Embarrassing

 That title is multi-faceted. It applies to both the Boston Celtics and the NBA. During the game, I will curse out the referees after a lot of calls that I believed went against my Celtics. After the game however, I will acknowledge that is was not necessarily the fault of the officials if the Celtics did lose. After the Game 2 blow out by the Warriors I will partially do that. 

I will start with the Celtics. Just an embarrassing performance. Turnovers once again were the story of the night as they once again gave up the rock way to much leading to the Warriors getting thirty plus points of turnovers. Similar to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Warriors outscored the Celtics 35-14 in the third quarter, putting the game away. Tatum bounced back from his poor performance in Game 1, but everyone else around him not only not performing to the same caliber they did the other night, but no performing really at all. It was a horrible showing, in a game you could have stole and gone back home up 2-0. 

Now for the side of the NBA. It was clear from the tip it was a wayward whistle. The annoying box score watchers on Twitter will claim the number of fouls called for both teams were quite similar. This may be true, but the whistle favored the home team. I watched Draymond Green tackle two players on two separate plays. Those two plays resulted in two Celtics fouls. Then there was the foul on Jaylen Brown when he never touched Gary Payton II who smoked a layup. Zach Zarba and Tony Brothers have a reputation and it was on display today. One irk I have, not only with the game that was played tonight, but in general is the late whistle which is dependent on the outcome of the basket. Many times throughout the season you will see a player go up for a layup, there be contact and no foul will be called until the ball is missed. If the ball had gone in would the call have been made. Doesn't seem so. It is something the NBA needs to address. 

While the officiating stunk, the Celtics also did. Based off of their play they would have lost either way. They came out flat at halftime, and let the Warriors take control and put the game away. Now you go back to Boston tied 1-1. You cannot put out a performance like we saw tonight, because the Warriors are good. Especially when they have 8 players on the court.