Turns out that horrible decision by the refs to allow Portland a basket even though they had 6 men on the court cost the Celtics the game. But not because the refs blew it, because the team couldn't move past it:
"That was awful," Rivers said. "It absolutely had an affect on our guys. They complained the rest of the game about it. I told them, 'You got to get over that.' That was a doozy. There is no excuse for that to happen.
It disturbs me that the defending champs, a team with strong veteran leadership, could not look past that moment in the game. How could they not come out after halftime and put it behind them? For what its worth, here's the officials explanation of the call:
Said referee Mike Callahan, "If we would have caught the six men on the court before the made field goal, then there would have been no score. We would have called a technical foul on Portland and stopped play."After the technical foul shot, Portland would have inbounded the ball as they were in possession before the stoppage."
Still doesn't make sense to me.
As for Eddie House taking the last shot...I am fine with it. Even when E-House is ice cold, I still have faith he'll nail the next jumper. My only gripe is that he fired up a 3 with 10 seconds left, there was time to get a better shot.
Here's what KG had to say about all the criticism regarding their trash talk:
“Hey, look here, man,” Kevin Garnett said after yesterday morning’s shootaround. “We’re not here to be liked. And when we’re out there, a lot of times we’re talking to ourselves. We’re communicating amongst each other and it has nothing to do with the other team, and the other team likes to jump in or say little (expletive). A lot of that we let go. We don’t even comment on a lot of stuff, because half the guys who are talking we don’t even know their names.
Today's Links: Globe - Blazers Rattle C's | Practice Needed | Herald - Blaze of Gory | Time to Work Out Kinks| Sir Charles Busted for DUI |SI.com - Worst Official Call Ever |