Something Foul About These Finals

Something foul about these Finals
Posted by Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Staff June 9, 2010 01:00 PM

It's official, the 2010 NBA Finals have become the whistle-stop tour, and we have Phil Jackson's public posturing to thank for it.

I don't think officiating is why the Celtics lost Game 3 last night to go down two games to one to the Lakers. That had a lot more to do with another slow start for Paul Pierce, Ray Allen's 0-fer, and Derek Fisher's fourth-quarter heroics.

Yet, it would be gross negligence at this point to fail to mention the impact officiating is having on the series. Jackson is a master motivator of players and master manipulator of officials.

He is like Obi-Wan Kenobi when it comes to planting a thought in the collective conscious of the whistle-blowers. He did it before the Lakers played Oklahoma City, talking about the favorable treatment Kevin Durant got. Before the Western Conference finals he intimated that Steve Nash gets away with palming the basketball. The idea he pushed before the series was that the Celtics were a knock-down, drag-out, WWE outfit. He called them a "smackdown" team.

It is merely a coincidence then that a member of the Big Three has been saddled with foul difficulty in each of the first three contests? In Game 1 it was Ray Allen, who was taken out of his rhythm with five fouls. In Game 2, it was Kevin Garnett with five personals. Last night, Pierce had the honors, as he accumulated five fouls.

Pierce started off 0-5 from the field for the second straight game, and is clearly off his game. He was also out of the game for long stretches.

"You know. Paul never got a rhythm," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "Every time he came on the floor, another whistle blows and he had to sit down. He was completely taken out of the game by the foul calls. I'll give [Ron] Artest credit when he deserves it, but today it was more that Paul Pierce had to sit on the bench. He'd play five minutes, have to go back down four minutes have to sit. I mean he wasn't allowed to play. They didn't allow him to play tonight."

Rivers went on to say that the Lakers getting foul calls on Pierce "was their best play."

Ouch, Doc.

Now, in fairness it should be pointed out that Lakers players have encountered some foul trouble too. The referees deigned to call five fouls on Kobe Bryant in Game 2, which is virtually hoops heresy. Of course there was a better chance of Kobe garnering an Emmy for his appearance on "Modern Family" than of being fouled out in a Finals game.

Perhaps, the most egregious call or non-call of the series was Ray Allen colliding with Kobe chest-to-chest on a fast-break lay-up late in Game 2. The officials swallowed their whistles so hard as Allen thudded to the floor that the Heimlich Maneuver couldn't have dislodged them.

The Lakers shot 41 free throws in Game 2 to Boston's 26, one free throw more than Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum had combined.

After that game, Philosopher Phil critiqued and tweaked the officials. "I wasn't happy with those calls," said Jackson.

Of course he wasn't. When is he ever? Phil was working it once again, and it worked.

There is really nothing Rivers can do about it, except try to cry foul over Jackson's politicking.

"I'm just miffed and amazed how the other team complained about the fouls since we've been the team that's been in foul trouble for two games," Rivers said prior to Game 3. "Maybe they do different math there or something. I don't get that one."

Let's do some math of our own.

The Celtics were the home team last night, which is usually an NBA euphemism for the team that will get the calls, and while each team went to the free throw line 24 times, the Celtics were called for seven more fouls than their West Coast counterparts (27-20) by Messrs. Danny Crawford, Bennett Salvatore and Bill Kennedy.

Through the first three games of the series, the Lakers have taken 10 more free throws than the Celtics (96 to 86) and been whistled for nine fewer personal fouls (75 to Boston's 84).

The Celtics averaged 22.1 fouls per game during the regular season. Coming into this series, the Celtics were averaging 24.5 fouls per game in the playoffs. They've been called for 28 per game in the first three games of this series. The Lakers were averaging 23.6 fouls per game prior to the Finals. They've been called for 25 fouls per game in this series.

So, the Celtics foul average has increased by 3.5 fouls and the Lakers by about 1.5. That's what we call a discretion discrepancy.

Not surprisingly, the Lakers don't see it that way.

"I don't know, man, the referees they're calling it tight on both parts. They're reffing it fair I think," said Artest, the only player to foul out so far in the series.

"I thought they called it fair. Even in Game 2, I thought they kind of called it fair. [It's] not just because we won, even when we lost I thought they called it fair. Sometimes you can be frustrated with the referees, but it's a hard game to call. Both teams are complaining all the time, so something's got to be either right or wrong, but I know both teams are complaining the whole time."

Some are going to want to bring up the three replays last night. I went back and watched each of the out of bounds replays -- all of which came in the final 1:29 -- and to the crew's credit they got them all correct. On the last one, following a missed Pierce free throw, Rajon Rondo actually fouled Lamar Odom, forcing the ball out of bounds.

For once, there was no call and the Celtics got the ball. Should have been Odom at the free throw line.

The Celtics can't blame the officials for being down 2-1 in this series. They have to play better, but something definitely smells a little foul about Jackson's public pleas to the referees and their results.


http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/gasper/2010/06/something_foul.html

Even if you disagree with there being a slight bias in favor of the Lakers - you cannot dispute that the refs are calling WAY TOO MANY FOULS both ways in this series and it is seriously destroying the flow of the games.

My friends that are casual observers (on both coasts) have told me that too many whistles is exactly why they are not big NBA fans. I cant say I disagree at this point.

I was at the game and seeing so many phantom fouls then being proved on the Jumbotron was terribly terrible.Pierces second foul what did he do?Artest and Fisher do so much more off the ball holding and grabbing and never a call.My buddy that I went with is a Knick fan,hes impartial,he was saying how horrible the calls were.We played like crap Pierce ice cold early and Ray off whole game.....and was 1 point game and so close in 4th.Crowd was so LOUD,D was there,Kobe couldn't do squat in 4th,why wasn't he called for a foul after he kicked TA?Way too many non calls on them and ticky tack stuff that wasn't even there on us all night.At one point my son was so mad,he asked if we can sue the refs?

Just for the heck of it, I selected Celtics championship teams from different eras and calculated the average number of personal fouls they collected per playoff game. I didn't factor in anything about the opposition, and I counted only personal fouls—not other stoppages of play. So this is about as unscientific as it gets. But I found it interesting:

In the 1965 playoffs, the Celts averaged 28.7 personal fouls per game
In the 1976 playoffs, the Celts averaged 26.7 personal fouls per game
In the 1986 playoffs, the Celts averaged 22.3 personal fouls per game
In the 2008 playoffs, the Celts averaged 24.3 personal fouls per game
In the 2010 playoffs, the Celts are averaging 25.0 personal fouls per game

(Yes, I know they haven't won the championship in 2010. But this seems to be the playoffs everyone is so concerned about.)

• The differences are certainly not great.

• But, as a generalization, the highest number of fouls per game seemed to occur when play was fastest and the number of possessions was highest.

The lowest number of fouls pergame occurred during a period when I felt the Celtics were more of a half-court team that believed in dominating the paint and fast-breaking only opportunistically.

In this season's playoffs, the vast majority of play has been of the halfcourt, slowdown variety and yet the number of fouls per game is trending up toward that of the racehorse era. So perhaps people will put up with more fouls if they're rewarded by a generally faster-paced game; but it's the COMBINATION of a slower pace and more fouls (in a sense, the worst of both worlds) that drives people nuts.

Sam

cowens/oldschool wrote:I was at the game and seeing so many phantom fouls then being proved on the Jumbotron was terribly terrible.Pierces second foul what did he do?Artest and Fisher do so much more off the ball holding and grabbing and never a call.My buddy that I went with is a Knick fan,hes impartial,he was saying how horrible the calls were.We played like crap Pierce ice cold early and Ray off whole game.....and was 1 point game and so close in 4th.Crowd was so LOUD,D was there,Kobe couldn't do squat in 4th,why wasn't he called for a foul after he kicked TA?Way too many non calls on them and ticky tack stuff that wasn't even there on us all night.At one point my son was so mad,he asked if we can sue the refs?

TA should have been called for a foul when Kobe shot the jump shot. His neck/head being there is no different then if his leg was there.
Ray should have been called for multiple fouls against Fisher. I couldn't believe how he pushes off of Fisher to gain separation on almost every posession. The referees called the one in the 4th quarter that was so blatant.

Maybe he pushes off because he is being held???????????????????????????????

Fisher makes it a point to hold his arms in the air when he doesn't have to run after Ray.
Fisher's fouls are more of bumps/pushes and not holds.

tjmakz wrote:[quote="cowens/oldschool TA should have been called for a foul when Kobe shot the jump shot. His neck/head being there is no different then if his leg was there.
Ray should have been called for multiple fouls against Fisher. I couldn't believe how he pushes off of Fisher to gain separation on almost every posession. The referees called the one in the 4th quarter that was so blatant.

Couldn't disagree more with your first comment tj-
I would have called it exactly as the refs called it. There was no foul on that play, in my opinion. If Kobe had known that TA was there before and kicked him anyway it would have been a flagrant foul on Kobe but clearly Kobe and TA are both moving into the same area and Kobe doesn't even know exactly where TA is. Certainly no foul on TA, he is there and Kobe moves into him...No foul period, just an unfortunate play for TA, wrong place, wrong time.....

I am fine with a no call on TA. It didn't affect Kobe's shot.

I agree it didn't but that's not why it wasn't a foul on TA...it was neutral area and Kobe moved into it but really I think that they both moved into it around the same time, incidental contact to me.

If Kobe fell down like Reggie Miller would have, they would have had to call a foul.
Yes, incidential contact, good no call.

I wouldn't, he kicked sideways...no call, the only thing he has is the space to come back down...if he kicks at someone...foul on him....even if he falls down....but he wasn't kicking at someone...so the only foul that could be called would have been a foul on Kobe...but it was incidental no call...never would they call a foul on TA unless he went into Kobe's space or prevented him from coming down....which he didn't..
course in these playoffs, you never know

LA,

If you watch the video in the link I am posting, there is no way this could ever be called a foul on Kobe. Kobe already elevated and then TA fell in front of Kobe, not on the side.
The slow motion replay shows it perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km8PqTNy0sQ

You and I see it differently Kobe goes up then turns to side as he is shooting and kicks out into the area TA is going into...IF Kobe did it on purpose flagrant foul on him...if not..incidental contact...Kobe doesn't get to kick anywhere he wants only come down or maybe move his legs in front but he rotates sideways in the air....again either foul on Kobe for intentionally kicking to the side and kicking someone in the head, throat.. because he has rotated sideways and kicks into the area TA is going or no call...I see it as a no call

its cool ray will light fisher up in game 4. Refs are hurting both teams and that sucks. Gasol and Fisher are floppin like the fish they are. Hollywood is where they belong.

We need balanced scoring and have not had that yet due to foul trouble. If we can keep our guys the starting 5 on the floor we will mop the floor with the thespian lakers.

When asked to discuss how it was, exactly, that Laker guard Derek Fisher helped hold Ray Allen to 0-13 shooting in the Game 3 loss, Rivers seemed more than a little perturbed.

"Besides flopping," Rivers started, "he doesn't do a lot extra. He plays hard. He's been in the game long enough to understand. I thought he got away with a lot last night. I thought there was a lot of holding going on and a lot of flopping going on."

http://tinyurl.com/2wy9nlc

I do not think it is a foul on Kobe, I think it is a moving screen from Bynum though

The throat-kick by Kobe was a good non-call. If you want to split hairs, you could say that TA's unnatural position position on the ground put him in a bad place to not get called. You can't lay on the floor and then think you're not going to get called because someone runs and trips over you. You could also say that Kobe's leg kick is not a natural jumpshooting motion for him, and so he was initiating contact. Bottom line, I like the non-call even though Tony took one for the team.

I understand refs listening to coaches during the game, complain about this and that. If they listen to anything they say at the press table or in the papers, then shame on them. Not that I'm putting it past them, though. The quality of their play, IMO, is the weak link in this series.

I'm beginning to think a lot of Bynum's success and time at the charity stripe is due to Perk's technicals. He is clearly much less aggressive this series. Clearly much more tentative. Is that due to the refs in the earlier playoff series thinking that double-Ts are an easy way to calm players down without putting them in foul trouble and changing the game? Well, they didn't change the game in those series, but they have in this one.

Why don't the Lakers have the same problems? Because they didn't have Shaq and Howard and Gortat beating up on their guys for 12 games. As far as the center/PF positions go, the Lakers big men haven't had anybody like those 3 above to deal with before this. Look at the way Durant, for example, dealt with Artest's physicalness vs Pierce. Pierce is trying to be physical back and that's getting Ts. Durant tried to outrun Ron-Ron, not muscle up to him.

My 2c,

bob

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TJ-You and I are watching the same game??? Watch Fisher defend Allen tonight. He can't keep up with him so the best thing he can do is hold him and get away with it. Sorry guy, you are dead wrong here.