As the Boston Celtics tried desperately to make history repeat last night in their comeback against the New Jersey Nets, Shira Spinger of the Boston Globe reports three guys wearing black and white striped shirts stood in their path.

Making a run to take the lead down the stretch Celtics leader Paul Pierce was accessed with two offensive fouls as he tried to emulate the moves which so easily got him to the basket in the fourth quarter of Game 3, then proceeding his second foul teammate Rodney Rogers was also accessed with an offensive foul on a layup attempt which would have tied the game.

''Come on - [three] in a row? Come on,'' said Kenny Anderson. ''They are judgment calls. It's not like someone spiking your hand as you go up.

''Different crews of refs, different personalities, different agendas. What are you going to do? Dick Bavetta, I don't know what his agenda was. Didn't look too Celtics-oriented. But like I said, I don't want to say we lost because of the referees because we didn't. Those are the breaks.''

Teammate Eric Williams, while also touching on the foul calls, was a little more timid in his approach.

'' Jason Kidd got a lot of offensive charges,'' said Williams. ''It was kind of tough trying to get into the flow of this game because there was a lot of offensive fouls called.
''I wasn't surprised about the whistles. They're calling the game like they see it. I know it is the playoffs and it's one of those situations where you don't think that certain calls are going to be in certain situations. That's pretty much it. You can't question their calls. They are the best referees the NBA offers, especially at this magnitude of game.''

Nets coach Byron Scott, however, believes the calls were accurate.

''As great as he is, once he is driving, sometimes he's out of control, and if we can get our weak-side guys to help, we can pick up some charges on him,'' said Scott. ''Jason did a great job picking up the charge on him and picking up the one on Rodney Rogers. That was big, but that is just Jason. He is going to do whatever it takes.?