Full Court Press: Celtics vs. Heat 12/21/04
By Tom
Heat 108 - Celtics 100
YOU GONNA CALL THAT A HARD FOUL???!!!!
Incredibly, those words did not come out of Tommy Heinsohn’s mouth last night after Ricky Davis was thrown out of the game for fouling Dwayne Wade. With the score 80-76, Miami in the 3rd quarter, Wade (33 points, 11 assists, 4 steals) stole the ball and broke free at half court. As most NBA followers know, an open court steal in the regular season almost always ends up in an uncontested SportsCenter dunk. This was not one of those occasions. Ricky Davis hustled back to contest Wade’s dunk. He came at him from an angle and left his feet to contest at the dunk. Unfortunately for Davis, he ended up hitting Wade on the arm (mostly) and the head, which resulted in Wade landing awkwardly on the floor. Was it a foul? Definitely. A flagrant foul? Maybe. A type two flagrant foul, which results in an automatic ejection? Absolutely not. The replays clearly showed that Davis aggressively went for the ball and not the body. Here’s the question: Would this call have been made if the Donovan Darius incident did not happen in Green Bay? Or the Ron Artest situation last month? I’m convinced that if McHale had clotheslined Rambis on this night that he would of not only been ejected, but the game would have been stopped and police in riot gear would have came in with tear gas to escort him off the court.
This one play riled me up for a few reasons. First, losing Davis (12 points, 4 rebounds, 18 minutes) was a big blow to the Celtics chances of winning. This game was being played at his tempo- up and down, hard driving to the basket. Certainly he would helped the Celtics down the stretch. This combined with Raef LaFrentz sitting out most of the second half with a sprained ankle hurt the Celtics depth. It also limited Doc Rivers options when it came to guarding Wade. Second, the play clearly took momentum away from the game, which was while lacking defense was a very entertaining game to watch. And lastly, the message that calls like that send to a younger player. It’s rare in the NBA that you see hustle on a play like that. It would be a shame if dunks and layups were not contested because of fear of ejection.
Ironically, it was hustle that Coach Rivers pointed to after the game as something the Celtics were lacking. The Heat, winners of 8 straight coming into the game, were without Shaquille O’Neal who strained his calf stepping off his soapbox. This did not matter as they consistently attacked the Celtics, driving to the hoop and scoring almost at will. They also seemed to be a step ahead of Boston in the loose ball area. Udonis Haslem (17 rebounds), in particular was involved with numerous scrums for loose balls.
The Celtics did their part on the offensive end to keep pace. LaFrentz, Payton and Pierce had strong first halves. Al Jefferson had a solid game which included the highlight of the night when he blocked a Keyon Dooling shot, knocked the ball away from another Heat defender, grabbed the ball at mid court and drove in for a two hand slam.
The difference in this game was Wade. Once again he destroyed Jiri Welsch who is considered by most an adequate defender, off the dribble. The amazing thing about Wade’s game is that he has only attempted nine 3 pointers all year. He creates his points for himself and others by attacking the basket. The other amazing thing about Wade is that he has already established the “superstar” status in the eyes of the officials. Every block/charge call went his way. And yes, I did go back and TiVo replay each one of them.. The only player who seemed to be able to neutralize Wade was Tony Allen, who because of foul trouble had to be switched off of him.
These two teams do not meet again until Tax Day, which is unfortunate because they have played two very entertaining games so far. Here’s hoping that Doc Rivers assigns Tony Allen to Wade right from the opening tap. Here’s also hoping that each team has it’s full roster to utilize for the entire game.
