics ability to play in the 4th quarter from tonite. They couldn't buy a call, so they couldn't bother going to the hoop. Pierce accrued a bunch of BS calls which took him out of the game. It really just wasn't a fair fight.

Congrats to Kontra, but I wouldn't be shocked to see the Bulls put up a fight. After controlling the game for the 3rd straight game, I am less impressed with this Heat team than I was a week ago. But then again, the Bulls have not done much to impress in their playoffs thus far.

The Celtics still should have attacked the hoop. Calls or not that affects the perimeter shooting. Another thing which aggravated me was the poor use of Ray Allen. He was smoking and getting free all night yet our ball users continued to ignore him. Since the Perkins trade the team chemistry hasn't been there. It was a desperate move at an inopportune time for the Celtics. Hell even with all his bad shots Nate Robinson was exactly the type of high energy, Red Bull attitude type of player we needed to ignite the team.

As I said I'm pretty happy with how the Celtics played from whistle to whistle but it's time to move on re-construct the team and look to the future.

As for the Heat, well it's all falling nicely for them. They'll have some serious trouble with Dallas who have genuine size and excellent outside shooters (as well as the indefensible Dirk) to contend with if it gets that far.

 

[jcdavey]

yep, ainge ruined a good thing

 

[BradyManny]

The Celtics still should have attacked the hoop. Calls or not that affects the perimeter shooting. Another thing which aggravated me was the poor use of Ray Allen. He was smoking and getting free all night yet our ball users continued to ignore him. Since the Perkins trade the team chemistry hasn't been there. It was a desperate move at an inopportune time for the Celtics. Hell even with all his bad shots Nate Robinson was exactly the type of high energy, Red Bull attitude type of player we needed to ignite the team.

As I said I'm pretty happy with how the Celtics played from whistle to whistle but it's time to move on re-construct the team and look to the future.

As for the Heat, well it's all falling nicely for them. They'll have some serious trouble with Dallas who have genuine size and excellent outside shooters (as well as the indefensible Dirk) to contend with if it gets that far.

They did attack the hoop, but they were getting fouled and not receiving calls. Pierce, Green, West all had 3 drives which were fouls - much more contact than on the other end - and it resulted in 0 points and 0 free throws.

Delonte drives to the hoop to end a quarter and Lebron jumps into him, of course that's not a foul, right? But if Nenad Kristic stands straight up as Dwayne Wade jumps into him, that's a foul on Kristic?

I'm sorry, there is no analysis to this game other than the refs kept the Heat in it, the refs let them have the lead, and then the Celtics folded. To harp on the last of those 3 things is a waste of time. I've been around basketball all my life, I don't like reducing this sport to officiating anymore than you do, but tonight was just straight garbage. I don't know if its the crowd influencing calls (like they did on the Pierce travel, in which, no, he did not pick up his pivot foot), or if its Scott Foster really is crooked, but this game was 5 on 8 tonite, and no conversation about this game can avoid that fact.

 

[ausbacker]

They did attack the hoop, but they were getting fouled and not receiving calls. Pierce, Green, West all had 3 drives which were fouls - much more contact than on the other end - and it resulted in 0 points and 0 free throws.

Delonte drives to the hoop to end a quarter and Lebron jumps into him, of course that's not a foul, right? But if Nenad Kristic stands straight up as Dwayne Wade jumps into him, that's a foul on Kristic?

I'm sorry, there is no analysis to this game other than the refs kept the Heat in it, the refs let them have the lead, and then the Celtics folded. To harp on the last of those 3 things is a waste of time. I've been around basketball all my life, I don't like reducing this sport to officiating anymore than you do, but tonight was just straight garbage. I don't know if its the crowd influencing calls (like they did on the Pierce travel, in which, no, he did not pick up his pivot foot), or if its Scott Foster really is crooked, but this game was 5 on 8 tonite, and no conversation about this game can avoid that fact.

Listen, I agree in principle but not to the level which you're inferring. The Celtics missed way to many chances when going at the hoop fouled or not down the stretch. Yes the officials gave the Heat favorable calls but the Celtics also hurt themselves by not executing. I was miffed that the calls were so one sided too believe you me.

I don't like the NBA officiating anymore than you and I do firmly believe they had a huge part in assisting the Heat in their win tonight but they were one part of a large collection of issues that cost this Celtics team through the entire series.

 

[BradyManny]

Listen, I agree in principle but not to the level which you're inferring. The Celtics missed way to many chances when going at the hoop fouled or not down the stretch. Yes the officials gave the Heat favorable calls but the Celtics also hurt themselves by not executing. I was miffed that the calls were so one sided too believe you me.

I don't like the NBA officiating anymore than you and I do firmly believe they had a huge part in assisting the Heat in their win tonight but they were one part of a large collection of issues that cost this Celtics team through the entire series.

I guess I agree in principle. But I'm just not ready to harp on the Celts play tonite. They played well enough to win.

Sure, they played like crap once they were down by 3.

But if you take out the missed Bosh out of bounds that led to a 3, the two BS travels calls on the Celts (one of which should have been an And1 for Baby), the 3 no calls on drives for the Celts in the 4th, the three BS calls on the other end (granted, Wade and Bron missed a couple of those free throws), Lebron's obvious travel on the dunk, Wade's obvious travel earlier in the game, the missed call on Delonte's drive to end Q3 - what's that add up to? At least 20 points of bad officiating? Honestly, those are just a few off the top of my head.

I'll agree the Heat played well once they took the game back with 2 minutes left - but they are a frontrunning team. That is easy for them to do. The fact that they were in that game was not an achievement on their part. It was a testament to the ineptitude of the officiating.

 

[ausbacker]

I guess I agree in principle. But I'm just not ready to harp on the Celts play tonite. They played well enough to win.

Sure, they played like crap once they were down by 3.

But if you take out the missed Bosh out of bounds that led to a 3, the two BS travels calls on the Celts (one of which should have been an And1 for Baby), the 3 no calls on drives for the Celts in the 4th, the three BS calls on the other end (granted, Wade and Bron missed a couple of those free throws), Lebron's obvious travel on the dunk, Wade's obvious travel earlier in the game, the missed call on Delonte's drive to end Q3 - what's that add up to? At least 20 points of bad officiating? Honestly, those are just a few off the top of my head.

I'll agree the Heat played well once they took the game back with 2 minutes left - but they are a frontrunning team. That is easy for them to do. The fact that they were in that game was not an achievement on their part. It was a testament to the ineptitude of the officiating.

I agree the Celtics did play well enough to win tonight. They played well enough to win game four too. The sad reality for us is officiating or not the Heat closed down the stretch and the Celtics folded twice, official assisted or not. Game 5 was a replica of last year's season end and I'm not happy about it nor am I surprised. We see it season after season.

As far as I am concerned I am proud of the effort the team put in. It wasn't an petulant ending like the Lakers and the sad reality is they are no longer a championship team because of age and poor trading.

Ainge has his work cut out otherwise he should be moved on unless his midseason moves fall into some long term strategy that we're unaware of.

 

[Kontradiction]

The facts are that the Celtics didn't play good in the 4th Quarters....BUT...The refs were stepping in being momentum killers.....When the Celtics are up by 5-10 points in the 4th and Lejoke/DFag can just go to the hoop and jump INTO the defenders (albeit an offensive foul or no call) and they get the defensive foul EVERY ******* TIME....Those are the facts and if Kontra can't even see that then he is in denial that the refs ran this series or blind.....

I'll admit up front that the officiating was slanted toward Miami in this game. But those are the home cooking calls that basketball fans should come to expect, sad as it is. Boston got it in Games 3 and 4.

1. The Heat will naturally get more foul calls than the Celtics because they were driving to the hole that much more tonight.

2. Unless players like Kristic or O'Neal have their feet set, it's going to be a foul call on the Celtics every single time. If not it will be a charge.

3. Boston got away with A LOT of hacks tonight. One instance that comes to mind is when Wade went strong to the hole against three defenders and was hacked by all three of them (the worst by Kristic).

4. The refs alone didn't cost you the series. So stop pretending like they did. Injuries and bad personnel decisions in the latter part of the season, along with age had a much bigger part in costing the Celtics the series.