Watch CBS News

Ainge: Expect Cavaliers To Be 'Ready To Play' When Playoffs Start

BOSTON (CBS) -- Celtics point guard Marcus Smart went through a bizarre sequence with the officials in Wednesday's loss to the Bucks. Smart momentarily thought he had been ejected from the game on his second technical foul, but the referee went back and looked at the play then changed the technical foul to a flagrant foul.

Celtics president of basketball ops. Danny Ainge didn't even know that was possible. He talked about the strange officiating when he joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Thursday.

"I don't think I've ever seen that before," said Ainge. "I didn't think you could go to a replay and overrule a foul call. I don't think it's something you can look at on replay.

"So I don't know what their justification was for even looking at that play, and then changing the foul to [Khris] Middleton instead of Marcus."

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers have struggled lately and recently lost the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference to the Celtics. But Ainge expects to see a much better Cavs team once the playoffs kick in.

"I think Cleveland has much higher expectations, but I don't see that team not being ready to play in the playoffs," said Ainge. "Because it looks like they're all healthy and they're just not playing their best basketball."

Listen to the full podcast below:

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.