Celtics-Raptors 2nd Round--Dethrone the Champs

BaseballJones

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They key point was when Boston was up four in OT (or double OT....can't remember) and had the ball and Jaylen got stripped driving to the hoop by Lowry. They had a chance at that point to go up 6 or 7 and suddenly Toronto had momentum back.
 

mwonow

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Yeah, easy to say in retrospect, but if Jaylen peels back there, uses some clock, and the Cs set up for a shot, the worst that happens is they're up 1-2 after having a chance to get set on D and run a bit of time off.
 

PedroKsBambino

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John Hollinger, who was intimately involved in the Grizzlies front office for many recent years, has said that people don't appreciate how much discussion there is between games between teams and the league about officiating, and that it is a material focus for many front office people. I am sure that is true, and also that the Celtics play the game too.

That said, I think in the playoffs it really does matter that you pick the right points to focus on and also that the coach, the front office (with the league) and the players (with the media and the refs) stay focused on a set of things not a general bitchfest. So, my hope is that the Celtics are sharing a video with 27 examples of Raptors moving screens (the Lowry moving bearhug of Theis on the illegitimate 4 point play being the most obvious); a request that the officials warn Nurse that if he leaves the 'coaching box' or defined area it is an automatic T; and examples of the inequity of flagrant foul calls---which is literally the only reason this series is still ongoing.

I would love for it to be the case that the Celtics through their "friends" in the media (this is Paul Pierce, but also their beat writers, etc.) share evidence---not opinions--of those problems because the narrative matters.

Others may have a different nomination but for me the first and third are impactful and the second is important because it's obvious and also because Nurse working the refs all over the place is (in my mind) part of the explanation for 1 and 3.
 

shoelace

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1. Kemba. Fucking A. 5 points in a 2OT game is an absolute disgrace. He absolutely was fouled at the end but he submitted another terrible game for us at a crucial moment. Meanwhile, Lowry went 33/8/6 with 1 TO in 53 minutes. We are positively screwed in Game 7 if Bad Kemba shows up. This was an absolutely pathetic performance and he simply must be better or we’re going home.

2. Tatum. Filled up the stat sheet but his poor 1H is partly why that first half lead shriveled. Tatum and Kemba are supposed to be the guys for us and I must admit that my confidence in both of them delivering has been shaken a bit. Turnovers killed us with Tatum. You want to be considered a star? Then step up. Here’s your moment.
I agree, this loss begins and ends with Kemba and Tatum. I see folks wanting to blame Brad, but there is only so much the coach can do, he used a zone to try to disrupt Toronto's pick and roll game, it's not like he failed to make any adjustments during the game. As you mention, their best player had 33 points and 1 turnover. The Celtics best player had 29 points and 6 turnovers. The Celtics second best player had more turnovers than made field goals. That's not on the coach, that's the difference in the game. Toronto is a bad matchup for Kemba and Tatum, they have multiple players who can defend both of them, and they've succeeded in taking away Kemba's pull up 3s and Tatum's step backs. And when Kemba is switched onto Lowry, he really isn't capable of guarding him. To be fair, the refs were awful for the Celtics, when ESPN and Mike Breen are saying the Celtics are getting a bad whistle and complaining that the officials are injecting themselves into the game...

That said, the Celtics should win game 7. They are the better team. It took a .5 shot, an abysmal Kemba performance, and the refs reffing to get Toronto two of their three wins. Maybe I'm naive, but I expect the officiating will be better in Game 7 for the reasons folks above me have outlined (and because too many NBA media folks were saying it was a poorly officiated game for me to feel like this is just something Celtics fans are imagining), and if it's relatively even then I expect the Celtics to win.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Credit to Tatum for saying, after the game, that because he made the pass, he is the guy to blame for the turnover. That’s the right thing for a team leader to day on that situation, and it is true.

That said Nurse is a piece of shit for doing what he did, and it clearly impacted the game. Not to T him up there is bad officiating, Nurse doing what he did at all is bad sportsmanship -far closer to outright cheating than anything the Belichick Patriots ever did, and part of why it was allowed to happen is because the league has never taken this issue seriously.

For years, Zach Lowe has periodically complained that coaches have been allowed to get away with not only ignoring the coaching box but even going to far as to step in bounds on a live court.

On the Locked On Celtics podcast, John Karalis, a former college player himself, broke down that play with a focus on what a player in Tatum’s position would have seen and how a player would have reacted. He’s 100% convinced that Nirse is the only explanation for that pass having happened.
 

bankshot1

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As compelling as that game was, I'm still annoyed for various reasons that span the emotional range from purely rational to delusional and paranoia.

I still think the Celts are the better team on a level albeit slippery playing field.

The Raps appears to be mentally tougher.

The refs can go fuck themselves.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

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I never really buy in to the fact that the NBA is scripted or fixed, but after watching last night's game, it is really hard to not to. The officiating was ridiculously (and often times blatantly) one sided last night.

Losing is annoying - losing because of officiating is enraging. Sure, if Kemba was not horrific it would not have mattered, but I cannot say that the officiating did not have a very large impact in that game - including the BS call that gave Toronto an extra point in the first OT, which had they not had the BS Technical and made the FT, the game and series would have ended in OT 1.
 

jezza1918

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I never really buy in to the fact that the NBA is scripted or fixed, but after watching last night's game, it is really hard to not to. The officiating was ridiculously (and often times blatantly) one sided last night.

Losing is annoying - losing because of officiating is enraging. Sure, if Kemba was not horrific it would not have mattered, but I cannot say that the officiating did not have a very large impact in that game - including the BS call that gave Toronto an extra point in the first OT, which had they not had the BS Technical and made the FT, the game and series would have ended in OT 1.
I've never bought into this either...and largely the players have the most to say on the outcome of a game. But going into last night the Celtics were 3-12 in games reffed by Brothers and the Raptors were 13-2. So I ask myself - A. Are those records coincidences? and B. Was it a coincidence that Brothers was assigned last nights game? I wish I thought differently but my personal answer to both is "no." So why should I bother caring so much about a team when the league itself is trying to assist in determining outcomes of games? Or maybe I'm just irrational because not even three benadryl could help me fall asleep last night.
 

BaseballJones

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Credit to Tatum for saying, after the game, that because he made the pass, he is the guy to blame for the turnover. That’s the right thing for a team leader to day on that situation, and it is true.

That said Nurse is a piece of shit for doing what he did, and it clearly impacted the game. Not to T him up there is bad officiating, Nurse doing what he did at all is bad sportsmanship -far closer to outright cheating than anything the Belichick Patriots ever did, and part of why it was allowed to happen is because the league has never taken this issue seriously.

For years, Zach Lowe has periodically complained that coaches have been allowed to get away with not only ignoring the coaching box but even going to far as to step in bounds on a live court.

On the Locked On Celtics podcast, John Karalis, a former college player himself, broke down that play with a focus on what a player in Tatum’s position would have seen and how a player would have reacted. He’s 100% convinced that Nirse is the only explanation for that pass having happened.
I pointed it out in the game thread as soon as it happened, that Tatum threw the pass to Nurse, seeing him out of the corner of his eye, mistaking him for a Celtics player.

I don't know that Nurse should be suspended or anything like that. But the refs right at that moment should have seen what was obvious - if I can notice it right away, then NBA refs sure can - and given him a technical foul and given Boston the ball.

The other one that I don't get is when they overturned the Theis foul... the play happened and the ball went out of bounds off Toronto. Why did they go to a jump ball? Because the whistle at that exact moment would have indicated a dead ball, so anything after that would have been immaterial? So they had to go to a jump at that point? Is that the logic?
 

geoduck no quahog

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Perhaps better in his thread than the Game Thread:

For those not tuned in to Sports Boston. Two articles on how the Raptors cheat the 3-second rule:

Are Raptors exploiting an NBA rules loophole with defense vs. Celtics?

If you've watched this Celtics-Raptors second-round series, you've probably noticed Toronto relies pretty heavily on a zone defense.

What you may not have noticed is that the Raptors' unique defense is consistently exploiting a blind spot of NBA officiating: the defensive three-second violation.
Raptors' defensive cheat code is Game 6 key

Last May, researchers at The Pudding -- a popular data viz site that rarely dabbles in sports -- discovered something while mining the NBA’s Last Two Minute reports. Researchers Russell Goldenberg and Owen Phillips found that, between 2015 and 2018, NBA game-reviewing officials assessed over 1,400 games and identified 141 instances of defensive three seconds in the last two minutes of close games.

Of those 141 instances, game referees called exactly one. It was, by far, the most-missed call by officials, having gone undetected in 99.3 percent of instances. By contrast, traveling calls were missed 79.4 percent of the time and kicked-ball violations were misses 16.3 percent of the time.

Basically, Lowry dared the officials and they either didn’t see it or deliberately swallowed their whistles. In the next day’s Last Two Minutes Report, the NBA ruled an incorrect no-call on Lowry for defensive three seconds.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I think the Celts have been outscored in the 3Q of every game this series and are like -40 to -50 in total that quarter. Why does that happen every game??
If the Celtics would be on the positive end of this the Stevens fanboys would point toward his phenomenal halftime adjustments where he made his counterpart look like Jerry Tarkanian during his brief Spurs tenure........so what happens when Nurse is the guy is the one doing it?
 

HomeRunBaker

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They key point was when Boston was up four in OT (or double OT....can't remember) and had the ball and Jaylen got stripped driving to the hoop by Lowry. They had a chance at that point to go up 6 or 7 and suddenly Toronto had momentum back.
I’d say the key point was Smart fouling on FVV’s 3 which led to him putting up 9 straight in like 20 seconds. When you have a grindfest game this is like 12-14 in a normally paced game.
 

BaseballJones

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I’d say the key point was Smart fouling on FVV’s 3 which led to him putting up 9 straight in like 20 seconds. When you have a grindfest game this is like 12-14 in a normally paced game.
Yeah, great point. That took the score from 62-58 Boston to 67-62 Toronto in 38 seconds of game time. But even then, Boston had a chance to put Toronto away a few times. Up 104-101, they let Toronto come down and tie it on the next possession, and then on three straight possessions the Celtics missed two threes and had a turnover.
 

bsj

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I avoided this thread because I wanted to sober up and sleep on it.

A day later I can safely say this was one of the worst and one-sided officiating games I have ever seen. Not in numbers (the officials were smart and made just enough calls for the slant to be reflected in a box score) but in timing.

Repeatedly, fouls on Boston were ignored. Yet every single time a case could be made for a call on Toronto, it was called. The 6 point series by Van Vleet never should have been. A few years ago it became a foul when a shooter wasnt given space to land. But it needs to be clear and flagrant it should be flagrant. In this case, both players were moving toward a spot. VV was drifting and frankly extended his leg. That was a ridiculous flargrant call.

Every time it was a 50/50 charge call, Toronto got it. Nearly every time Lowry chirped, they got the call.

I don't believe that the NBA actively tells officials to move the game one way or another, but I do believe they find other ways to incentivize series of maximum length, and last night it felt glaringly obvious the mindset of the crew.

Beyond that, Stevens "even keel" thing is starting to wear thin. He doesnt review anything, even though they seem rip to overturn. There were some key missed calls at important pivot points he just let go. And no comment at all, even re Nurse being a jackass and coming onto the court? Completely placid post game. Brad is a good coach, and I like him, but he's had more bad days than I would like of late.

This feels like a series that, for the first time in Game 7, the NBA will just let unfold without a nudge one way or another, and its shame we now are looking at a coin flip game in a series i believe we were the better team in throughout.
 
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bankshot1

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If the Celtics would be on the positive end of this the Stevens fanboys would point toward his phenomenal halftime adjustments where he made his counterpart look like Jerry Tarkanian during his brief Spurs tenure........so what happens when Nurse is the guy is the one doing it?
The game referenced below was the half-time of G4

I made a TIC comment at the half last night, that if the Celts had made some shots they'd be up by 10, so they could piss away a 10 pt. lead in the 3rd qtr.

There's some truth in that snarkiness.

The Raps have been taking over games after the half, making adjustments and the Celts have consistently lost leads, and momentun in the 3rd qtr. .

There's a lot of shared responsibility in these losses, and Brad and staff own some too.
 

joe dokes

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The only calls that still really bother is the inconsistency between the Tatum elbow and the Lowry low-bridge. That has to be both or neither.
 

bsj

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The only calls that still really bother is the inconsistency between the Tatum elbow and the Lowry low-bridge. That has to be both or neither.
That Van Vleet call where he kicked out his leg really bothers me. Took all that time to review and they turned a call where VV stepped onto JB into a flagrant against JB. Massive swing there.
 

RedOctober3829

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I’d say the key point was Smart fouling on FVV’s 3 which led to him putting up 9 straight in like 20 seconds. When you have a grindfest game this is like 12-14 in a normally paced game.
That was the turning point in the game. Going from up 4 to down 5 in a span of 30 seconds or so was huge. I'll take issue with the technical foul on Smart though. That rule is ridiculous especially when hardly any shooters go straight up and down. They only made the rule like that because Kahwi got hurt.
 

128

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If the Celtics would be on the positive end of this the Stevens fanboys would point toward his phenomenal halftime adjustments where he made his counterpart look like Jerry Tarkanian during his brief Spurs tenure........so what happens when Nurse is the guy is the one doing it?
Nurse's sideline demeanor and constant whining are over the top, but I don't think anyone on the board would argue that he's not a top-flight coach. That doesn't mean we have to like him.
 

DJnVa

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Beyond that, Stevens "even keel" thing is starting to wear thin. He doesnt review anything, even though they seem rip to overturn. There were some key missed calls at important pivot points he just let go. And no comment at all, even re Nurse being a jackass and coming onto the court? Completely placid post game. Brad is a good coach, and I like him, but he's had more bad days than I would like of late.
1--Do we have actual numbers that show Brad challenges fewer calls than average?
2--He may not have seen Nurse there until after the game.
 

BaseballJones

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1--Do we have actual numbers that show Brad challenges fewer calls than average?
2--He may not have seen Nurse there until after the game.
To your second point...it would have helped if Tatum had started pointing at Nurse and calling out for the refs to notice where he was and saying that's why he threw it there. Tatum just turned and headed back down the court, and gave nobody any reason to think anything was wrong other than that he made a bad pass.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Repeatedly, fouls on Boston were ignored. Yet every single time a case could be made for a call on Toronto, it was called. The 6 point series by Van Vleet never should have been. A few years ago it became a foul when a shooter wasnt given space to land. But it needs to be clear and flagrant it should be flagrant. In this case, both players were moving toward a spot. VV was drifting and frankly extended his leg. That was a ridiculous flargrant call.
Back in Smart's early years, he and Crowder seemed to get called for a lot of offensive fouls for kicking their legs out while taking threes. In Smart's case it always looked to me like Marcus was angling to draw a foul, while in Crowder's case it looked more like that was just what he does when he shoots.

Now it seems to have gone the other way, with any case of a defender getting underneath a shooter being called a flagrant foul.

I think it would be better to do it this way: if the shooter jumps and lands on a closing out defedner with his feet underneath him, that's a flagrant foul. But if the shooter jumps and kicks his foot out to land on a closing out defender, it's no foul at all. IOW, kick your fucking leg out at your own goddamn risk. Keep your feet beneath you, and the rules will protect you.
 

bakahump

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Nearly every time Lowry chirped, they got the call.
Thats hyperbole. If it wasnt they would have gotten EVERY CALL, EVERY POSSESION.

Between Lowry Nurse and Van Vleet.....man I hate the raptors. Their "Selling" of calls is pathetic. Even when the Refs from last night BUY BUY BUY.
 

BaseballJones

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Tatum didn't have a great game. Some might even say not a good game at all. But to show you how great he is....

In a "bad" game, he still had 29 points, 14 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
 

128

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Thats hyperbole. If it wasnt they would have gotten EVERY CALL, EVERY POSSESION.

Between Lowry Nurse and Van Vleet.....man I hate the raptors. Their "Selling" of calls is pathetic. Even when the Refs from last night BUY BUY BUY.
Is Van Vleet really guilty of that? I see Lowry and Nurse as by far the biggest culprits. It seems to me that FVV, at least most of the time, puts his head down and plays. He's no drama queen.
 

NickEsasky

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To your second point...it would have helped if Tatum had started pointing at Nurse and calling out for the refs to notice where he was and saying that's why he threw it there. Tatum just turned and headed back down the court, and gave nobody any reason to think anything was wrong other than that he made a bad pass.
Ironically the one time Tatum didn't complain to the referees was the one time he should have.
 

BigSoxFan

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To your second point...it would have helped if Tatum had started pointing at Nurse and calling out for the refs to notice where he was and saying that's why he threw it there. Tatum just turned and headed back down the court, and gave nobody any reason to think anything was wrong other than that he made a bad pass.
Agreed. It wouldn’t have given us the call but that was some real bullshit that happened. Bad pass because Tatum panicked on the pass but there’s no excuse for a coach to do what Nurse did.
 

Saints Rest

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I wasn't in the game thread last night, but did Nurse's move on the Tatum TO remind anyone else of the famous Mike Tomlin "pretend not to notice the opponent racing down his own sideline?"

Also, I feel like I saw one clip where it was pretty apparent that Nurse wasn't just standing there, but made an active feint toward the basket, which would have felt like Theis cutting to the hoop. Did anyone else see that?

Finally, I caught a bit of SC on ESPN this morning and it seemed like they were noting a bunch of things we have talked about in here about inequities of the officiating last night. Maybe that will help move the needle, even if Stevens/Ainge aren't.
 

BigSoxFan

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I wasn't in the game thread last night, but did Nurse's move on the Tatum TO remind anyone else of the famous Mike Tomlin "pretend not to notice the opponent racing down his own sideline?"

Also, I feel like I saw one clip where it was pretty apparent that Nurse wasn't just standing there, but made an active feint toward the basket, which would have felt like Theis cutting to the hoop. Did anyone else see that?

Finally, I caught a bit of SC on ESPN this morning and it seemed like they were noting a bunch of things we have talked about in here about inequities of the officiating last night. Maybe that will help move the needle, even if Stevens/Ainge aren't.
He 100% knew what he was doing. It not only confuses the passer but Theis would have felt him behind him so could have easily impacted the catcher too. Just a completely BS play that needs to be called out and glad some media members have.
 

ElcaballitoMVP

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I wasn't in the game thread last night, but did Nurse's move on the Tatum TO remind anyone else of the famous Mike Tomlin "pretend not to notice the opponent racing down his own sideline?"

Also, I feel like I saw one clip where it was pretty apparent that Nurse wasn't just standing there, but made an active feint toward the basket, which would have felt like Theis cutting to the hoop. Did anyone else see that?

Finally, I caught a bit of SC on ESPN this morning and it seemed like they were noting a bunch of things we have talked about in here about inequities of the officiating last night. Maybe that will help move the needle, even if Stevens/Ainge aren't.
Here's a link to the replay on Twitter and some screen shots:
Start of the play, Nurse is behind Theis:
34109

As Tatum starts to drive, Theis takes two steps left and Nurse positions himself on the corner of the court and it looks like his left foot is inbounds:
34110

Defender steps up and Tatum sees Nurse out of the corner of his eye standing in the corner:
34111

Tatum throws it to Nurse and Nurse jumps out of the way to get back to the sideline:
34112

I didn't think much of it at the time- I saw him there and thought it might've had an impact but let it go. But the guy is standing on the damn court. That's gotta get called there.
 

Strike4

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If you're going to overturn the foul where Theis was hacked, with basically no mitigating evidence, you have to call something on Nurse. I think that's where people are right in complaining. Either in a vacuum is typical.
 

RorschachsMask

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Jaylen started out really well, something like 7-12 or 7-13, but finished with 31 points on 11-30 shooting. Need him to hit his shots to take some of the defensive pressure off of Kemba and Tatum.

Tatum also needs to stop dribbling into traffic against the Raptors, they know he has a high dribble and they just stick their hands in there any time he tries.
 

ElcaballitoMVP

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I went back and looked at the game replay. Nurse was doing this crap all 2nd half when the C's were shooting on that end. I didn't watch as many Raptors possessions, but I didn't see Brad anywhere close to this on the other end.

The guy thinks he's part of their defense (looks like he's yelling at JB in the last screen shot). There were other possessions I didn't include where he'd move towards a Celtic player in the corner as the play was developing/someone was driving, making it look more crowded over there than it actually is.
3411334114341153411634117
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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1--Do we have actual numbers that show Brad challenges fewer calls than average?
2--He may not have seen Nurse there until after the game.
Boston was tied for the third most challenges of the '19-20 season (including the bubble seeding games) at 28. The source data is here but its not in an easy to sort format. The only two teams who challenged more were Toronto with 45 and Houston with 34.

Given that there appears to be a pretty strong view here that Stevens demeanor is an issue, it would be helpful if we could get concrete examples of how his passivity is costing the team. Is this just something that people are catching on camera or is this an actual reputation issue with sourced quotes to back it up?

To be clear, I don't know how to grade Stevens in terms of his engagement with the officials and I am loathe to do so off of random cuts to him after a call. I would have to have a dedicated Brad-cam to feel comfortable making any sort of assessment as well. I am just curious how people have arrived at this conclusion.
 
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djbayko

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Here's a link to the replay on Twitter and some screen shots:
Start of the play, Nurse is behind Theis:
View attachment 34109

As Tatum starts to drive, Theis takes two steps left and Nurse positions himself on the corner of the court and it looks like his left foot is inbounds:
View attachment 34110

Defender steps up and Tatum sees Nurse out of the corner of his eye standing in the corner:
View attachment 34111

Tatum throws it to Nurse and Nurse jumps out of the way to get back to the sideline:
View attachment 34112

I didn't think much of it at the time- I saw him there and thought it might've had an impact but let it go. But the guy is standing on the damn court. That's gotta get called there.
I am still livid about this play. Nick Nurse knee exactly what he was doing. I’d love for someone to review past tape of him because it seems like this is the kind of thing where you have to attempt it many times knowing that it’s only going to work some % of the time.

This is far different from a coach simply being outside of the coaching box. He positioned himself in the corner.Won’t happen but he should be suspended a game for this,
To your second point...it would have helped if Tatum had started pointing at Nurse and calling out for the refs to notice where he was and saying that's why he threw it there. Tatum just turned and headed back down the court, and gave nobody any reason to think anything was wrong other than that he made a bad pass.
He’s what, 22? He might be unsure about what the rules are governing coaches. Maybe in the moment he didn’t realize that he had something to complain about and felt that he only had himself to blame. Still would have been nice for him to err on the side of “something’s foul here”. Heck, Lowry would have convinced them to stop the game and go to the tape. These are growing pains of a young player, unfortunately,
 

CoffeeNerdness

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The broadcast mentioned (in the first half, iirc) something about the refs talking to/warning the Toronto bench. Would be nice to know what that was all about.
 

JCizzle

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I went back and looked at the game replay. Nurse was doing this crap all 2nd half when the C's were shooting on that end. I didn't watch as many Raptors possessions, but I didn't see Brad anywhere close to this on the other end.

The guy thinks he's part of their defense (looks like he's yelling at JB in the last screen shot). There were other possessions I didn't include where he'd move towards a Celtic player in the corner as the play was developing/someone was driving, making it look more crowded over there than it actually is.
That last picture is insane. They need to get this guy under control. If he was yelling at Jaylen, it provides even more context to Jaylen basically calling him a child in the postgame.

Thanks for pulling these pictures.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Boston was tied for the third most challenges of the '19-20 season (including the bubble seeding games) at 28. The source data is here but its not in an easy to sort format. The only two teams who challenged more were Toronto with 45 and Houston with 34.

Given that there appears to be a pretty strong view here that Stevens demeanor is an issue, it would be helpful if we could get concrete examples of how his passivity is costing the team. Is this just something that people are catching on camera or is this an actual reputation issue with sourced quotes to back it up.

To be clear, I don't know how to grade Stevens in terms of his engagement with the officials and I am loathe to do so off of random cuts to him after a call. I would have to have a dedicated Brad-cam to feel comfortable making any sort of assessment as well. I am just curious how people have arrived at this conclusion.
What are the rules regarding reviews of flagrants? Are these unofficial reviews instigated by Toronto by complaining? Seems like all you have to do is grab a part of your body and complain and the refs head over to the review booth. Kills the pace of the game. Jeff van Gundy was going off on these kinds of reviews in the late game.
 

8slim

has trust issues
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Nov 6, 2001
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As infuriating as the officiating and Nurse's histrionics were, the Cs had multiple opportunities to put the game away, both in regulation, and in the 2OT. They blew so many offensive possessions by being careless with the ball, or inexplicably pounding the ball into the floor for 16 seconds then running an ill-advised iso play. If I didn't have a favorite team involved, that game would have been a blast to watch. But it was maddening instead.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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To your second point...it would have helped if Tatum had started pointing at Nurse and calling out for the refs to notice where he was and saying that's why he threw it there. Tatum just turned and headed back down the court, and gave nobody any reason to think anything was wrong other than that he made a bad pass.
Either way, that's not reviewable and all that would have happened at that point is a T on Tatum or Brad. That's the refs job to see it when it happens.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Dec 24, 2002
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What are the rules regarding reviews of flagrants? Are these unofficial reviews instigated by Toronto by complaining? Seems like all you have to do is grab a part of your body and complain and the refs head over to the review booth. Kills the pace of the game. Jeff van Gundy was going off on these kinds of reviews in the late game.
Flagrant fouls are not subject to a coach review - its at the official's discretion.

Any called foul, violation, or other decision by the game officials not listed in Section I—c above, or any non-call, is not a challengeable event. For clarity, instant replay review of the following events, among others, may not be triggered by a Challenge: (1) a called personal foul charged to the opposing team, (2) continuation—e.g., whether a defensive foul occurred prior to the offensive player beginning his shooting motion, (3) a Technical Foul or Flagrant Foul, and (4) violations such as traveling, carrying, double dribble, or an offensive or defensive three-seconds. As set forth in Section II—b—3 below, any aspect related to continuation constitutes a reviewable matter when a called foul is properly challenged, but continuation is not by itself an independent challengeable event.
 

reggiecleveland

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I wish I knew more about the NBA between games reffing discussions. Mu ifo is a bit dated, but from an assistant NBA coach he said it was becoming routine for teams to send in physical videos by overnight for almost every game, and it was very strategic, and teams would have focuses, pet peeves often about one of their guys or an opponent. I expect Toronto is very good at this par of the game, if Nurse is talking about something during the game, it may be him picking up a an ongoing complaint, the nba has given him feedback about,. Teams get various feedback from "you're right bad call, we'll do better" to "f--- off, that was the right call, enough about this, FFS!" I was at a conference where Hubie Brown was explaining why at times a coach will go off with no Tech, then other times quick tech. If the league has shut down an area of complaint, and a coach goes there, yet again, maybe "Bang" a T, if ti goes on maybe he coach and ref both know he is right. He said the league frowns on officials making the wrong call then handing out a T (the high school special) or it is one of those gray areas the league is woring on getting right, Hubie also added his punchline, "But end of the day half the refs are assholes."
 

bsj

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Dec 6, 2003
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Given that there appears to be a pretty strong view here that Stevens demeanor is an issue, it would be helpful if we could get concrete examples of how his passivity is costing the team. Is this just something that people are catching on camera or is this an actual reputation issue with sourced quotes to back it up?
I dont know if its an issue or not. All i know is I always see coaches bitch and moan and usually the next game the refs reward them for it.