*** Game!

[Ryan W]

Even though I'm too young to have caught the Cowens
era, and only caught the tale-end of the Bird Era (88'
onwards), I too value old time, hard-nosed basketball.
 Unfortunately, today's athletes are too big and too
muscular to allow to straight up hit people or
clothesline one another.  And if you factor in the
fact that this is a multi-million dollar business, the
commissioners and owners have rightly acted to protect
their investments.  It sucks for the game of
professional basketball, but it had to happen when the
big money came into the game.  

And I have called multiple times for Doc to get T's
when the team is getting hosed by the officials.  But
he never does.  Now I'm beginning to see why.  It's
not his personality and therefore it's not right for
him to do it.  It's my personality and Tommy's
personality and probably Cowens's personality to get
Ts and fly off the handle, but not Doc's.  But we
gotta accept who he is.  And while the early part of
the playoffs were rough for him, I think it's also
important to recognize that Doc has actually gotten
better as a coach as the playoffs have gone on, making
the right moves down the stretch (playing Posey last
night in the fourth quarter, after Ray had it going on
in the first half) time and time again.  He's playing
Rondo for better or worse and has realized that it's
not whether he's making his shots, it's whether he's
taking his shots.  Doc has done good.  He's the
perfect coach for the this team right now.

I think you also make a good point about our offense
being unleashed in the Finals.  The Lakers are not
that good defensively.

I also agreed 100% with Doc, we could not have
scripted a better path to the Finals.  We're
battle-tested now; we've done Game 7s, we've won on
the road, we've had multiple role players step up time
to time and win games for us; our big 3 has been just
big enough to get it done.  

Last, I hope these 6 days are enough to get Tony
healthy.  We could really use his athleticism against
Kobe and don't forget that Tony had 23 points, and
STARTED at point guard in our win at LA.  He's a good
matchup in this series, though it's anybody's guess if
he can shake off the rust.  Historically, he's not
that good coming back from injuries (that's an
understatement), so we'll see I guess.  But I have the
feeling that every player on this team will contribute
before it's said and done.

Ryan 
--- Troy Hash <troynsusiehash at alltel.net> wrote:

> Good points!  I am old time basketball from the days
> of Cowens, Bird, etc.
> when clothes lines & punching seldom drew fouls,
> period! Way before the
> league became wimpy with flagrant 1s & 2s.  I think
> the coach has to defend
> his players, he gets T'd up there period.  BUT, I
> agree that Doc keeping his
> composure and most importantly Paul keeping his, did
> turn out to be a game
> changing decision.  Maybe this was a coincidence or
> not, but after that
> horrendous call, if appeared that the refs backed
> off.  They let both teams
> play.
> 
> This was probably the best thing that could happen
> to us!  We close on the
> road, we survive several circumstances that were
> against us, calls, KG
> fouls, etc AND we come from behind in the 4th! 
> Great win.  One statement
> that Doc made in post game that I 100% agree with,
> "we could not have
> scripted a better way to go into the finals!"  Our
> confidence is high from
> overcoming all the things we did.  I know the Lakers
> will be tough, namely
> KOBE will get all the calls especially in the 4th,
> BUT the Lakers are no
> where near as good defensively as the Cavs or
> Detroit.  I think our offense
> will feel like an anchor has been removed from its
> legs!  I can't wait!!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: celtics-bounces at igtc.com
> [mailto:celtics-bounces at igtc.com] On Behalf
> Of Ryan W
> Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 12:59 AM
> To: 'The Boston Celtics Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: *** Game!
> 
> That play might have been the turning point of the
> game.  Paul laughed it off, kept his composure and
> was
> the fucking truth down the stretch of the 4th
> quarter
> when we made our run.  There were some on this list
> that questioned our composure.  Well, you were
> wrong.
> We have championship composure.  It's not just
> something you have or you don't; you have to earn
> it.
> We've earned it.
> 
> And yes the refs were doing all they could to
> guarantee a game 7.  In all my years of watching and
> playing basketball, I've never seen that a call like
> that against Pierce.  If the defender's in the air,
> it's an accepted practice that you can jump into his
> body and get the call.  Billups did it like 3 or 4
> times in game  6 alone.  I've never seen an
> offensive
> foul call in that kind of scenario.  Maybe a travel.
> Maybe a no call.  But an offensive foul?  That's an
> outright terrible call.  There is no excuse for
> making
> that call.  Bennett Salvatore didn't even know what
> he
> was calling. Initially, he gestured for a blocking
> call.  And then later verbally he said it was an
> offensive call.  His mind was willing to make a
> terrible, unjustifiable call, but his body was not.
> I'd like to see the NBA come out and say that was a
> bad call.
> 
> And if I was Doc, I would have been thrown out.  I
> would have probably thrown a chair or choked a ref.
> Or choked a ref with a chair.  It would not have
> been
> pretty.  But you know what?  Doc did the right thing
> because he was trying to set an example to his team
> about how to react to terrible calls.  And you know
> what?  It worked.
> 
> Ryan
> --- Troy Hash <troynsusiehash at alltel.net> wrote:
> 
> > Haven't complained much about the officiating this
> > series, but this is total
> > *#@*!!!    The call just minutes ago on Pierce, a
> > potential 4 point play,
> > total crap!!  A guy in the air is YOURS!  Billups,
> > Reggie Miller, etc have
> > made careers on this!  But what bothered me more
> was
> > that Doc did NOT even
> > pick up a T!  He has to take up for his players,
> he
> > has too!  Most coaches
> > would have been tossed right there with good
> reason,
> > if nothing else to make
> > a statement for the next game if needed.  What
> does
> > Doc do, about 30 seconds
> > later, camera shows him smiling!  I just want to
> > punch him in the face!!
> > The refs have guaranteed a game 7!!
> >
> >
> >
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> 
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