Maybe Rasheed Wallace knew this was coming when he called it quits after last season.nba playoff The NBA’s crackdown on player reactions to calls made was expected to hurt Boston more than any team. Wednesday’s 104-101 win over the New York Knicks gives some credence to that theory.
Paul Pierce, who had 20 points and nine rebounds, scored the Celtics’ last three points to lead them to victory.The Knicks were in control most of the game, nba playoff in part because the C’s were without Kevin Garnett for a good chunk of the night.In the second quarter with 4:39 to play, Garnett pulled up for a jumper while being tightly defended by Amar’e Stoudemire.After Garnett released the shot, he yelled, ‘And one!’Following the play, Garnett continued to chat with the nearest official.Tech number one.Moments after it came, Garnett was chuckling about the first tech, which apparently was all it took for official Kane Fitzgerald to hit Garnett with another one and the automatic ejection that came with it.Not having Garnett available for the majority of the game wasn’t the issue.More important, it was the message it sent.The NBA is looking to crack down across the board, Hall of Fame credentials be damned.
At the half, the officials had called four individual technicals on players ranging from Garnett, to Jermaine O’Neal to Knicks rookie Timofey Mozgov.The irony of this edict is that the very thing the NBA is waging war against — nba playoff players taking the focus off the game and putting it on themselves — is exactly what this crackdown does.But instead of the players, all eyes are now on the referees. For a league that has made so many savvy business moves, this is a formula for failure.