As I have already noted before, the NBA is about as screwed up as it gets in terms of ref performances. As the Cavs smacked the Celtics around last night, I could not help but yell at the television on more then one occasion. Sure, they missed some shots and the Cavs played a very dominant game, but there was something to be said about the officiating once again. I commend the Cavs, especially LeBron form their performance because it was offensively superior to the Celts and I believe that the Cavs probably would have won the game anyways even if the officiating had been more even. But, even with that being said, the Celtics score is a better representation of the fact that the referees in the NBA are not calling the games fairly. If you go back to the Lakers game, which I noted as being a particularly poorly officiated endeavor, the Celtics have not been the same team as of late and who can blame them. Sure one could argue that they are in a slump, but I have been watching these games and the reason that they are having so much trouble getting into a rhythm and winning games is that the refs don't let them play anymore. The Celtics play an up-tempo, in your face style of basketball, which is not an uncommon technique in the NBA and never has been. They use their defensive and offensive intensity to their advantage and power through other teams. But, since the Christmas game at LA, they have not been allowed to do that. The officials blow the whistle on little touch fouls, every attempted block is a foul, every time they charge through a pick its a foul, every time the try and clog up the lane and draw the charge its a foul and the list goes on. How is a team who plays hard-nosed basketball supposed to win and play their game if the officials have their own agenda and wont let them do so? It's not fair to the league, the fans and most importantly the Celtics to be targets of something that goes beyond the game of basketball. Tommy Heinsohn said it perfectly during the Celtics loss to the Rockets in Boston the other night; "The officials are wearing their red glasses tonight." But it's not the first time the Celtic great has mentioned this. He noted, that as the Celtics continue to get less and less calls for them and more and more against them, the amount of technical given out to Celtics players, particularly Kendrick Perkins, have gone down significantly, almost to the point of no existence. This, he says, is as a result of the officiating switch, which has been going on against the C's over recent games. As Perkins (who is second in the league in technical fouls behind the world champ in the matter Rasheed Wallace) receives less technicals, the team continues to be hit with more cheeky and borderline personal fouls, removing the aggression from the Celtics style of play. The less T's are a mask for everyone so that it seems like the officials are taking it easy on the Celtics when in reality they are using it as a means of compensation. Let me clear the air on some issues: first, the Celtics have not won a lot of these games because they have not played up to the Celtic standards that they had last year when they won it all, it does not fall completely on the officiating by any means. However, when the reining world champs loose to the Wizards without Arenas, the Rockets without McGrady, the Bobcats without Shawn May and the Cavs without Ilgauskis, you have to start to wonder how some of these teams were able to stick around with the champs. Not pointing any fingers but its something to think about.