Atlanta game 3 set-up?

[stretch]

Any chance that the shot-clock thing was set up?
It just fed into the Hawks' energy and desperation. We really just couldn't do it offensively like before.

If we accept that it made the Celtics more uncomfortable than the Hawks... it sure could have been a ploy. Red used to do stuff in conjunction with the Boston Garden all the time...



And this also guarantees a Game 5 in Boston to close the series, if we win Game 4. It works for both organizations. Atlanta is having the kind of sports weekend it has been craving for. This is huge for Atlanta. This loss was a win-win for both franchises.. you won't see the Celtics 'organization'/owners complaining about a Game 5 in Boston (it'll be louder than Game 1 too, as a closing game for the series).

[kmgarnett21]

i thought it was very coincidental that the shot clock came on at the EXACT time the hawks needed it-when they had a lead & needed to use some clock, it magically appeared.

i remember a number of times where the PA announcer didnt give the C's a 15 count like he did atl. & that one where the ycalled a shot clock violation was horrible. the PA announcer was at 3 when the shot was blocked, it didnt take the ball 3 sec to go out of bounds.

[Collinto]

a 'stretch' to say the least...

[GreenGrizz]

That's what I thought. I think NBA is trying to save Atlanta.

[sportsrock37]

You do realize neither team had the shot clock correct? Both teams had to go through the exact same thing. I think the Hawks inspired play in the 2nd half had a lot more to do with the crowd noise then no shot clock.

[TommyPoints]

Definitely a stretch guys, but it sure added to my frustration.

[Tricky Ricky]

we just sucked down end of story, Hawks played as good as they can and we didnt play like we did in game 1 or 2, this game will be over wed though

[stretch]

I don't care how long it has been since their arena has had a playoff game. They have had hundreds and hundreds of professional basketball games there. How does this suddenly happen?


And it clearly got to the Celtics more.


And don't forget how Michael Jordan openly admitted in his biography (the 2nd book) that the NBA instructed the Bulls to lose a few games in their first round series in the 90s to drag on the series for TV/ads.

This totally helps Atlanta and the Hawks franchise..whereas a series sweep would have been pointless, just like our 03 playoffs (0-4 to Indiana) when we should have just tanked for Dwight Howard like Danny wanted. And this helps the Boston franchise because another home game at Boston never hurts.

[Spicy P]

I wouldn't be surprised. they've had 3 separate incidents already. Not counting a TJ Ford basket, giving Shaq an extra foul, starting the clock too early for a TJ Ford layup.

[stretch]

i thought it was very coincidental that the shot clock came on at the EXACT time the hawks needed it-when they had a lead & needed to use some clock, it magically appeared.

i remember a number of times where the PA announcer didnt give the C's a 15 count like he did atl. & that one where the ycalled a shot clock violation was horrible. the PA announcer was at 3 when the shot was blocked, it didnt take the ball 3 sec to go out of bounds.

Of course the Hawks dealt with the same thing.. but it just didn't seem to get to them like it did the Celtics. This isn't an excuse. it's just a suggestion that it's plausible this was a set-up.

Our own Celtics of the past did similar though more subtle things. It's psychological.

This doesn't just happen suddenly in an Atlanta arena.

I don't buy the fact that this is their first playoff game in a long time. It's not like they haven't been having basketball games there. They had the all-star game their too. And if this is so big for their arena like they're saying, there's more chance of things like this not happening. These things don't happen at arenas today at such a big stage all of a sudden. They have a lot of procedures and tests.

[MaxwellSmart]

Having Violet Palmer as ref should've been enough.

[stretch]

All I'm suggesting is what Michael Jordan has admitted in his book... 4-0 sweeps involving a favorite for the championship are not good for either franchise or the NBA or the countless other parties involved and invested in this.

It doesn't mean the Celtics gave this away or the Hawks didn't earn this. Atlanta played out of its mind.

And what I'm saying sort of backfires with the example of the Spurs-Suns series, although there are some Suns fans that will tell you how much the NBA loves the Spurs and hates the Suns (not only because of last postseason)

[betta1]

Is that why SA and LAL are on the verge of sweeps?

[Collinto]

All I'm suggesting is what Michael Jordan has admitted in his book... 4-0 sweeps involving a favorite for the championship are not good for either franchise or the NBA or the countless other parties involved and invested in this.

Didn't Jordan also say he never bet on basketball games?

[stretch]

Is that why SA and LAL are on the verge of sweeps?

I just addressed that in my previous post edit.

the suggestion backfires in the context of those series

Yet there are Suns fans that would love to tell you how much the NBA loves the Spurs and hates the Suns organization (last year's playoffs and suspensions would be just one of many examples). And then there are a lot of non-Lakers fans that will tell you how much the NBA just loves the Lakers (David Stern's quote).


But the suggestion does backfire when you consider those two series.

Yet keep in mind how huge this is for Atlanta. I don't think we realize it.

Just like how Boston never realized how big that 88 game was for the Hawks. There is a reason Doc Rivers feels bad about it to this day. That was everything for the franchise.

[stretch]

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=784342

The Guy counting down the clock had his Hawks cap on.



Come on

This isn't much of a stretch. It takes nothing away from Atlanta's hard earned win.

[Rocky5000]

It is odd, we come back to tie and then the shotclock screws up. I wonder if there will be a report on what was wrong with the shot clock, that caused it to stop working. How does something like that happen, without anyone being able to fix it? It was probably just a mistake in the programming, those guys running the score looked like they were 80 and had never seen a computer before.

Usually we start the third with a huge push and KG and Ray are really centered and pumped up. Ray had to start clipping his fingernails while waiting, I think it was his OCD kicking in. Paul sat on the bench and looked peeved. And then on the first atlanta possession they blew the horn, when nothing happening and gave ATL the ball out of bounds so they could set up a play.

There were also some very questionable calls down the stretch, like the rondo "charge." The 24 second violation after barely counting down to 3...But even without those shenanigans, we'd probably still wouldn't have pulled it out.

[Datruth345]

i don't know either way

but it was frustrating and should never happen in an NBA playoff game

[Zin5]

I'm not going to buy into the conspiracy theories (especially when the Celtics should still win the series), but something needs to be done about Atlanta. The NBA needs to look into this, because there's something going wrong if you've had this many scoring/timing errors/controversies in one year and also botch it when it matters most, in the playoffs.

[Collinto]

Let's assume you are right...then the series is obviously going to be won by the Celtic's...since that is best for ratings.

End of story.