It's been rough with officials

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's been rough with officials

Indiana not team that's setting pace

By Shira Springer, Globe Staff, 5/1/2003

ALTHAM - In a physical series, foul trouble is always a factor. But
surprisingly, the Celtics have been a more popular target for officials than
the notoriously rough Pacers. Two Boston players have been ejected for Type 2
flagrant fouls - Tony Battie and Mark Blount. Eric Williams has received a
Type 1 flagrant foul. Antoine Walker fouled out of Game 3. Williams fouled out
of Game 5, and Battie and Walker came close to following suit.



'' Jermaine O'Neal is very physical and a difficult matchup for us to make,''
said coach Jim O'Brien. ''Eric on either [ Al] Harrington or [ Ron] Artest,
very physical guys. If you're only playing Eric Williams 25 minutes, then you
can get away with that. But he's playing a lot of minutes. We've shortened our
rotation because we think it's the best way to win this particular playoff
series because of the matchups.

''You try to avoid foul trouble, but at the same time you don't want to lose
your aggressiveness defensively. But the more minutes you're on the court, the
greater the chances of getting into some foul trouble. Am I concerned about
it? Yes, I am. But if some guy gets into foul trouble, like Tony, we have
Mark. If we don't feel comfortable when Mark's in there, then we go to a
smaller lineup.''

Non-call wasn't blown

Speaking of fouls, it wasn't the calls that O'Brien disagreed with in Game 5,
but the no call at the end of regulation. On the Celtics' final possession,
Pierce drove inside. Artest followed Pierce to the basket, where the cocaptain
met O'Neal underneath. O'Brien thought a foul should have been called, but he
wasn't exactly surprised when he didn't hear a whistle.

''I think the officiating of the Artest-Pierce matchup has been very
consistent for five games,'' said O'Brien. ''Did Paul get fouled, as an
example, driving to the basket at the end of the game? Of course he got
fouled. But that's not going to happen. Don't expect the calls. That's the way
playoff basketball is officiated. Our guys understand that and we're looking
for no handouts.''

Unsightly brick work

Just how strange was it to play all five minutes of the Celtics' scoreless
overtime and watch teammates' shots not even come close? Tony Delk knows.
Although the point guard did not attempt a shot in overtime, he did contribute
a pair of defensive rebounds. ''It is [a weird thing],'' said Delk. ''We had
shots at it. They only scored one field goal. Both teams were really playing
hard. One of those games like that somebody had to be on the losing end. It
was unfortunate.'' ... O'Brien may not read the papers, but he does know NBA
pundits picked the Pacers as the clear favorites. And that makes the
opportunity to close out the series in Game 6 even more special. ''It's nice
to be in a series where you're playing the sixth game at home against an
opponent that everybody thought would beat you in five,'' said O'Brien ... For
the record: On March 20, 1951, Philadelphia failed to score against Syracuse
in overtime in the pre-shot clock days... Tonight's Game 6 starts at 7 on both
FSNE and TBS, the sixth different starting time in the series. Mike Gorman and
Tom Heinsohn have the FSNE call, with Marv Albert and Mike Fratello working
the TBS broadcast. TNT and TBS will have doubleheaders tonight (all Game 6s):
Nets-Bucks is on TNT at 8 ( Dick Stockton, Jeff Van Gundy) followed by
Timberwolves-Lakers at 10:30 ( Kevin Harlan, John Thompson , Danny Ainge). On
TBS, Celtics-Pacers is followed by Spurs-Suns at 9:30 ( Mike Breen, Dan
Majerle)... Get your tickets: The FleetCenter box office is open today at 11
a.m. for anyone who purchased Game 6 tickets through TicketMaster.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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