Another exciting game from the Lakers and the Celtics. Exactly how many stories will Laker fans have to tell their grandchildren that start out … “There was this little guy named Derek Fisher yada yada yada happily ever after”
Prior to Game #3 the Network flashed a statistic that Boston was undefeated in these playoffs when they held their opponents to under 95-points, they held the Lakers to 91 and lost by 7-points on their home court. Ray Allen going as cold as he was hot in Game #2 had something to do with that, but then again we all know who was guarding him all game long in Game #3 (#2 ). I gotta recognize Andrew Bynum for his contributions in this series. The young man is playing in pain, but he’s a beast. It’s not even his offense, which has been pretty effective so much as the way he clogs the lane on Defense. 7 blocked shots in Game #2 and when the Lakers finally decided they needed to shut down Kevin Garnett, they turned to Drew and the Big Ticket … shrank.
All right since I focused on the officiating for Game #2 I figure why stop now? But I’m going in a totally different, rather hypocritical direction to praise the officiating crew in last night’s Lakers victory over the Celtics. And rather than 5 poor calls which were the central focus of game two’s recap (rant) I’m just going to look at one call that occurred in the final minute of the game. I’m really hoping David Stern and the NBA front office get a hold of my articles since this one is going to focus on a rule change that was put in before the season and had the potential to impact Game #3.
The Rule change involved introducing instant replay to review 3-point shots during the game and during the final two minutes of the game to allow officials to use replay to review possession calls such as happened on three consecutive plays in Tuesday night’s game. Basketball is a free-flowing game that to a great extent involves rhythm and while I’m all for getting the calls correct, that was disruptive to the flow of the game as the players continually headed to their respective benches while the officials huddled around the replay monitor. Granted, it’s not as bad as the NFL, where the Replay Official has a mandated 2-minutes to review the play, but it does take time and the NBA may need to consider a sideline replay official if they are going to continue with this rule.
The Instant Replay rule came even more into play when with just about 49 seconds to play Lamar Odom rebounded a missed Celtics shot while being harassed by Rajon Rondo. It appeared that Rondo may have knocked the ball free from Odom and Danny Crawford, the Official standing right on top of the play immediately pointed the other way indicating Lakers ball. The Celtics bench and players immediately began shouting for a replay and the senior official on the crew, Bennett Salvatore came over to indicate they were going to look at the replay. If you have this game on DVR, take a look at Danny Crawford’s face as Salvatore indicates they are going to the replay. He was right on top of that play and had seen what happened. Read his lips and I believe that is just exactly what he says to Salvatore. “I saw the play”. Again Salvatore seems to be questioning Danny Crawford and indicating they are going to look at the replay and Crawford says it again. “I saw the play”.
However, the instant replay couldn’t be clearer, Danny Crawford was wrong and the ball did indeed go off the left hand of Lamar Odom. Of course, the reason it went off Lamar’s hand is Rajon Rondo grabbed Odom’s left wrist knocking the ball free and out of bounds. Right in front of Crawford who called it out of bounds off… Rondo, the player who committed the foul. To me, it was a very logical chain of events and something that all NBA fans are fairly familiar with. Danny Crawford saw Rondo foul Lamar Odom, but with under a minute to play in a tightly contested game he did not want to give the Lakers two foul shots (LA was in the penalty) on a play 94 feet from their basket. In this instance, Crawford did the right thing even though he made the wrong call. But the instant replay rule messed it up. Now Salvatore and company were able to clearly see the ball go off Odom and just as clearly Rondo foul Odom. They have the ability to correct one call, but not the other and in my opinion Danny Crawford didn’t like it and exercised a little discretion on the very next play.
With the ball out of bounds under the Celtics basket Boston got the ball to Ray Allen who was finally able to get free from Derek Fisher and immediately cut to the basket. As Allen closed in for what looked to be an easy lay-up suddenly the whistle sounded under the basket and Danny Crawford came flying out from behind Kevin Garnett & Pau Gasol’s entanglement to call an offensive foul on … Garnett ? Ok Laker fans, I watched the replay a few times and there is no doubt that KG got the elbow up a little high while he was screening Gasol from the basket. I also have no doubt that you are never going to get that call in that situation, on the opposing team’s home court in the final minute during the NBA finals. Danny Crawford showed a lot of integrity as he rectified the blown call and did it in a way that still did not give the Lakers two free throws. The very definition of a make-up call.
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