Van Gundy fined for comments about playoff officiating

[drothamel]

Ladies and Gentlemen, for your reading entertainment--


Rockets' coach fined $100K for comments

JAIME ARON / Associated Press
Posted: 26 minutes ago



DALLAS (AP) - The NBA fined Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy $100,000 - the largest amount ever for a coach - on Monday, a day after accusing officials of targeting center Yao Ming this postseason and saying Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is to blame.

Speaking to three reporters at the team hotel in Dallas on Sunday night, Van Gundy said a referee not working the playoffs called him and warned that officials "were looking at Yao harder because of Mark's complaints" to the league office. He said that Cuban "has been hard on them," and "he's gotten the benefit."

"I didn't think that really worked in the NBA, but in this case it has," Van Gundy said, declining to identify the official he spoke to.

At a shootaround Monday before Game 5 of the series, Van Gundy said: "I stand by what I said. I believe it. I know what was told to me, and I've seen how it played out."

That was hours before the fine was announced. At the time, Van Gundy said he'd only been told not to say anything more about it.

"I didn't expect them to come out and say it was true, though," Van Gundy said.

The series was tied at two games each going into Monday's fifth game, which was to be attended by NBA commissioner David Stern.

Van Gundy said he got a call from his friend who is an official after Houston took a 2-0 lead. The coach said he was told the targeting of Yao was mentioned in an online evaluation from supervisor of officials Ronnie Nunn.

"No such directive was given to the officials regarding Yao Ming or any other player or team in the playoffs," NBA vice president Stu Jackson said in a statement released late Sunday to reporters from KRIV-TV, The New York Times and the Houston Chronicle, the three media outlets present when Van Gundy made his comments.

Cuban, who has been fined more than $1 million since buying the team five years ago, said in an e-mail that the accusations were "crazy" and "an insult to officials." He also noted that Dallas center Erick Dampier has picked up quick fouls in every game in this series.

"They don't officiate individual players differently," Cuban wrote.

Cuban said the team sent the league a list of plays it thought should've been called moving screens on Yao and backup Dikembe Mutombo. He said the league responded that "nine were actually moving screens and should have been called but were not."

"So if anything, he has it completely backward," Cuban said.

Yao fouled out of Game 1 in 20 minutes. He had four fouls in Game 2, when he made 13 of 14 shots and scored 33 points, then had five fouls in each of the last two games.

Dampier fouled out of Game 4 in 18 minutes. He had five fouls in 19 minutes of Game 3.

Both coaches in this series have been fined. Dallas' Avery Johnson was penalized $10,000 for his postgame confrontation with official Joey Crawford following Game 1.



[Edited by drothamel on May 2nd, 2005 at 07:17 PM]