The pick last night by LaMarcus Aldridge on Kemba Walker was a hard one, but not illegal - at least as defined by the officials. Looking closely at the play repeatedly, that appears to be the case - no obvious foul. The real issues were the two protests by Walker to the no-call by the officials - the quick ejection of the two-time NBA Sportsmanship award winner who had never been tossed in his entire career - and the throwing of a beer can onto the parquet by a fan who was quickly identified and escorted out of the arena.
The protests to the officials were certainly un-Kemba-like, but understandable to an extent. Walker truly felt he had been fouled. But the second technical following Kemba's additional outburst seemed just a bit too quick. The officials probably needed a longer fuse on that second technical. The throwing of the beer can was fearfully reminiscent of the infamous Malice at the Palace fracas when a Detroit fan threw a cup of beer onto the Pacers Ron Artest. The "Basket-Brawl" that followed was frightening. Security at TD Garden is tight, and security staff act quickly to avert escalation of such an incident.
The Spurs went on to take the game away from the Celtics, 129-114, and coach Brad Stevens apologized to a very-upset Gregg Popovich for the actions of the unruly fan. This game needs to be quickly forgotten - as quickly as that second technical was levied on Kemba Walker. The Celtics take on the Philadelphia 76'ers tonight, and after two losses in a row, they need to take it to the rival Sixers in the hostile environment of the Wells Fargo Center. That will erase all memory of what happened last night.
Follow Tom at @CelticsSentinel, @CausewayStreet and Facebook
On a strange night in Boston, the Celtics got routed, Kemba Walker got ejected and a fan got arrested for throwing a can of beer onto the court. https://t.co/Vuv4cDVJN7— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 9, 2020
The protests to the officials were certainly un-Kemba-like, but understandable to an extent. Walker truly felt he had been fouled. But the second technical following Kemba's additional outburst seemed just a bit too quick. The officials probably needed a longer fuse on that second technical. The throwing of the beer can was fearfully reminiscent of the infamous Malice at the Palace fracas when a Detroit fan threw a cup of beer onto the Pacers Ron Artest. The "Basket-Brawl" that followed was frightening. Security at TD Garden is tight, and security staff act quickly to avert escalation of such an incident.
A win in Philly tomorrow night would wipe these last two games from my memory 🙏— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 9, 2020
Imagine you paid 150 dollars for Celtics tickets, 12 dollars for chicken fingers and 22 dollars for 2 bud lights, only to watch some referee clown throw Kemba Walker out of the game. pic.twitter.com/XIykC99uKG— Savage Boston Sports 🇺🇸🍀❄️☃️ (@SavageBoston) January 9, 2020
The Spurs went on to take the game away from the Celtics, 129-114, and coach Brad Stevens apologized to a very-upset Gregg Popovich for the actions of the unruly fan. This game needs to be quickly forgotten - as quickly as that second technical was levied on Kemba Walker. The Celtics take on the Philadelphia 76'ers tonight, and after two losses in a row, they need to take it to the rival Sixers in the hostile environment of the Wells Fargo Center. That will erase all memory of what happened last night.
Follow Tom at @CelticsSentinel, @CausewayStreet and Facebook
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