Lost 16 bets or 16 units in Rd 2, 30 of those were in OT or last second shots so all in all I feel like the Pacers.
I will try and give a breakdown of referee history so you can have an extra piece of info before you wager. We had a passing of the torch so to speak as veterans Crawford and McCutchen who owned the playoffs for the past 15 years stepped aside and gave way to seasoned refs Foster and Mauer and newbies Callahan and Stafford. IMO these last possession games that could have gone either way and changed the entire outlook of the playoffs was due in part to these rookie refs being put in big game situations.
Refs make an extra $5,000 in 1st rd, $10,000 in 2nd rd and $25,000 in Finals so there is a lot of incentive for these “new” rookie refs not to spit the bit and be invited back to pad their income next year. Crawford and McCutchen were masters at it just like Dick Bavetta, Tommy Nunez, Bill Spooner and Steve Javie were, more games equals more money in their own pocket. A seasoned ref can make an extra $100,000 in the playoffs! It’s called job security.
Foster: without a doubt this guy has an agenda every time he straps on the whistle. He was voted the most hated ref by the players for good reason. So far in these playoffs he has brought the team on the brink of extinction back to life, most poignantly G2 Heat winning 113-103 in Philly in a series they were outmatched in being annihilated the game before, G3 Bucks hosting Cs down 0-2 with a big 116-92 home win where even the announcers were laughing at the Foster stacked deck, G4 when Spurs were left for dead (along with Pops poor wife) and somehow saved face in a 103 -90 win hosting Warriors to avoid the sweep, a critical G7 to get Cavs by Pacers 105-101 that saw Cavs being awarded a 40-24 FT advantage, G2 Jazz evening the series 1-1 at Houston 116-108 to avoid the sweep, G3 Pels coming home down 0-2 to grab a big 119-100 win over Warriors to avoid the sweep (notice Ws have scored 90 and 100 in 2 rd game losses w/ Foster) and finally with Philly down 0-3 at home get a critical G4 win 103-92 over Celtics. That’s 7 teams desperately in need of a win and get all 7 wins. When he crews up with Brothers look out.
Of note: there were only 21 games in Conf Semis out of a possible 28 last year and even less at 19 this year. IMO that leaves 3-5 games of game revenue on the table and really doesn’t make financial sense. So we had 9 out of 14 last year in Conf Finals that left at least 3-4 games on the table. My theory is we get 12-14 games in this Conf Finals to balance the ledger, that means a 7 and 6 game series.
I’ll preview Mauer, Stafford and Callahan tomorrow. Mauer has been there and done that, Stafford and Callahan are newbies.
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