Celtics-Lakers: Pierce Goes For 38, But Lakers Force Game Six

All you need to know about Game Five, summed up in nicely spaced bullet points:

1) Dick Bavetta officiating this game.

Let me get this straight: the NBA knows one of their officials is being investigated by the FBI.  Everyone is watching the Finals with a skeptical eye.

So David Stern puts Bavetta on Game Five?  A game the NBA desperately wants the home team to win? 

Are you kidding me?

David Stern needs to resign immediately.  I have never seen a more stubborn, unintelligent yet undeservedly cocky, out of touch person in my life.

(Holy crap, Kobe Bryant just complained about the refs…he is the second most stubborn, unintelligent yet undeservedly cocky person I’ve ever seen.)

2) The last four minutes.

Two different games were called in the last four minutes.  I’ve seen some lopsided officiating, but when Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett both get their fifth foul on the same possession, and neither foul can be seen on replay, there’s a problem.

You hear me, Dick Bavetta?

3) Kevin Garnett was awful.

Kevin Garnett was terrible.  Awful. 

He played terrible defense, he was terrible on the boards, he was terrible on the offensive side, and he missed clutch free throws. 

Kevin Garnett did NOTHING to change the minds of everyone who thinks he can’t come through in the clutch.

4) Paul Pierce (5 fouls), Kevin Garnett (5 fouls), Ray Allen (6 fouls).

Enough said.  But yeah, Kobe should be complaining about the officials…

5) All of the big plays made by the Lakers defensively down the stretch should have been fouls.

The steal by Kobe from Pierce was a borderline reach-in.  That said, Pierce was fouled twenty-five times on the rebound and should have been shooting free throws.

Ray Allen was fouled going to the hoop. No call.

KG was fouled posting up Gasol. No call.

Pierce was fouled going to the hoop. No call.

On the other end, it seemed like there was a foul every possession.

The sad part is, up until four minutes remaining in the game, when KG wasn’t on the floor the officials called the game pretty even. 

Speaking of that…

6)    It took Kevin Garnett 13 seconds to pick up his third foul.

Almost exactly how the high-priced, L.A. movie stars would have scripted it…

7)    Relax, Games Six and Seven are in Boston.

All this said, the Celtics still have a strangle-hold on this series. 

Game Six is in Boston, and there’s no way the Lakers play like they played tonight and still win on Tuesday in Boston.

Just no way.

Sean Crowe is a Senior Writer at Bleacher Report. You can email him at scrowe@gmail.com. His archive can be found here. You can find everything he writes, including articles for other publications, here.

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