Getty Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics
Tempers began to flare during the Boston Celtics game three loss against the Milwaukee Bucks on May 7, primarily due to multiple perceived bad calls from the referees.
Since Boston’s opening game of the post-season, the team has embraced a rough and ready brand of basketball, ensuring they impose their physicality on the defensive end of the floor. Against the Brooklyn Nets, the Celtics’ physical approach worked and earned them an easy four-game sweep. Yet, the Milwaukee Bucks are also a physical team and are happy to battle it out in the trenches for the full 48 minutes.
When two teams are hurtling into each other on every possession, the referees have to decide where to draw the line and then ensure they’re fair with the fouls they call and how they call them. But, with under a minute remaining in the game, the referees were put under a microscope, as they deemed a foul on Marcus Smart to be within the flow of the game rather than as he entered his shooting motion.
That foul call essentially sealed the deal for the Bucks, as even if Smart made both of his free throws, the Celtics would still trail by a point with under ten seconds remaining. That foul call created a large swell of contempt online.
However, it wasn’t only media and fans that took to social media to sound off on what was a perceived miss-call, as former two former Celtics players also shared their thoughts.
Ain’t no way that wasn’t a shooting foul
Evan Fournier was another former Celtics player who shared his opinion as the New York Knicks guard watched his old team fall to defeat in the game’s final seconds.
That was definitely a 3p foul on Marcus lol. How can you even debate that
Celtics Twitter Reacts to Loss
When scrolling through Celtics’ Twitter shortly after the team’s game three loss, it was clear the referees were taking the brunt of the blame. Sure, there was a small but vocal section of the fanbase that was annoyed with Jayson Tatum’s poor showing, but overall the vitriol was aimed at the poor decisions made by the refereeing team.
“Listen the Celtics absolutely did not play well enough to win but when you see a goaltend, a no call on Williams as he’s elbowed in the head and no shooting foul at the end there when the game was only lost by 2, it’s infuriating,” @six15eleven tweeted shortly after the game.
The #Celtics almost won a game on the road, with their best player stinking and the refs giving it to Milwaukee. Feel good about the series.
“I started a drinking game where I take a drink every time a Celtics player gets hit in the face without a whistle. I’m hammered,” @McK_Chuck wrote.
Celtics Under Pressure to Win Game Four
With Boston’s latest loss, the team is under pressure to win their next game. The Bucks currently lead the series two-to-one, and should the Celtics fail to even things up on Monday, May 9. It’s unlikely they come out of the series as victors.
Milwaukee is currently the reigning NBA champion, and expecting the Celtics to fight back and win three straight games is a tall ask for anybody, let alone a young team in their first year under a new head coach. So, while their loss in game three was a heartbreaker, it won’t compare to the emotions fans will face if they fall to a similar fate in game four.
The Celtics’ task is made even tougher because they only have two more games at home in this series, which means they have to win one on the Bucks’ home court if they want to stand a chance of forcing a game seven in front of a home crowd at the TD Garden.