Celtics (0-0) at Hawks (0-0) Game 1 4/29

[Smitty77]

Pleeeease show me the video of the play just prior to the Hawks getting the ball.  It was 100% clear that it should have been Celtics' ball and Davis looked right at Rondo and pointed Atlanta's way, sort of to say up your's son.

Smitty77

[syfy9]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m-stGlism8

2:12

This was the play prior to Rondo's ejection.

Josh Smith rolled around 2 times with the ball in his possession. It should have been a travel before a foul on Bass.

[ConfusedGrizzFan]

Just a little introduction, I'm a Grizzlies' fan and I consider myself a neutral party in this Atlanta v Boston series. I have a little hobby where I find myself browsing other teams' forums and seeing all the fan reactions to each game.

Now, what I'm noticing about a lot of these comments is the trend of calling out the "bad officiating." I understand we can all be homers at times, but using bad officiating to justify your team being out-finessed and out-hustled is a bad excuse.

Everyone seems to be pointing out the play leading up to Rondo's ejection as the prime example of the biased officiating, but I just don't see it how the hell you can call that a jumpball. How does Brandon Bass jumping on top of Josh Smith's back, dragging him down to the ground, and then pulling his shoulder back down warrant a jumpball? To my knowledge, both players have to have clear possession of the ball and this was not the case.

I just want to know what you guys are seeing in that particular play that makes you think it was a bad call..

[cman88]

Just a little introduction, I'm a Grizzlies' fan and I consider myself a neutral party in this Atlanta v Boston series. I have a little hobby where I find myself browsing other teams' forums and seeing all the fan reactions to each game.

Now, what I'm noticing about a lot of these comments is the trend of calling out the "bad officiating." I understand we can all be homers at times, but using bad officiating to justify your team being out-finessed and out-hustled is a bad excuse.

Everyone seems to be pointing out the play leading up to Rondo's ejection as the prime example of the biased officiating, but I just don't see it how the hell you can call that a jumpball. How does Brandon Bass jumping on top of Josh Smith's back, dragging him down to the ground, and then pulling his shoulder back down warrant a jumpball? To my knowledge, both players have to have clear possession of the ball and this was not the case.

I just want to know what you guys are seeing in that particular play that makes you think it was a bad call..

the jump ball shouldve been called way before the foul was...I dont recall bass dragging him to the ground on that play..

[ConfusedGrizzFan]

the jump ball shouldve been called way before the foul was...I dont recall bass dragging him to the ground on that play..
[/quote]

Maybe I was a little too emphatic in using the word dragging, but Bass's momentum carried Josh backwards. It's still not to my understanding how you see it as a bad call when Brandon Bass jumps, quite literally, on top of Josh. The fact that the ref didn't call Brandon Bass on bringing Josh down is a testament to fair officiating.

Now the out of bounds call on the other hand..

[j804]

The worse part about the loss they now got all the confidence in the world

[xExCeLz.05]

The Hawks came into this came on fire but once our defense settled, we held our opponent's offense to under 20 Pts per quarter after the 1st.  This will make the Hawks reconsider their shot attempts in the next game.

[CelticSooner]

Just got done watching the game. C's really lost this game when they let ATL score 31 in the first quarter. C's were out of sync the majority of the game. All things considered they probably still should have won the game. I can't see the C's going 0-11 from three again. ATL takes some really terrible shots and Josh Smith was hitting shots he usually bricks.

The worst part was Rondo getting himself suspended for the next game. Just hurt the team chances in Game 2 for his hothead antics.

[j804]

Just got done watching the game. C's really lost this game when they let ATL score 31 in the first quarter. C's were out of sync the majority of the game. All things considered they probably still should have won the game. I can't see the C's going 0-11 from three again. ATL takes some really terrible shots and Josh Smith was hitting shots he usually bricks.

The worst part was Rondo getting himself suspended for the next game. Just hurt the team chances in Game 2 for his hothead antics.

KG was giving him to much space to start the game, once he bodied him up the shots did stop falling.

[GDAbraham]

the jump ball shouldve been called way before the foul was...I dont recall bass dragging him to the ground on that play..

Maybe I was a little too emphatic in using the word dragging, but Bass's momentum carried Josh backwards. It's still not to my understanding how you see it as a bad call when Brandon Bass jumps, quite literally, on top of Josh. The fact that the ref didn't call Brandon Bass on bringing Josh down is a testament to fair officiating.

Now the out of bounds call on the other hand..

The bit of contact/scrambling for the ball in playoff pressure situations is usually at least allowed to go until there's clear possession. And normally this sort of thing ends in a jump ball (which Atlanta probably would have won in this case). It's less the potential jump ball thing and more that one particular official was making the game far too much about him making big, splashy, hasty calls and handing out crucial techs for even the slightest disagreement (not the second, but the first). I consider this team "my" team and support them to the end and all that, but I'm not blind to the fact that they let this game get away from them and Atlanta hustled and scratched and clawed. I wouldn't necessarily call it "dominating" and "finesse" considering how terrible the Celtics played with a number of players trying to get their rhythm back after a lot of rest. However, Atlanta HAD earned this one and MAYBE would have pulled it out all on their own. I think for the rational fan it comes down to wanting to see games decided between players.

Also, since you don't follow this team you probably didn't see one of the last games between these two in the regular season. I watch multiple games from multiple teams throughout the year and it was one of the worst officiated games I'd seen in some time. Not just one guy, but virtually all calls going whichever way were horrid. And it only got worse in the late quarters. It began to go Atlanta's way and the blatant swaying was so painfully obvious that even the Hawks players were looking around at the rest of the players on the court like, "Beats us, man". I understand home court advantage. I even understand genuine errors. If you watch long enough, you can see refs going beyond home court or superstar advantage and playing to crowds or making the storyline about them.

And that's really all it is. For whatever team that's out there. Playoff basketbal shouldl be about the teams and the players.

[Celtics4ever]

Crawford is bad too but Davis has to be his lost brother, these guys are two of the worst refs ever.  They think they are bigger than the game.  No one goes to the game to watch the refs.