Doc Rivers expresses disappointment in officiating after Woj bomb regarding Game 6 disparity
BOSTON -- The NBA made Celtics-76ers Game 7 a little more interesting a few hours before tip-off, with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeting about some very lopsided officiating that benefitted Boston in its Game 6 win on Thursday night.
"An interesting dynamic approaching Celtics-Sixers Game 7, per sources: NBA's officiating game report shared with teams from Game 6 revealed a significant disparity: 13 officiating errors disadvantaging 76ers to four disadvantaging Boston," Wojnarowski tweeted. "Those can include calls and non calls."
The Celtics won Game 6, 95-86, in Philadelphia to force Sunday's Game 7. In that game, Boston was whistled for 14 fouls to 13 by the 76ers. But as Woj noted, the NBA's officiating game report -- which is essentially a full-game version of the last two minute report -- includes calls and non calls.
Philadelphia head coach Doc Rivers was asked about the disparity ahead of Sunday's Game 7 in Boston, and expressed disappointment in the NBA.
"To see a 13-4 disparity in a one point, two point game is hard to recover from," said Rivers, highlighting a number of calls that he felt the officials missed.
"Having said that, it's a human game and you just have to try to play through it," he added. "Usually, the disparity isn't that great."
Rivers later added that "analytically" he felt the 76ers won Game 6 by 20 points in terms of the quality of shots that his team got against Boston.
"We missed more open shots," he said. "No comment. Having said that, we can't bank that they'll miss some of the open shots that they had."
Throughout the series, the 76ers have been whistled for 16 more fouls than the Celtics at 117-101. The two teams are very close in free throws however, with the 76ers attempting 130 to 129 by the Celtics.
