In Flagrante

During last nights Celtics game, ESPN announcers Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy had a lengthy discussion of what constitutes a flagrant foul.  They then went on to debate how many angels dance on the head of a pin.

I am tempted to join in the bellyaching because the Celtics have been victims of a couple of dubious flagrant foul calls this post season.  Last night, it was P.J. Browns supposed push on Jason Maxiell as he was in mid-air.  In the Cleveland series, Sam Cassell was whistled for wrapping up LeBron James.   The call prompted our favorite Extra Terrestrial to complain to the Globe:  "It's just different right now...Back in the day, a flagrant-1 was bloodshed.  Now, you can just grab somebody."

This might be so.  Celtics fan all remember the  infamous Bill Laimbeer cheapshot on Larry Bird - now that was a flagrant foul!  But I did some checking and the number of flagrant fouls called his year does not seem to be out of the ordinary: 

                               2005-2006   2006-2007   2007-2008

First Round            14                  6                  12

Conference Semis   1                     6                  4

Conference Finals   3                     1                    1

NBA Finals             1                    1                   tbd

So while it is easy to moan about how flagrant fouls allow the refs to "take the game out of the hands of the players", there appears to be (on average) about 1.5 of these calls per series.  This is hardly enough to make a huge difference (unless, of course, you leave the bench during a brawl).