The NBA... where YIKES happens

Yes, it's frustrating the Celtics fell to the Lakers in game 3 tonight. Yes, it's frustrating Ray Allen didn't hit a single field goal (where was Adam Varitek to split the uprights when you needed him?). Yes, it's frustrating Rondo stopped going to the hoop, the team wasted a great offensive night from Garnett, that Kobe went off, that Fisher was the one who iced the game of all people, that Bill Kennedy was allowed to continue to punish Doc Rivers, that the Celtics had a hot start get ruined by a 15-point deficit, only to come within one point and still lose.

But that's not what was most frustrating tonight.

How can the NBA think that this type of basketball is entertaining? How!? This isn't a complaint the officials are doing a bad job; that's already been established -- they are not good at what they do. Come up with whatever reason you want for that -- it is irrelevant. It is a complaint that the rules of the NBA combined with the officials executing them is absolutely horrific for fans to watch. Period.

It's not fun or entertaining and that can't be argued.

Look, basketball is a great sport and the finals typically don't make great series. Usually the two teams are a bit distant from one another on skill levels in a league all about match ups. However, when the league rules in today's age police the players to constantly be called for fouls, there's lots of negatives for everyone. Michael Jordan would average over 40 points per game if he played in this age where the slightest contact calls for fouls.

Hello? Think, McFly. These are the finals. The Lakers and Celtics hate each other. They're hustling more than ever, fighting harder than ever for every loose ball, rebound -- you name it. There's going to be contact and there's going to be physicality. But the rules take that away from the game.

All you see are fouls called left and right. Ray Allen couldn't play in game one, deservedly or not. Kobe Bryant couldn't play in the fourth quarter in game two, deservedly or not. Paul Pierce had to change the way he played tonight, deservedly or not. It isn't about the officials making bad calls, it is the fact that they have to make so many calls, as dictated by the rules.

There's no flow to this game. There's no rhythm. Fun, entertaining basketball consists of an upbeat tempo where fast guys like Rajon Rondo should be watched sprinting up and down the court. But that beauty is interrupted by whistles over and over again.

Plain and simple: it just isn't fun to watch. People don't pay money to hear whistles. Let the boys play, especially on the big stage. Shake up those rules, forget the flops and the smallest contact calls. Change the rules the right way: call all of the travels that tradition calls for, how about that? Watching the NBA finals and this great rivalry, just let the boys play.