Stop the Whining!

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Friday, May 28, 2010

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

Let me state for the record that the officiating in the NBA is horrible! And what we saw Wednesday night from Joe Crawford, Tom Washington and Eddie F. Rush in game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals was brutal. But as bad as it was, can we please come to our senses?

The reason the Celtics lost to the Magic Wednesday night had nothing to do with poor officiating. If that crew called a perfect game, Boston may have lost by 12 points instead of 21.

Why the Celtics are playing a game 6 against the Magic tonight in Boston is because they have lost their way.

Boston’s playoff run through the East has had everything to do with their ability to play lock down defense and to move the ball well on offense. They have not done that for the last two games.

In games 1-3 of this series, the Celts defended Jameer Nelson closely not allowing him to get good looks from the perimeter or have open lanes to the basket. They also made it a point to push Dwight Howard away from the basket. And in the rare event that he got close enough to the rim, they would strategically foul him and make him earn his two points from the line which he had trouble doing more often than not. They need to get back to that.

We can cry about the officiating or about some of the Celtics players being banged up. But that would be making excuses. This team is too talented and too smart for that. They know what has to be done to close this series out.

They had better do it tonight and not risk having to go back to Orlando for a game 7.