not sure i remember exactly when. it was probably during half time or at some point in the 3rd quarter before things got totally out of control. probably before olynyk did NOT get called for travel and/or before they called held ball instead of ruling bradley out of bounds. by that point i knew the only chance we had was if we started shooting 100%. and we all know that never happens.
When Melo was ejected it was game over. In essence, Brothers basically said "screw you Melo,
here's a loss" when the ref had his feelings hurt bc Melo whispered mean things in his vicinity. Brothers was vindictive and spiteful and their prior baggage was the biggest factor last night.
Consider that at one point, there was a 24-4 FT disparity favoring BOS... And, that doesn't even tell the whole story.... Boston came out physical, bullying NYK, they were the team defending "on the edge", clutching and grabbing, pushing and shoving.
Anybody would lose their cool if you have bad blood with a ref before the game starts, then during the game any time you touch the other team they blow the whistle and then when you have the ball it's basically Aussie rugby rules apply.
With that said, I'm not happy with the way we handled things. It showed emotional immaturity. When Melo went out, I expected more from KP, Rose and Lee.... I wanted to see more from our backup Euro lineup.... And Inwas disappointed Horn didn't set a precedent and simple pull his team from the floor at some point in the fourth and walk to the locker room. Doing something dramatic like that is the only way to send a message that NYK as an org is tired of the BS. It's like I say every year, with Melo on the team we play 82 road games. Our star never gets home calls... bc of his physical nature, refs allow way more contact then they would allow for Guards, but it's all subjective and they deem most contact on melo as incidental.
What we saw last time was a ref crew that was determined to stick it to melo. It was a shame too bc bos had no answer for CA and Melo might have scored 40.
Again, I repeat, if 1 pitcher has a strike zone the size of the ocean while the other pitcher has to hit a target the size of a flea.... it's gonna be a long night. How this team plays tonight will tell us a lot about their character, toughness, and emotional maturity.