It did kind of hurt in Auburn Hills, or in PHX when Stoudamire and Diaw came off the bench against the Spurs, or Carmelo got suspended along with half the Knicks for a few games for swinging-then-running...I think you'll find it hard to equate 1985 basketball with 2009. And that's on Stern. He didn't want Kermit Washington or Mo Lucas situations happening anymore, so the rules got clamped down on. It's just that I think many in this thread think the rules haven't been applied to KG. Since I'm positive you watch more Celtics games than I do, do you know how many times has KG had a taunting tech in the last 2 years? I imagine it's close to zero, but I don't know. in the games against the Blazers this year I've seen a minimum of two calls that should have been made.
What's odd is that Boston is pretty healthy. The Blazers, Nuggets, Rockets (who could not beat anyone at all until last night), Pistons, Jazz all have had major players out. The Celtics pretty much have their team intact. Clearly something got into their heads. And there is also the fact that a few losses, especially to crappy teams, removes the intimidation factor. When you have a really dominating team the opponent expects to lose. Teams no longer expect to lose to the Celtics.
