Points in the Paint

» April 29, 2009 6:47 PM | By Brandon Hoffman

Jeff Clark of CelticsBlog: “Many have said that you have to start including Rondo by expanding the nickname to the Big Four. I disagree. If anything Rondo may be passing up the Big Three before our very eyes. We knew that he would eventually take the torch and run with it. We didn’t know that he would swipe it, run down the court at break-neck speed, and dunk it this soon. You almost have to refer to this team as Rondo and the Big Three.”

Nate McMillan, Doc Rivers, and Rick Adelman were fined $25,000 each for criticizing the officiating. HOOPSWORLD reports that that’s a small price to pay for a win in the playoffs.

I love this little story from Dave Krieger of The Denver Post: “The first time George Karl was up 3-1 in a playoff series as a coach, it didn’t end well. The year was 1979. Karl was an assistant to Doug Moe in San Antonio, a year from his first head coaching gig in the Continental Basketball Association. The Spurs led the Bullets three games to one in the conference finals. ‘San Antonio was in the Eastern Conference,’ Karl recalled Tuesday. ‘I’m not sure how that happened.’ The defending champion Bullets came back to even the series, then stole Game 7 by two points after Spurs center Billy Paultz was whistled for a controversial moving screen down the stretch. ‘I actually think I remember the referees — John Vanek and Jack Madden,’ Karl said. ‘That’s how scarred you get.’ The league fined Moe for his evaluation of the game officials. ‘I think he said they should be put in front of a firing squad and shot,’ Karl recalled. Fans mailed donations to help Moe pay the fine. He had the bank send it to the league — in pennies.”

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Unlike Howard, Rondo was involved in a basketball play. He was trying to stop an opponent from converting a game-tying layup at the most crucial juncture of a playoff game. (The playoff part shouldn’t matter; the rules are supposed to be the same regardless of the game’s significance.) The fact that Rondo was trailing the play and appeared to have no chance to reaching the ball will be something for the league to consider. But in the end, Howard should be suspended and Rondo shouldn’t because you cannot expect a player in the Heat of battle to make a split-second decision as to whether his outstretched arm is long enough to reach a ball that is about to go into the basket.”