Re: Celtics had a growth spurt

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

>>>>>Shawn wrote:

How many times per night do we see him driving and 3 or 4 defenders
converge on him and hit him while he is in the air with no whistle?



>>>>>I think you've answered your own question. Officials see Pierce driving
wildly into a crowd of defenders and throwing his body into them to get
bailed out. They don't reward that kind of play for anyone. Pierce is
out of control during his drives to the basket far more than most stars.
>>>>>Watch Kobe. Watch Iverson. They're under control.

Interesting hypothesis.  However, the wonderfully under control Kobe has had 
68 offensive fouls in the last two years while the horribly out of control 
Pierce has had 73.
Hardly much of a difference.  
Look, every player who goes to the basket hard will get his fair share of 
offensive fouls.  That doesn't keep the officials from calling the game fairly.  
Pierce isn't the worst offender, in fact he isn't even in the top 6.  I 
haven't seen officials change the way they call a game for Jermain O'Neal (44 last 
year) or Richard Hamilton (46).  It is up to the officials to take each play on 
it's own merit and not to presume one way or the other.  

Point is only one of the offensive foul calls against him last night even 
remotely resembled the scenario you put forth.  That was the first one.  It was 
also a horrible call because the defender was still moving forward when they 
collided, never mind when Pierce took off. Of the other two the second one was a 
complete joke.  Paul made a move away from the defender, not into him.  They 
didn't even touch.  The guy knew he was beat so he flopped. How any official 
fell for that is beyond me.  The third was the most legit of the three but I've 
seen far worse not called.  Still, being it was his 6th it's not unreasonable 
to say it was a stupid foul. 
There are plenty of times he beats his man and gets hit or grabbed by other 
guys with no call.  It happened in the first half last night.  He weaved his 
way beautifully through defenders while two guys grabbed at his arms from either 
side and a third grabbed ahold of his pants from behind all without a single 
official seeing anything wrong. 
He didn't throw himself at anyone and he was perfectly under control.  So why 
no foul?
Don't tell me that Michael Redd wouldn't have gotten that call last night.  
He went to the line 11 times without near that kind of contact.  
I think Paul hit the nail on the head last night.  We aren't getting calls 
because we aren't winning.  We didn't win last night partly because we didn't 
get calls (except for Hunter who couldn't make them anyway).  It all a viscous 
cycle. And it's not just Paul.  However, the sad thing is even Chicago and 
Orlando gets calls at home.  Paul actually has gotten more free throws on the road 
this year than at home, by a large margin.  

TAM