Finally - Its Go Time!
 

Celtics v Lakers

I would really like to see the Celts take it, but I've got to go with the Los Angeles Kobe's in 6.

Your 3 officials:

#32 E. Rush
#27 D. Bavetta
#48 S. Foster

Nice to see Foster. Bavetta is a staple. Rush too.

Nice selection.

Celts in 4, tho i think in 7.

Celtics win in their white jerseys. Hey! I just hada thought. Maybe these NBA guys would shoot better if they wore those 1987 shorts like the players in those classic Celtic/Lakers games!
The NBA should incorporate the "throw-back" uniforms like the MLB teams do on occasion. That would be funny to see...

:eek:

Please, no.

<img src="http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/7730/derekfishershortshortsdn2.jpg">

Down 24, Celtics top Lakers to go up 3-1

The Celtics can reclaim their place atop pro basketball with a win in Game 5 on Sunday night in Los Angeles.

No team has ever recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the finals.

Does this mean the league decided before the series began that Boston was to become the champion and directed the refs to make it happen? :eek:

=======

Game 1 Officials:
Dick Bavetta, Eddie F. Rush, Scott Foster

Game 2 Officials:
Bob Delaney, Dan Crawford, Ken Mauer

Game 3 Officials:
Bennett Salvatore, Joe Crawford, Mark Wunderlich

Game 4 Officials:
Joe Derosa, Steve Javie, Tom Washington

Game 5 Officials:
Dick Bavetta, Ken Mauer, Scott Foster

Game 6 Officials:

Yes, but since they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, the NBA has now used reverse psychology and directed the officials NOT let the series go 7 games therefore proving there is no conspiracy! That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :rolleyes:

I thought they did a great job. And what do you know? Only one travel call missed: Garnett lifting his pivot foot before starting his dribble at the 3-point line.

And for the guys who say that they don't even know what a foul is in the NBA anymore, this is a game that they should've watched. I thought the refs did a great job of calling contact (even some small stuff) that mattered and letting go the small stuff that didn't matter. Only two calls that I thought were obviously bad. One was when Kobe stripped KG, and obviously pulled his left arm off the ball to get the ball away from him; and there was no call. The other was a ticky-tack foul called against the Lakers on a Ray Allen drive-and-pass to the basket. The contact was minimal and Allen got the pass away easily. Should've been no-called.

There was a borderline block/charge near the basket where a block was called against Posey, but it's possible that he was still moving into the dribbler's path after the ball was gathered. Very next possession, Kobe got called for a block on a very similar block/charge.

I honestly thought the game was extremely well-officiated.

Posey foot was in the restricted area. Bryant foot was also in the restricted plus Kobe was late getting to the spot. Both were good calls.

I'm pretty sure that Posey was not in the restricted area. They showed a replay and I remember thinking it was not a factor. Additionally, the calling official did not point to the semi-circle to indicate the reason for the foul. I could be wrong, obviously, but I clearly remember thinking it wasn't an RA call. On Kobe's foul (very next possession, I think), the official did point to the floor, but it was irrelevant since Kobe was late to the spot, as you said.

Aside from me possibly (probably) being wrong about the Posey foul, do you agree with me about the overall quality of the officiating?

I'll pass that along to Mike Wilbon of the Washington Post and Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun. Those guys are just two examples of the many columnists that have written lately that they personally don't know what a foul is in the NBA anymore. Their exact words, Skippy. It's a fairly common, shared observation by long-time NBA observers; it ain't just coming from the haters. If you don't believe me, I'll take the time and go back and link up a few columns.

And, no, I didn't watch the game either. I had sumthin' much better to do. I was lining up all the socks in my drawer alphabetically.

Edited to add:
1) Michael Wilbon- <i>"The larger part here is that nobody has ever known what is and what isn't a foul in professional basketball"</i> <b>AND</b> <i>"You can't get consensus from people who have been in and around the game for 100 years."</i>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...052803351.html

2) Rick Telander- <i>I personally have no idea what an actual foul is in the NBA these days."<i>
http://www.chicagosuntimes.com/sport...rick11.article

They ain't the only ones sharing this particular sentiment.

I only watched about 50% off-and-on but what I did see seemed well officiated (as if my opinion counts).

I thought I saw a replay with Posey's foot on the restricted arc but I was half-asleep at the time.

..and Javie promptly whacked Doc Rivers for protesting the lack of a call. Seemed like an odd time to get overly sensitive (Javie, I mean). That sequence is a good example of why I can't watch this game anymore.

I'm not trying to change anybody's mind about the general state of NBA officiating. I only meant that this particular game was an example of what you would probably LIKE the officiating to be all the time. IOW, even if you thought NBA officiating was generally terrible, you could've enjoyed last night's officiating. That's all I meant.

BTW, as much I like PTI, I will never completely forgive Wilbon for saying that college officials are "too stupid" (direct quote) to know how to officiate big men in big games. (He was talking about the NCAA championship game with Greg Oden.)

Agreed. I like Wilbon but I have heard him (and Korheiser) make some idiotic comments about officiating.