11:31 Wade moving screen on Garnett. Solid early call for Brothers.
11:19 Garness sticks his shoulder into Wade. Payback? Maybe, but he also got the foul call. Forte on the job there.
10:25 Wade drives the lane. Shaq clearly is a step slow and hammers him on the shot. No call. Wade still nearly makes the bucket. That’s a pretty bad no-call. Wade had a pretty clear path to the basket otherwise. If Miami’s game plan to mask some of the size issues is to get the Boston bigs in foul trouble, they’re going to need those obvious calls at the very least. Forte should have had a great look at that one.
9:10 Rondo clearly initiates contact with Chris Bosh as they run down the court side by side. Giving the foul to Bosh is horrible, unless you’re punishing him for not being smart enough to know that he should get away because if Rondo bumps him and goes down like a German soccer player, which he did, he’s picking up the foul. Forte won’t like what he sees when he gets the game film. Smart play by Rondo, though.
5:15 LeBron backs Pierce down in the post with a LOT of contact and displacement. I don’t really love that sort of basketball, but it’s never going to be officiated out of the game. That’s the NBA I guess. Forte probably not meant to call that.
4:22 “That was on the rim, man! Come on!” The live TV angle doesn’t really let you see whether LeBron got away with a goaltend on Rondo’s layup. Maybe we’ll get a replay…I guess not. Crawford had no chance of seeing that from just in front of the Boston bench. Brothers looking from same side as camera, probably not a great look. Can’t see how far behind the play Forte is, but he’s probably the only one to have a shot at seeing if it hit the rim. Close.
2:49 LeBron chest bumps Pierce from the side as Pierce goes to the basket. A foul you’d like to see called, but I don’t think anyone had a good angle to have seen it. Forte would have to have been able to see through Pierce to see it.
1:43 Great draw of an offensive foul by Glenn Davis on LeBron. I’m glad they got that one right; big man who moves that well deserves his proper reward. Though, Pierce was mugging James down the lane. Crawford on the spot with that one.
11:06 Assistant coach David Fizdale doing the arms out, stomping, ‘What the FISH’ thing, which got him a technical. (Travel-Forte) Reminds me I need to be better about making sure assistants know full well they need to filter their thoughts through the head coach, as only the man in charge has rights to speak.
9:34 Marquise Daniels buries his shoulder in Wade’s chest and Wade goes down like he was shot. That needs to be called every time, even without the dramatic flop provided by the offended player. The idea Daniels even attempted to get away with it leads me to believe it doesn’t get called enough. Good call, Forte.
9:19 I don’t know if Bosh “thought there was contact” as claimed by the commentator, but the only contact on that play was initiated by Bosh himself. Fine no-call by Crawford, who seems to be having a strong game.
8:12 Paul Pierce took a bump by Wade and is either the worst actor ever, or really did just get hit just right because his collapse to the floor was even less graceful than what you’d expect from Shaq. Gotta support the no call by Brothers, who followed that immediately with a nice hustle to be in position to get Nate Robinson (Go Rainier Beach!) on the charge. In fairness, it was an easy call, but still good hustle.
7:52 Doc Rivers doesn’t like it, but Dan Crawford made a GREAT call right there. As Wade drove the baseline, Daniels definitely tried to get his knee in the way. Certainly would be hard to see from the Boston bench, but it’s an excellent call by Crawford.
7:05 Crawford continues to see everything, looking deep into the paint to see Daniels pulling on Wade’s jersey. Excellent display of officiating tonight.
6:10 Forte got someone on a clumsy defense of a James shot in the post. Couldn’t see the contact, but it looked enough like a foul.
5:29 Robinson bites on the fake and goes to the air. House dribbles to the right to get a clearer look at the basket. As he does so, Robinson clearly kicks his left foot out in the direction of House. Not clear if there was contact, but Forte is right there. House sure thinks there should have been a call, though.
5:17 Haslem nearly had position, but maybe did stick the knee out a bit. Good catch by Forte.
2:13 Crawford has to call Haslem for jumping on Shaq’s baq, but Shaq could just as easily have been nailed for pushing Haslem at the top of the key to create space. I’d have preferred seeing that called. Haslem had NO chance. Sorry Dan. Still love your game, though.
1:47 Crawford back in action as he catches Pierce moving laterally trying to take a charge from LeBron. Not sure the complainers aren’t a little biased. Pierce has been done hard a few times tonight, but this was not one of them.
0:36 Haslem gets a little touch foul trying to guard Garnett. Too bad for him, but he didn’t stay vertical there. Brothers had a clear look across the lane from the trail position.
0:21 Broadcast team giving that foul to Shaq, but Brothers blew his whistle before Shaq made contact on Bosh. If Shaq got the foul, Brothers initially was going to give it to Garnett and changed his mind, which wouldn’t be a great thing, I don’t think. half
10:58 Wade got Shaq to move into him, despite the fact Shaq had all day to set his position.
10:32 Shaq clobbers LeBron. Big fella a step slow and gets nailed twice in quick succession. Easy call for Forte.
10:08 Rondo over-enthusiastically goes after a pass and ends up displacing Arroyo. Rivers upset at call, though it was the obvious and correct call for Forte. I’m guessing it’s one of those situations where coaches think teams should always have the same number of fouls called on them.
9:39 Forte suddenly has the busy whistle. Bosh moving very slow picking up Pierce off the switch. Another easy call for blocking, which is all Pierce seemed to want from that.
8:45 Anthony all over Shaq on the put-back attempt. Obvious call that needs made.
7:40 Anthony again fouls Shaq, unable to hold his ground. Forte again with the call.
6:03 Not sure what Brothers saw, but Wade got the foul for reaching his hand very quickly toward the ball before realizing he wasn’t really going to strip it from Shaq as he goes to the bucket. At best, a touch foul. Harder fouls have been let go tonight.
5:16 Brothers gets Davis for hacking away at Ilgauskas after correctly not getting Pierce for body on LeBron. Great possession for Brothers.
4:37 Ball out on Rondo MAYBE and that’s only after slowing it down big-time. Neither guy watching had a good look at it, so they opted for the jump ball. More excellent officiating. Brothers and Crawford did the right thing there; great work.::
4:32 Forte makes an awful call giving a block to Pierce. LeBron just barrelled him over. Indefensible. Dude kicked that call. I’m bummed for him. Pierce can’t catch a break and maybe even got hurt on that play?
2:01 I really hope Forte didn’t just call Ilgauskas for blocking there. Davis initiated every bit of what little contact was there. I’m hoping it was LeBron for a bump I couldn’t see because, otherwise, I’m disagreeing yet again with Forte.
1:51 Forte redeems himself a little here, nailing Ilgauskas for an illegal screen when he sticks his leg out to impede Daniels. Not sure why he’s watching the ball way up there from the lead position, but he did get the right call.
0:51 I’ve liked the work of Crawford for the most part, which is the only reason I’m second-guessing this call that went LeBron’s way because is REALLY looked like he blew right into Davis on that one.
4th 11:12 Brothers tags Jermaine O’Neal for an offensive foul. Close, but it did look like Haslem did a good hustle job of quickly stealing position. Nice job.
11:03 Crawford gets Ilgauskas for an illegal screen. Guilty as charged. Don’t make that face.
10:53 Crawford all over Ilgausgas, as the big man makes a sloppy swat at O’Neal as he drives. Easy call. 9:43 Rondo just walked far worse than Wade did earlier in the game in front of the same official. Forte needs to be consistent if he’s going to call those close travel situation.
9:07 Forte has to call Haslem there. He didn’t mean to do it, but he tripped Rondo.
8:43 Wade called for the charge. Davis sliding a little on that one. I think it was Forte on the call, too.
4:59 Wade complaining loudly about not getting a call from Brothers. Didn’t look like he had anything to whine about and Brothers definitely could have hit him with a tech with that new rule.
4:51 Jones sloppily fouls Pierce on a three attempt. Easy call for Forte.
4:38 I support calling some hand-checking fouls, but Garnett didn’t appear to actually have his hands on Bosh there. Another Forte call.
4:28 Bosh flails at ball, but hits Garnett. Easy call for Crawford.
3:30 Garnett didn’t make any effort to disguise that one. He hammered Haslem. Crawford cleans it up.
2:53 Get off the court, Doc! 1:37 Forte gets Bosh for a block. Solid call.
1:15 Garnett hit with moving screen away from the ball. Right call by Forte; wrong decision by KG.
0:28 Crawford hits Wade with a push near the dividing line. Solid.
43-Dan Crawford 25-Tony Brothers 45-Brian Forte
