The NBA has reclassified two fouls from Sunday's contentious second-round playoff series opener between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.
James Jones' technical foul with 7:59 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Heat's 99-90 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena was rescinded. However, the Heat reserve forward was retroactively charged with a flagrant foul, penalty one for his foul at that juncture, when he landed hard against Celtics forward Paul Pierce.
The league has a point system in place that can lead to postseason suspensions for excessive flagrant fouls or technical fouls over the course of the playoffs.
In addition, Jermaine O'Neal's flagrant foul, penalty one at 2:30 of the third quarter for a shoulder thrown by the Celtics center at a driving Jones has been downgraded by the NBA to a personal foul.
The Heat turned the Jermaine O'Neal flagrant into a five point possession (2 James Jones FTs and a Mike Bibby 3). The sequence sparked a 9-0 run late in the 3rd quarter.
The lack of a flagrant call on Jones cost the Celtics a chance at two more points.
Had the refs not blown the calls, this game would have been much closer down the stretch.
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