Celtics & 76'ers claim crooked rim in London - no punches thrown
You old-timers know exactly where I am going with this. It seems there was something crooked going on in London in the Celtics 114-103 win over the Philadelphia 76'ers. The issue wasn't about one rim being crooked, but rather a question of the rim's height above the floor.
.@JJRedick explains on his podcast to @KyrieIrving why last night’s game was a tale of 2 halves: “One rim was so f-ing crooked. The one [Boston] shot @ in the 1st half & the one [Philly] shot @ in the 2nd half."
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 12, 2018
"Crooked" rim: BOS–40.4%, PHI–36.6%
Other rim: BOS–57.1%, PHI–56.1%
J.J. Redick and his team did a shoot-around in the morning and determined that one rim was a centimeter or two high (.4-.8 inches). Philadelphia wanted the "crooked" rim for the first half, but Boston was deemed the visiting team and got the alleged high rim to start the game. The difference in shooting percentages shown in the tweet might indicate a rim issue, but it is hardly definitive. Of course, my first question is, "Didn't anyone have a tape measure handy?" Red Auerbach would have found one.
Jaylen Brown backs up @JJRedick's claim of a crooked rim in London: “I thought one was maybe a centimeter or two high … I’ve never seen that in the NBA.”https://t.co/EAY2cqQRGj
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 13, 2018
In Redick's podcast, Jaylen Brown agrees "a little bit" about the rim discrepancy, which probably shows a mix of some agreement and diplomacy. The game play-by-play shows the Celtics behind, 27-49 at the 6:56 point in the second quarter. They closed the gap to 48-57 by the end of the half, which might be a slight indication they were starting to acclimate to the high hoop. They took the lead with 6:00 left in the third period, now shooting at the supposed normal rim, and never looked back.
The Celtics won. There was no ruckus. The fun the guys were having in London never waned. Back to the good old days. According to lockoutschockout's Alex Linder, at a game in St. Louis against the Hawks, Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman informed Red of a low rim, and of course, Auerbach started to protest. Hawks owner, Ben Kerner, made the mistake of starting a protest of his own against Red, whereby Auerbach cold-cocked Kerner in front of the St. Louis faithful. Red was not ejected but picked up a paltry $300 fine for "unbecoming conduct". Ah, the good old days.
Follow Tom at TomLaneHC
Photo via Melissa Majchzak/NBAE via Getty Images
