Bennet Salvatore called a flagrant foul on Glen Davis that was later rescinded. The call caused Doc Rivers flip out… so Salvatore gave him 2 technicals in a row and tossed him. Then… after Doc left, Salvatore scanned the bench for anyone who dared question is mighty reign… and that someone somehow was Armand Hill, one of the quietest guys you'll ever find patrolling a sideline.
We know the whole story. We know that the stretch… and ensuing 5 minutes of horrible officiating.. allowed Atlanta back into the game. It didn't win them the game… but it was essentially basketball CPR that kept them alive until other events actually unfolded to win them the game.
And what does Bennett Salvatore get out of this? Nothing.
Meanwhile, Doc Rivers has to fork over $25,000 and 4 of the 5 Celtics regular starters played an obscene amount of minutes that resulted in lord knows what kind of wear and tear on their bodies.
The point here is not to bitch about the game itself. It's done and gone. The point here is to call out the NBA for allowing hotheads to toss technical fouls around with virtually no repercussion when it turns out they were wrong.
The technical foul is a powerful tool in a ref's arsenal to keep control of a game. But with any power, there comes responsibility. I don't think a lot of referees appreciate that. They can turn the momentum of a game in a blink. If the NBA doesn't want that happening… then they need to institute some kind of penalty for when the league decides the referee was wrong.
That is… if the NBA doesn't want that happening.
After the jump, a screenshot of the Bennett Salvatore Wikipedia page… which shows just how beloved he is.
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