Game 5: Was It Fixed?

Fixed.

It’s a word that seldom comes off of my tongue. But after the recent Celtics game and 5 losses my tongue has become loose. At the start of the game, Howard drove to the basket for a dunk as Pierce stepped in front to take the charge and he did - except there was no call. The whistles seemed to never blow, never blow unless a player in Green was nearby.

A whopping 7 technicals were handed out over the course of one game with a majority of them being handed to the C’s. Perkins was thrown out of the game last night for a cheap foul. Now, I don’t know what he was saying, or even if he said anything but that ‘T’ did not need to be thrown. Now Perk is a talker, everyone knows that. But you’re going to throw him out of the game for walking away? This makes no sense at any angle you look at it. It reminds me of the ejection Artest got after getting in Kobe ’s face in last seasons playoffs. No, I’m not saying Perkins was going to fight but the ref threw him out and called the foul because of his history. You can’t always escape it, even in the NBA. How a situation is handled the first time is how similar situations are handled throughout the player’s whole career.  They are labeled. It’s not right but it happens. Had that been Ray Allen arguing a call then walking away we probably wouldn’t have seen this. Especially if it was a star player like a Dwight Howard who argues calls just as much as Perkins.

This is just horrible. I know this is quite a throwback but it sort of reminds me of the Lakers’ Kings Series. Something about this game just doesn’t feel right. It feels... well, fixed.

 Now in no way I am I saying that the whole game wasn’t the Celtic’s fault, you have to put points on the board, play defense and play smart. But this ‘T’ changed the whole game and maybe the series. The Celtic’s weren’t allowed to play a physical game, but the Magic sure were. On Howard’s first attempt Pierce planted his feet and drew a charge. But it wasn’t called.  I sat up and looked for the foul but nothing was called. Then Glenn Davis receives an elbow to his face courtesy of Dwight Howard that gave him a concussion, nearly knocking him out. Now, yes it was an accident, but so is Nelson supposedly ‘tripping’ on a pick and roll. If you’re going to call one call, call them all. Did they do this?

No.

This game smells “fishy” to anybody who watched it or heard about it. I’ve never seen such bad officiating in my entire short 17 year old life. I would almost like to play that game over, but we all know that is impossible. So now they have to move on, potentially down two big men.  And to think that it all started with one ejection from the game. This brings that ‘us against the world’ attitude back into Glenn Rivers hands. So now we need to see the grit that this team possesses and they will have to grind one out. If not, I believe they lose the series. The one sided play in Orlando was horrendous and may happen again if there is a return for game 7 so why chance it? I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes about these issues but it is how I feel. In a world now where basketball is based more around money and profit it’s not too hard to believe. I’m mean, 3 series sweeps in one of the more competitive rounds can’t be too great financially.  And then your money train that is LeBron James is thrown out by a group of men thought to be too old. Let’s face it, the Celtics were the spoilers this year and after one a deciding game now, they maybe foiled. So the refs made sure it wasn’t close at all. They put players into foul trouble and therefore stopping aggression against defense and offence, so now there is and will be another game played. This makes the NBA look horrible and greedy.  The 22 no shooting fouls on only key players does look strange. The only thing I wonder is who is behind this operation if there is one?

Stern?  The refs?

I’ve talked to fans from other teams and even people who just watch these playoff games for sport. No one understands what happened in that game. I have yet to talk to a Magic fan yet but I’m sure some will disclose what happened. It sucks for them because their team actually played a pretty good game. The Magic shot their threes for the most part and played pretty good defense. Some shots were opened, though, by the calls. But either way it will be overshadowed by this because it did aid them even if they didn’t want it. What I say when I talk with my friends is bunch of ‘ifs’. My dad had a poem called “If” he was taught to recite in college (any member of the Omega Phi Psi fraternity should know what I’m talking about). The poem basically explains that ‘ifs’ get you nowhere; you have to ‘do’. So now it is time for the Boston Celtics to ante up. The Celtics have to move on and use this experience as the flame to light their match so that they can start playing with the pride and skill we all know they have. To any one in the organization who reads this, know I’m behind my team 100% for better or worse. I’m also sure I’m not the only fan that feels that way. So when the lights come down at the end of the series, Celtics know that we have your backs even if others don’t.