Celtics Drop Latest WWE Style Game 89 To 96
Missed Calls Create Dangerous Situations Fire Every Ref. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
Once again the WWE, oops I mean NBA was in full blind eye mode. This was a way too physical game that was allowed by the usually horrendous NBA officials. Calls were missed the entire game right in front of the officials. Some of my personal favorites were J.J. Redick getting punched in the face, Glen Davis getting pounded by Dwight Howard clearly on the arm three times, and Thug Barnes performing a colonoscopy on Ray Allen numerous times. Dwight Howard and his thug teammate Matt Barnes were allowed to hack at will free from foul calls. In the first half Dwight sat because he was called for his infractions. The second half he was allowed to do as he pleased. I guess they felt they should even it out by bagging Perkins in the second half. The most intolerable of offenses was the Magic and they’re blatant violation of the three second rule on the defensive end the entire second half with zero calls. Are they blind or following the script?
It was not all bad news for Boston. Scary as it sounds they won three quarters of the game. The Celtics led by Ray Allen and Paul Pierce dominated in the first half. They scored at will in the paint with Rondo being his usual catalyst self. The bench came in the game and dominated. They scored often and early due the return of Marquis Daniels. Marquis buried jump shots three straight times over the smaller defender in the paint. Problem was he could only play 12 minutes due to his return for the first time since Dec. 4th. The flow was back and the Celtics were on top by 11 going into the third.
The third was ridiculous. I give the Magic zone defense credit for holding the Celtic offense to 11 points. They got a lot of help. Most of the zone resulted in three second violation after three second violation not called. Couple that with Barnes being allowed to keep his hands all over the Celtics and Dwight Howard allowed to hack everything in sight and the result was a 19 to 0 run at one point. The Celtic defense looked sloppy as the Magic buried the long range bomb a few times and finished with 35 in the quarter. Doc Rivers did a real bad job in the third. The substitutions were late, the matchups were terrible, and the timeouts were done way too late. Doc consistently waits way too long to talk to this team about what is ailing them. Down 17 at one point in the fourth the Celtics would rally to cut it to 5 late, but failed to convert on numerous opportunities and grab the game back. Rondo led the team with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists. The team looked great at times and with this bench healthy and the team finally back together I expect a huge second half. Vince Carter led the Magic with 20 points. I am predicting a Huge March and April to catapult this team to the first or second seed. The return of Daniels cannot be understated. KG had a monster dunk over Howard and slowly is rounding into form. Up next is a Wednesday tilt in New Orleans without Chris Paul. The Celtics should win. However, in this league dominated by refs, anything can happen.
