schneider@vlnvax.DEC (05/19/85)
<> i've said it time and time again. the celtics are protected by the league
<> office and the referees. not that they need it, they have a lot of good
<> players and one great player. only by playing in boston could ainge get
<> away with the body blocks (off the ball of course) and general ROUGH play
<> that he gets away with every game.
<I'm not an Ainge fan, or a Celtic fan for that matter, but if anyone in
<the NBA is being protected it's Dantley and Erving, in that order.
<You know, run over people and shoot 2 free throws, 3 1/2 steps to the
<basket etc. etc. Boston wins because they play basic basketball, they
<run and they hit the open man. It's simple, if you don't get down the
<floor against Boston, you lose.
<The REAL Eastern team will be back soon now that the Knicks have this
<year's first pick, and neither Philly nor Boston will be a factor anymore
<anyway.
The Celtics win a lot of games because they play great basketball and
have great talent. But there's between 5 and 10 games a year that they
win when the end of the game has denigrated to professional wrestling.
Anything goes if the Celtics are down and there's two minutes left, and
it disgusts this fan among others. People usually attribute this to:
"they wanted it more" or some such nonsense. It may be true, but if
they have to subvert the rules to get "it", the win is a farce.
Its time the NBA does something concerning the referees. I'm not
saying they are bad or completely at fault, but games are being
decided by who can get away with the most fouls at the end of the
game. Watch a struggle for a big rebound at the end of a close game.
There are probably three or four simultaneous fouls being committed,
and usually none get called. The Celtics being bigger and stronger
than most teams perhaps wisely but unfairly propogate this kind of
play, and thus receive great benefits from it. Its time the NBA does
something because the situation will only get worse as other teams
rush to compete at the same level of disgrace. The two fouls in the
last two minutes rule has only been effective if one team is safely
ahead. Otherwise it doesn't matter as long as the referees choke on
the whistle during the close ones. Games shouldn't be decided by fouls,
but its worse if its decided by a lack of them.
I respect the Lakers for not going out after last year's
playoff and adding a bruiser to the roster as much as I disrespect
the Celtics for keeping ML Carr on the roster. I yearn to see the game
return to the day when it was compared to ballet rather than
guerilla warfare.
Daniel Schneider
{decvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vlnvax!schneider