NBA Playoff Rant

Alright, this will be a short post but I just need to get this out there. NBA Officials cannot just change the way the game is officiated in the last 3 minutes and in overtimes of playoff games. This isn't just because Rajon Rondo got away with committing battery on Brad Miller last night, this is also a matter of keeping the integrity of a game. There are rules to the game and if players don't follow those rules, the officials are supposed to be there and call them on it. The time of the game shouldn't matter when a referee calls a foul. Also what is not even being talked about is that if referees just swallow their whistles down the stretch of games, it could lead to serious problems for the NBA with players fighting or retaliating when there is a hard foul on them. That's a problem for a league that is still trying to fix its image since the Pacers-Pistons brawl a few years ago. If the rule is in place (which in the case of Rondo, that was an obvious flagrant foul), it should be called no matter the time of the game. If you're not going to call a foul late then you might as well not call it at all, consistency is what I think all fans ask for, if you're going to make bad calls, that's fine, just make sure it is consistent for both teams. Referees already have a bad name since the Tim Donaghy gambling case and they need to start showing integrity when officiating games.