Celtics notebook: Isaiah Thomas crying foul over lack of calls

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2016/03/celtics_notebook_isaiah_thomas_crying_foul_over_lack_of_calls



Celtics notebook: Isaiah Thomas crying foul over lack of calls



Mark Murphy Saturday, March 19, 2016






Credit: AP
BUMPS IN THE ROAD: Isaiah Thomas gets fouled by the Raptors’ Norman Powell during the Celtics’ 105-91 loss last night in Toronto.



TORONTO — Isaiah Thomas only attempted four free throws last night, though not for a lack of trying.

The Celtics guard, who picked up his 10th technical foul of the season and is generally irritated by the recent lack of calls when he drives, attempted to approach the officiating crew after the Celtics’ 105-91 loss to Toronto and was rebuffed.

“It is (frustrating). I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to get fined, but referees have to be held accountable too, as players are,” he said after scoring a team-high 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting. “Some of those refs have to be held accountable. That’s just all I have to say about that.

“It’s frustrating not getting the same calls as the other team, and we’re one of the top teams in the NBA as well. It is what it is. You’ve got to control what you can control and continue to play.”

Equally irksome for Thomas was being rebuffed after the game as the officiating crew left the floor.

“As a man, you want to talk to somebody as a man. Right? And I didn’t feel like they gave us the opportunity to talk to them throughout the game,” he said. “Guys were complaining but at the same time, if I come up to you and ask you a question, I should be able to talk to you and you should be able to answer back. And we didn’t get that.

“So I just said what I had to say. I thought like he should have handled it a lot better.”


Lovin’ the madness

R.J. Hunter was possibly the most amazed member of the viewing audience when Yale upset Baylor on Thursday, because almost exactly a year ago it was Hunter’s last minute jumper for Georgia State that sunk essentially the same Baylor team.

“I guess that’s something they’re not fond of,” the Celts guard said of those nasty first round, low-seed matchups.

“We pressed them all game so I don’t know if they got tired or what, but it’s March, man,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure in those games, especially when you’ve got upset the year before, it’s probably even more pressure. . . . It’s definitely cool to see.”

It also builds the case of mid-major programs, and runs against the claims of national basketball types — most of them coaches from the power conferences — who claim too many small programs make the tournament at the expense of bigger schools.

“They’re on TV all year,” countered Hunter. “March Madness is so cool, because you see all these teams get on TV for the first time and play the best game of their life. That’s what it’s all about. Nobody wants to keep watching the main teams play on TV. I think that’s just the greedy being greedier.”


Jonas on shelf

The Celtics, already thin up front, lost another active member of the rotation in the short term. Jonas Jerebko, who twisted his left ankle prior to Wednesday’s loss to Oklahoma City, is suffering from soreness that has extended to his Achilles area.

“We left him at home to get treatment and hopefully he’ll be back Monday,” said coach Brad Stevens. “It’s not a long-term thing, but without Jae (Crowder) and Jonas we’ll need guys to continue to step up.”

Jerebko will also miss tomorrow’s game in Philadelphia. So the Celtics have to approach their matchups at both forward positions differently — along more traditional lines according to Stevens, who won’t be able to go as small with the current rotation.

“Quite a bit,” Stevens said of the change. “That’s why we’ll have to play with probably more traditional groups like we’ve talked about before. But I think that that’s what we have to do. So we’re going to be really solid in how we play. And we need — now that this is Kelly (Olynyk)’s second game back — we’re going to need our young guys to all be able to step up and play in that void because obviously those are two important guys to us.

“That’s just something that you have to figure out what works best in those lineups and what do you want to go to in those lineups,” he said. “We’ve got a whole set of things that we go to small, a whole set of things that we go to big. So you obviously air next to the side of what you’re going to do in a more traditional setting.

“You know, we could play Evan Turner at the 4 or we could play a James Young at the 4 at times. That’s probably more unlikely, but we’ll see how the game goes. We’ll see what we need.”



bob
MY NOTE: James Young at the 4? Brad is making mad scientist Don Nelson sound conservative. What a disaster that would be. Here's an idea, Brad, how about playing Mickey at the 4?


.

better get used to the non calls IT, some call it playoff basketball.

I have noticed that we seem to a whining more and more as this losing streak continues.

Maybe time to man up instead of whining.

IT usually gets a lot of calls that most players don't get, especially at the end of games. He jumps into the defender, falls to the floor and often gets to the free throw line. Toronto wasn't a game to complain about calls. Toronto handled Boston easily.