Celtic Pride

A really good Pistons-Celtics game tonight. Trailing 85-79, Boston gets a 3 pointer from Eddie House and a sideline fallaway one from Ray Allen to tie the score. They get a stop when Chauncey Billups turns it over in the lane with 5 seconds to go, but then Paul Pierce gets mugged on a drive, no call, and the Celtics turn it over again. Billups gets fouled by Tony Allen with 0.1 seconds left-a simple pump fake, and Allen is in the air, falling into Billups. Billups made both free throws. That illustrates an irritating thing about the NBA-the same rule is rigorously enforced one minute, then ignored the next. It would be impossible, of course, to call the rule book literally, but it makes it maddening, as a fan, to see a guy get clobbered and there is a no call.