Danny Ainge confronts Pres. of Referee Operations after Game 2 loss
The general manager of the Boston Celtics was trying to understand how LeBron James could get to the free-throw line those 24 times, and so Danny Ainge stood in the hallway recreating a clear-path foul call for the NBA's vice president of referee operations, Joe Borgia. Ainge slid his feet, and tried to show how the Celtics defender had reached around to the Miami Heat star, how they were far too close to the rim for that call.
"How?" Ainge asked him.
They did some kind of a dance here late Wednesday night, Borgia and Ainge, the NBA official delivering his explanation, and Ainge, the ultimate contrarian, challenging the premises. And hey, how could Paul Pierce foul out again? How could the Heat get to the free-throw line 47 times? These were the things on Ainge's mind, and there would be no satisfaction coming out of here for these Celtics, no solace out of an epic effort and a historic performance out of Rajon Rondo. Ainge was persistent, polite and Borgia finally relented that he'd watch the film of the Heat's 115-111 Game 2 overtime victory.
"I'm sure we missed five or six calls somewhere," Borgia said.
You've heard it all by now. LeBron James got to the free throw line 24 times, the Celtics as a team got there 29 times. Rajon Rondo was hit in the face by Dwyane Wade last in overtime with the game tied. That should've been an obvious foul call. It wasn't called and Haslem scored on the other end giving the Heat the lead for good.
