The irony of the fight yesterday is that Washington has benefited in all three games from a significant discrepancy in the officiating of picks. I've yet to see a Gortat pick that didn't involve a slide step and an elbow thrown at least as physically as Olynyk did. If he's been whistled, I don't recall it. By comparison, the Celtics have been called for numerous pick violations that weren't remotely illegal, including a laughable one last night that couldn't have been a more obvious flop.
For the life of me, I can't figure out what the heightened scrutiny of Boston's picks is based on.
It's based partially on reputation, and partially on play in my opinion.
The Wizards have benefited from questionable officiating on picks, but I'd argue the Celtics had largely received the benefit of the doubt in other areas (driving and on-ball defense, specifically) prior to last night's game.
The Wizards have their own officiating quirks, too. Wall would become overly concerned with officials during the regular season, ditto for Beal at times. This cost them and they often did not receive obvious calls while driving at points during the season. Jennings and Morris are both chippy players and are officiated accordingly, with a shorter leash. Same goes for Boston: Smart, Crowder, and Olynyk are indisputably chippy players, perhaps "dirty" at times (don't want to step on any toes here, I know my place). Horford is rather sly, too, although not as transparently as the aforementioned.
The Oubre play was dangerous and I cringe every time I watch it. I wasn't a big fan of the move at the time but I understand the need to psychologically match the intensity and toughness of the Celtics. I get it, but I still have a hard time justifying it, especially after a relatively benign screen by Olynyk. There were better opportunities and better means by which to send such a message.
At any rate, I hope I didn't have my chest puffed out too much on this one. I try to know my place and tread lightly when posting on other team's forums. I sort of expected the Wiz to drop game 3, given how mentally tough the Celtics are (mental toughness often helps on the road). I was glad to see they managed to pull it out. I have a lot of respect for IT and Brad Stevens and look forward to an entertaining remainder of the series.
