During pitches before the game against the Boston Celtics, an assistant coach and Gary Parton II noticed a rim height fault.
The search for the new NBA champion reached its best moment in the third game of the Finals series. The Boston Celtics defeated the Golden State Warriors at TD Garden and sealed 2-1 in the heads-up match that will define the next winner of the best basketball league on the planet. However, in the run-up to the match, it was filled with controversy over a detail that the visitors realized during the heat: one hoop was higher than the other.
With a little over 90 minutes left in the game, one of the California franchise’s assistant coaches noticed that the rim seemed too high on the first few pitches. He called some players to confirm and they agreed that the target was higher than normal. They automatically contacted the duel authorities who were in charge of measuring precisely and came to the conclusion that in fact it was five centimeters above the regulation.
The first to notice the Warriors squad was Gary Payton II when he saw that he couldn’t finish calibrating the shots. The main complaint was that if they did not notice the error in the height of the rim, the beginning of the game was going to be complicated for the Golden State team since they got warm with a goal that was not in the regulation position. Steve Kerr, coach of Stephen Curry and company was the first to lower the gravity of the fact: “It usually happens from time to time. The players have a very keen eye, they always notice”.
The ring of controversy
It is not the first time in the history of the Boston Celtics that he has been linked to this type of maneuver. Former coach, general manager and team president Red Auerbach was accused on several occasions of different peculiarities such as cutting off the hot water in the visitors’ locker room at the TD Garden to placing spots on the field where the ball did not bounce properly when building the parquet with rotten wood from the forests of Massachusetts.
Hall of Famer Bill Walton, a member of the 1986 championship team, explained that he didn’t think anything inappropriate had happened regarding the height of the baskets. “I’m surprised Steve didn’t say anything about Red Auerbach,” he stated, pointing to the Golden State Warriors coach. Beyond the mystery of the hoop, the visit could not gain a foothold in the change of venue and fell by 116 to 100. The series resumes next Friday at 10:00 p.m. in Argentina and it is the Celtics who have the advantage by 2- 1.
