You got to love the playoffs.
Despite Paul Pierce being ejected late in the fourth quarter, the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers on the road in Overtime.
The Pacers closed the game playing terrible, missing shot after shot. I forgot exactly the stat Inside the NBA showed on the game, but it was something like, 5-28 from the 5:00 mark of the 4th Quarter through overtime. Regardless, this was Indiana's chance to clinch at home, and they completely blew it.
Charles Barkley had a problem with the officials ejecting Pierce out of the game. If you didn't see it, Jamal Tinsley had reached around Paul Pierce and hit him in the face (And what the hell was that bandage doing on Pierce's face during the press conference?). Pierce reacted by throwing an elbow, and Tinsley fell on the floor. I say it like that because it looked as if Tinsley flopped a bit. Barkley argued that the refs shouldn't have thrown Pierce out because it could have blown the game for the Pacers.
I disagree with Barkley for two reasons. First, Pierce wasn't given a flagrant intentional foul (yes you can call that). This was his second tech of the night, which meant he should have watched himself after the first one. Second, Barkley had a good point about emotions and knee-jerk reactions, but we aren't questioning if he meant to do it. The fact is, he did it, and the officials have an obligation to step in and make the call. You can make an argument that Tinsley flopped, but how hard he hit Tinsley with the elbow makes no difference. Pierce had no business throwing the elbow to begin with.
Whether he meant to do it or not is irrelevant. If officials have to discern whether a player meant to make a violation, then they'd rarely call anything. I'm sure Tinsley will say he didn't mean to hit Pierce in the face, but Pierce reacted anyway. And if the officials didn't step in there and make a decision, Tinsley might have gotten up and retaliated, and then you have a problem.
I also don't like the growing assumption that officials are supposed to make calls for 3 3/4 quarters and then are supposed to swallow their whistles for the last minutes of the game. First of all, I haven't seen that rule in any handbook. I know an official can't catch everything that goes on, but if you're an official, and you see a violation, you call it. I can probably see letting some go in a blowout, so you can simply get the game over with. But when you're in a tight game and an official swallows the whistle, you place the team that's in the lead at a disadvantage because you're allowing possible turnovers for reaching in, or pushing, or contact while in the air, as well as other violations.
There's a reason why there is a six-foul rule, free throw shooting, and the like; to deter players from committing those kinds of acts, particularly when trying to gain an advantage on the opposing team. And I see where Charles and Kenny are coming from, because they're players and they've been fouled out, and have been called for techs at the end of the game, and the like. But the rules are there for a reason, and no team is entitled to a comeback or a lead by changing those rules in the middle of the game.
Want an example? Take Houston's win over Dallas game.
There were several occasions tonight where the officials could and possibly should have called intentional or flagrant fouls. Josh Howard nailed Yao Ming in the third quarter and sent him flying, and had his teammates not been in front of him (and a bit of clumsy feet by Yao, which had McGrady laughing) Yao would have probably gotten into an altercation with Howard.
Later on, Bob Sura (or SARA, as Magic calls him) decided to get back at Howard for it. He grabbed Howard while he was driving to the lane and threw him down. That was an obvious intentional foul, yet the refs simply called it a personal. A scuffle ensued until the refs calmed it down.
Considering the emotion of the prior games along with Van Gundy's complaint about a Yao Ming conspiracy and the subsequent $100,000 fine, I was almost sure that it would escalate into a fight around the end of this game. Lucky for the officials, it didn't, because they would have had no one but themselves to blame.
And they didn't escape criticism by either team, as I wouldn't be surprised if Avery Johnson, Jerry Stackhouse (Tarheel!), and Van Gundy again got fined tomorrow afternoon. Thus, officials simply need to call their game and when they see the guys getting to physical and emotions are getting high, make a stand to stop it before it gets out of hand. In Game 7, I guarantee you someone will throw hands if officials allow the same things they did in last night's game.