Feel bad for Brad: Miller, Bulls fall short against Celtics
Chicago Bulls center Brad Miller (left, 52) stands dejected with his teammates, trying to swallow the two, potential game-tying free throws that he missed in the closing seconds of an overtime loss against the Celtics. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
On a designed play, Chicago Bulls center Brad Miller received the inbounds pass at the top of the key with three seconds left, and drove into a wide-open lane.
The opening closed quickly, as Boston Celtics center Kendrick Perkins and guard Rajon Rondo challenged Miller. Perkins hip-checked Miller, while Rondo nailed the center right in the face, bloodying his mouth. Miller, despite the mugging, still had a tremendous chance to score, but his layup missed everything and bounced harmlessly on the hardwood.
An 85-percent free-throw shooter on the season, Miller, after being tended to on the sideline, stepped to the free-throw line with an opportunity to tie the game. Clearly in pain, he missed the all-important first attempt, meaning the second would have to be purposefully clanged off the rim in order to have another chance to tie.
Miller’s second free-throw missed the rim entirely–which is illegal–so the ball was turned over to Boston. Celtics guard Paul Pierce was fouled immediately and did what Miller could not. He swished the first free-throw and, knowing Chicago didn’t have a timeout left, missed the second, ending the game.
From a Celtics-hater standpoint, Game 5 could not have gone any worse. It was devastating. The Bulls played so well, and controlled much of the game. They had the Celtics on their heels, especially after their second-best player, Ray Allen, fouled out trying to contain Ben Gordon on offense with a little more than five minutes left.
Gordon took advantage of Allen’s absence, but couldn’t completely overcome his poor shooting night. He made just 6 of 21 shots. Yet, despite missing fifteen shots, many ill-advised, he came alive late. One of those players whose eyes light up when a shot falls, Gordon took matters into his own hands. With three and half minutes left, Gordon drained a heavily covered three-pointer to increase the Bulls lead to five. He wasn’t done.
Chicago couldn’t convert on multiple opportunities to lengthen the margin. In heavy traffic, point guard Derrick Rose missed a driving layup. Then, after Pierce committed a turnover, Rose gave the ball right back to Boston.
The Celtics scored, and the Bulls responded, but it wasn’t as easy. They missed two attempts before Rose skied for the rebound and ended the drought with a layup. Less that two minutes remained. Chicago held a lead, albeit slim at four points. The Bulls would need a few defensive stands, a couple baskets on offense, and a victory was theirs for the taking. They could not do this. Boston made consecutive layups and Rose turned the ball over again.
Still, the game was tied at 91. After Rondo’s 10-footer went just 8 feet, Chicago was in possession. Who do the Bulls go to with a chance to go ahead in the final seconds? Gordon. With nowhere to go, blanketed by defensive-specialist Tony Allen, Gordon did what he’s paid millions upon millions to do–shoot. It appeared he only had a sliver of daylight, but that’s all a player of his caliber needed. He, incomprehensibly, canned the jumper.
The crowd went silent, but they weren’t for long.
The Celtics had 16 seconds. Pierce had time. Isolated at the top guarded by Salmons, Pierce quickly made his move with thirteen seconds left in regulation, calmly draining a 17-footer.
Gordon had time as well, but couldn’t convert, missing a contested jumper he usually hits in his sleep. For the third time in five games, the Celtics and Bulls were headed to overtime. Knowing that the Celtics were at home and had more playoff experience, I thought this would have been the Bulls final chance to pull out Game Five.
Boston grabbed a three-point on a layup by Rondo. Gordon, who played all but two minutes in the game, responded, aggressively taking the initiative. He scored four points in between two free-throws by Rondo before Rose came out of hibernation with a strong drive to take a one-point lead. Again, their momentum wouldn’t last.
Chicago’s defensive strategy backfired. They continued to guard Pierce with single coverage. It was John Salmons job, and his alone, to contain Pierce. He couldn’t do it. Pierce had him off balance, and clearly nervous. Effortlessly, Pierce nailed his bread-and-butter. It was too easy. So easy in fact that he did the same thing on the exact play. Suddenly, the Celtics lead was three points.
The Bulls defense couldn’t get a stop on defense, so Gordon did his best to combat these struggles. The hamstring wasn’t a problem. He was in a zone. In his cocky and confident mind, either he would lead the Bulls, or no one would. Again, with nowhere to go–clearly his favorite situation–he took the contact from Tony Allen in the midst of hoisting a potential game-tying three pointer with twenty-seven seconds remaining. Replays showed that he may have toed the sideline, but it was not called. Instead, a foul was. He made all three free-throws, tying the game, and silencing the crowd.
Once more, too much time remained. Pierce had time, again. He capitalized, torturing Salmons again to hit another mid-range jumper. This set up the sad finish. The demoralizing end to another Bulls-Celtics classic.
The ending of this game demonstrated all that is wrong with the NBA, and for you to say that anyone who is disatisfied with the outcome is a “Celtics-hater” demonstrates that you are incapable of objectivity.
Miller was not just fouled, twice, he was assaulted.
Think about it, if Rondo did what he did in a high school game, not only would they have called a flagrant, he would have been immediately ejected, and probably suspended for the rest of the season, that is if the coach didn’t throw him off the team first, and he would have likely been suspended from school, and in some juristictions, even prosecuted.
It was really that bad.
Ask yourself one simple question, why did he do it?
There is a simple answer.
Because he knew that he could.
Think about it. The biased officiating in the NBA is so pervasive, such a given, that in a 2 point game, in the final seconds, with the opposing player having gotten past him and about to tie the game, Rondo had no time to even think about it, he only had time to act on instinct.
To make absolutely sure that there would be no way that Miller could complete a 3 point play and thus win the game, Rondo basically deliberately tried to rip his face off, so he could not complete the basket, and that the maimed player would then have difficulty completing two free throws to tie the game.
Rondo did what he did, and he did it instinctively, because he was absolutely certain, that because he played for the Celtics, and because the Celtics were playing at home, that there would be absolutely no chance that the referee would call a flagrant, and thus give the Bulls the opprotunity to win the game, and in all likelyhood Rondo figured that there was a least a 50/50 chance that the ref doesn’t even blow the whistle, and even if the ref does make the call, Miller still has to make the free throws.
Rondo did what he did, because he was absolutely certain that he could get away with it, and the reason for that is bacause the referee knows that if he makes such a call against the Celtics at home and as a result the Bulls win the game, and likely the series, that David Stern is going to send that referree home for the rest of the season.
Think about it, without a moment to even think about it, Rondo was so certian that the referee would not call the play objectively, that he actually risked the season of his team on such a presumption, because he instinctively knew that there was actually no risk at all.
That is the definition of institutional bias.
That is why I cannot stand to watch the NBA.
Yes, that should have been a flagrant foul. But Rondo, like you said, got away with it because it was at a crucial juncture, and at the Boston Garden. The referees have been so blatantly biased throughout the playoffs that they ruin the games themselves. I know you do not like the NBA, but as someone who does, it’s incredibly frustrating watching a team that I want lose in such a fashion. Miller was bloodied, obviously intentionally racked across the face.
Rondo thought right and made a smart, but unethical play.