Yeah, the NBA pretty much arbitrarily enforces rules these days. One of the reasons I think the NBA is unwatchable in the regular season is because they call every little tic tac foul and shoot 50+ FTs a game it seems. There's no flow and players basically weren't allowed to play defense. It's why you saw just absolutely ridiculous scores like 135-125 a lot. BUT then the NBA switches things up and doesn't call a ton of fouls in the playoffs and you see guys like Jayson Tatum and Donkic, and Jokic getting manhandled going to the basket and not getting the foul calls they got throughout the regular season. At least in the NHL in the playoffs, everyone knows you basically have to take someone's head off to draw a penalty in the 3rd period or OT unless it's an admin penalty like too many men on the ice or delay of game for clearing the puck over the glass (these 2 are called by the linesman). Even the NBA refereeing in the early rounds seemed to be sided in such a way that the NBA was trying to manage what matchups they could have for the conference finals and championship series. Didn't work out because the Knicks sucked it up, Denver played like crap against Minnesota and the LA teams were just terrible. I think the NBA was happy to see Dallas make the finals against Boston vs ESPN getting stuck with OKC or Minnesota despite those teams having some great young stars.
Happy for the Celtics! Happy for Boston...it's been a few years since the city has had a chance to celebrate a champion (2019 Super Bowl)
Maybe this will start another run of titles for the city. Bruins will be in the mix as will the Celtics the next few years as they have a good young core signed for the next few years. Red Sox might work their way in if their bats can keep producing because their pitching is good enough to win games. The Pats are a long term project right now...I don't see them doing anything in the next 3 seasons barring a high level trade and FA acquisition coming in.
BOSTON RULES!!!!!