Revisiting Rajon Rondo’s Foul On Brad Miller
This morning I argued the refs were not to blame for the Bulls’ loss last evening. Namely, because I hate when fans blame the refs for a team’s loss. But after Eamonn sent over Henry Abbott’s take on the matter, there seemed to be reason to bring it back up again. So we did just that.
Eamonn: I think we might be able to complain about the referees.
Ryan: I mean, I guess I didn’t think about the Bulls getting to pick the shooter if it was a flagrant. But the point remains: They lost an 11-point lead. The game didn’t hinge on the Miller play.
Eamonn: At that point, yeah it did.
Ryan: How many times do you see a flagrant called to end a game?
Eamonn: Just because the refs don’t have the sack to call it doesn’t make it right. And just because the Bulls lost an 11-point lead doesn’t mean they’re not entitled to the appropriate call in that situation.
Ryan: I guess one of my pet peeves is people saying: “Oh, if the refs would have called it this way, x team would have won.” There are countless other scenarios and situations throughout a game you can look at that if they went the other way, the Bulls would have won.
Eamonn: Yeah, I mean, I usually agree with you. I thought last night the refs were really inconsistent all game and it benefited the Celtics more because they like to foul hard and bump on the inside. That’s not the Bulls game, really.
Ryan: There was a bad missed call when Rose got fouled on a shot from behind by Perkins after he grabbed a board. That was in OT, I think. I probably just got agitated, because on Comcast last night Kendall Gill was pretty much blaming the refs for the loss. There was this one play they showed where the Celtics had a breakaway and Gordon sort of went for a charge, but wasn’t set, and fell down. It looked like a clear foul to me. And Gill said: “This is what I’m talking about.”
I’m like: “Why aren’t they replaying the Rose play where he got fouled from behind on a shot, or the last play of the game?” It was an odd choice to me, so I think that influenced my opinion.
Eamonn: Yeah, I agree: That Ben Gordon thing was silly. He moved out of the way; he should have just taken that charge and rode it out, but he was probably wincing because of the injury.
Ryan: Another point to bring up here: the refs were clearly looking at the monitor after the play for time on the clock. Did they see the foul and not think it was flagrant? They had to have looked at that too, right?
Note: I’m still not sure if a ref can turn a personal over to a flagrant via the monitor or not. A look at the rulebook was inconclusive.
Eamonn: I mean, they could look at it and just disagreed, I guess. But that’s hard for me to believe because it was pretty obvious — the ball was about three feet away from where Rondo slapped, which was at Brad Miller’s head.
Ryan: So they knew it was a flagrant, and just didn’t call it?
Eamonn: Or they saw it and didn’t think it was a flagrant. But they see a lot of things I disagree with. The refs saw Dwight Howard’s elbow last night but only gave him a technical. He should have been ejected.
Ryan: True. The only thing I can say is it’s the playoffs, so the refs don’t want to be calling stuff as extreme, even though it’s not extreme because it’s the right call. And because of it, the Bulls lost an opportunity.
Eamonn: I think that play, plus the general inconsistency throughout the night on foul calls under the basket, was a factor in the game. People complain about refs too much, I agree.
But last night was one of those rare cases when it seems deserved.
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everyone
into a frenzy. And it’s going to be great for the sport in general.
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people saying: “Oh, if the refs would have
called it this way, x team would have won.”
& itz also true in case of me
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