12/03/24
May 02, 2011
Heat Beats Celtics, Grizzlies Maul Thunder: In the east, Dwyane Wade scored a game-high 38 points as the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics 99-90 to open their playoff series. In the west, Zach Randolph scored 34 and rebounded 10 in the Memphis Grizzlies' 114-101 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in their opener.
posted by rcade to basketball at 11:51 AM - 8 comments
The Celtics - Heat series looks like it'll be a typical NBA playoffs where the home team gets the benefit of the officiating each game (bad move by the Celts not securing home court advantage).
Winner here should be favored for the East title barring some pretty substantial injuries.
posted by cixelsyd at 02:32 PM on May 02, 2011
Oh please. Jones' foul was a flagrant and the "head butt" had no cocking whatsoever. He runs his face into him without any force at all. He's even talking the whole time he does it. It was stupid for him to make contact, and he deserved a T, but that wasn't a head butt. He took more impact to the head via Jones' elbow than Jones received from his cheek.
Wade then intentionally runs into Pierce and stares him down. Pierce talks to him and gets another T and chucked. I wanted to say "Pierce should be a vet and not retaliate"...but he didn't. He talked and got chucked. It was bogus and blatant home-court officiating. You can't double technical a guy who is intentionally fouled twice by two different players.
That said, it wasn't the turning point in the game; the Celtics were flat and Rondo wasn't his usual, electric self. They need way more in game 2.
posted by dfleming at 04:25 PM on May 02, 2011
the "head butt" had no cocking whatsoever.
Hah, I was all set to snark "spoken like a true fan (because, comon, that's a funny defense for a headbutt). But I clicked through to the video (I had turned off the game by then) and yeah, that is not a headbutt. carry on
posted by mtg at 08:39 PM on May 02, 2011
ah, I was all set to snark "spoken like a true fan (because, comon, that's a funny defense for a headbutt).
Well, it's the difference between a push, which won't get you suspended, and a punch, which will get you suspended. They're both uses of force with the hands, but one's got a lot more potential energy built up and can cause more damage.
posted by dfleming at 09:50 PM on May 02, 2011
I was agreeing with you. Though I'd say "that's not a headbutt" rather than calling it a headbutt with no cocking.
posted by mtg at 02:09 AM on May 03, 2011
the "head butt" had no cocking whatsoever.
Well, I said 'facebutt' with a question mark. So, yeah, I don't think it's a head butt either. I do think that gets you closer to being tossed than your average technical so it's hard for me to get worked up about the light technical later.
I don't think the James Jones foul should be a flagrant. I'm not sure what Pierce expects to happen when he does that pump fake and lean in. He's done it enough to know that the defender is going to try to tie him up once he's in the air. I wouldn't mind seeing the Wade foul called a flagrant. Wade just drops the shoulder and accelerates. At the very least it would have been nice to see the ref give Pierce some leeway on his reaction after that. Seriously, what could Pierce have said in that timeframe that was worth a T?
posted by tron7 at 02:11 AM on May 03, 2011
Watching the clip, it's a blatant flagrant foul by James followed by a soccer style flop. James did not make a play on the ball at all and grabs Pierce around the neck. Correct call would have been foul James for the shooting foul, elevated to flagrant foul James for the ensuing neck grab, Technical to both for the dance afterwards.
Heat were at home, hence the officiating pattern. Pierce needs to realize that and do his best to play through it. If he stays in the game the Celtics had a chance no matter how poorly they played.
NBA Officiating sucks. The technical on the Wade charge was brutal ... extremely poor control of the game, the situation, and players.
posted by cixelsyd at 12:40 PM on May 03, 2011
I'd love to get all pissy about Pierce getting that second technical but he probably could have gotten tossed outright when he facebutted (?) James Jones.